Most businesses know the importance of securing their endpoint devices, servers, and other critical infrastructure. For some reason, however, many fail to see email for the vulnerable link that it is in their chain of digital liabilities.
The reason for this is twofold. On one hand, there’s a lack of awareness about email security, as most people aren’t familiar with the systems powering their corporate emails. Then there’s the matter of a general disregard as people don’t realize all the different ways a compromised email can hurt their business.
To change that, let’s consider why securing emails should be a top priority in your cyber defense plan and how you can go about it.
The Importance of Securing Your Business Emails
On the surface, a compromised business email may not pose more threats than leaked internal communications. But a closer analysis shows that the damage can reach every area of a business.
For starters, all your team’s work-related accounts are probably linked to their business email address. This makes it fairly easy for an attacker to request a password reset and then take over those accounts using the compromised email. The potential for damages is virtually limitless here.
Even if we rule out the outright overtaking of an email account, there’s still the matter of phishing attacks, which are
getting more sophisticated by the day. Using a mix of social engineering, spoofing, and public data about your team from their online profiles, attackers can trick them into opening dangerous links, sharing sensitive information, and even sending payments to accounts owned by the attacks.
If that last part sounds unlikely, know it is far from far fetched. We’ve seen prestigious universities and megacorporations fall for these attacks before, and we don’t see it changing soon.
The Role of Cyber Liability Insurance
Now, your cyber liability insurance may cover damages from an email breach. But unless you secure your emails, your insurance provider is likely to reject your application at the time of renewal. Insurers are under incredible pressure because of the rising frequency and costs of cyberattacks.
When you further consider that compromised business emails caused 54% of claims received by Coalition, a US-based cyber insurance firm, you can see why insurers are turning high-risk clients away.
To sum it up, even your cyber liability policy won’t be able to contain the damages of an email breach if you end up losing coverage at the time of renewal for lacking email security controls.
Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Business
To secure your email, here are some actions we recommend all business owners to start with:
- Add Multifactor Authentication: Adding more layers of access control to your organization’s email accounts is arguably the most effective prevention against unauthorized access. You can also add IP restrictions to only allow devices running on your business network.
- Setup Email Security Policies: On top of encrypting the contents of all your emails, an expert can help you set up an SPF record and DMARC. These systems will help prevent attackers from tricking your team or customers into thinking that an email is coming from your domain.
- Train Employees: Unfortunately, humans are prone to making innocent mistakes that can have devastating consequences for your organization. That’s why investing in employee training and awareness programs is crucial for businesses of all sizes. By instilling cybersecurity best practices in the day-to-day operations of your team, all your systems will be more secure, including email.
Our team of cybersecurity experts can help you set up these defenses and more without any technical expertise needed on your part. With all these systems in place, you’ll be on the good side of your cyber liability insurer when the time comes for renewal. Contact us at ask@optistartech.com or visit www.optistartech.com to learn more about our Cyber Security Solutions.
