Why is enterprise email security important?
Because of its importance to business, email remains a popular attack vector for hackers. Social engineering attacks, malware, ransomware and other email threats have become highly sophisticated. A successful attack can have devastating consequences:
- Data breaches
- Financial losses
- Operational disruption
The fallout of an email security incident may include reputational damage, legal liabilities and regulatory fines. Prioritization of the integrity and security of email systems protects sensitive business and customer data from theft or misuse, and is a key pillar of a sound cybersecurity strategy.
Common Threats to Enterprise Email Systems
Here are the most common threats to enterprise email systems.
Phishing Attacks
Phishing is the most common and insidious threat targeting enterprise email systems. In a phishing attack, malicious actors send fraudulent emails which appear to be from a trusted source, with the objective to deceive recipients into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links.
The enterprise email vector also exhibits two notable variations:
- Spear Phishing: Phishing attacks which target specific individuals or groups within an organization.
- Whaling: Attacks aimed at high-level executives or employees with privileged access to sensitive information.
Malware Distribution
Phishing emails often contain links or attachments which distribute malware, ransomware, or Trojans. These resources are typically disguised to appear as legitimate documents, invoices, or software.
However, when opened or clicked, they can infect devices and spread through an organization’s network.
Spoofing and Impersonation
Attackers may forge a sender email address, tricking recipients into thinking the sender is a trusted source. This “spoofing” technique, commonly employed in phishing attempts, enables attackers to deceive employees into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links.
Spoofed emails that impersonate a CEO, executive, manager or other authority figure exploit innate psychological weaknesses like confrontation avoidance.
Business Email Compromise (BEC)
BEC attacks target employees with some level of financial access. The goal of a BEC attack is to gain access to financial information or to execute a fraudulent transaction. The attacker typically sends malicious emails which appear to be from a legitimate supplier, vendor or business partner. The malicious content of these emails often requests payment of a fraudulent invoice, an urgently needed wire transfer, or for the recipient to reveal financial account information.
If successful, these attacks could have severe repercussions ranging from a data breach all the way to significant financial losses.
The Role of Secure Email Gateways (SEGs)
SEGs are a first line of defense against threats to email security. SEGs are designed to filter out spam, malware and other unwanted emails before they reach the inbox.
The key capabilities of a secure email gateways include:
- Spam Filtering: Spam email identification and blocking prevents users from falling victim to scams or revealing sensitive information.
- Malware Detection: SEGs scan emails for malicious attachments and can remove the offending document from messages.
- Sandboxing: Suspicious emails containing potential threats may be isolated in a secure, quarantined environment where they may be examined without danger to the end user’s device.
- Antivirus Engines: SEGs often have built-in antivirus software which detects and removes viruses, worms or other threats from emails.
- Policy Enforcement: Implementation and enforcement of email security policies which place restrictions on attachments or content to ensure compliance with organizational guidelines.
Key Features to Look for in an Email Security Solution
In evaluating a complete email security solution, these features are considered essential to ensuring enterprise email remains secure, reliable and effective.
- Comprehensive Threat Protection: A full-featured email security solution should provide protection against a wide range of threats, such as phishing, malware, spoofing, and BEC. A comprehensive solution should also offer advanced threat detection capabilities to identify and block both known and unknown threats.
- Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Detailed reporting and real-time threat intelligence enable staff to track dangerous emails, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to protect the organization from emerging threats.
- Centralized Management and Reporting: Managing and monitoring email security is made easier with a centralized dashboard. This allows security staff to manage policies, monitor user activity and receive notifications in a single, unified interface.
While these core features are certainly important, the multiplying and intensifying threats to email security demand a proactive approach, which is where emerging email security technology excels.
Emerging Technologies in Email Security
The growing demands on email security necessitates innovation in technology, and integration of these improved capabilities into solutions designed to combat evolving threats.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML): AI and ML are progressively leveraged in email security solutions to analyze patterns in vast amounts of email data to identify anomalies. This makes for more effective threat detection and improved response times.
- Proactive Threat Intelligence: Use of real-time threat intelligence feeds in advanced email security tools to detect and block emerging threats before they can affect the organization.
- Zero-Day Exploit Protection: Advanced sandboxing capabilities and behavioral analysis sub-systems can neutralize unknown, zero-day email threats.
- Cloud Integration: While cloud email providers like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and others provide basic security, leading-edge solutions offer comprehensive, scalable cloud email protection and threat mitigation capabilities.
Secure Your Organization's Email with Harmony Email
Email is the lifeblood of nearly every modern organization. Securing those communications against phishing, malware and other threats ensures stable operations and maintains a healthy business reputation. To do this, organizations must acknowledge the severity of the threats they face, and then mitigate those risks through a combination of sound email security policies, practices, and advanced technological solutions.
Check Point’s Harmony Email Security suite helps thousands of organizations protect critical internal, inbound and outbound email communications. With advanced phishing and malware detection and protection, powerful data loss prevention (DLP), and AI-enhanced threat detection capabilities, Harmony Email & Collaboration is the most complete cloud email security and collaboration tool on the market.
Schedule a free demo of Harmony Email & Collaboration to discover how Check Point can help your organization secure its most important business communications.
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