As email marketing remains one of the most popular digital marketing channels in the world, the need for cybersecurity measures increases tenfold.
From attending cybersecurity training, tightening password protocols, and implementing measures to protect cloud workloads through platforms like CWPPs, brands need a proactive approach to mitigating online threats.
If email marketing is in your outreach arsenal, then stick around because we have an important guide for you.
In today’s article, we’re taking a closer look at email security and why it’s important. We’re also taking a look at five of the top best practices to implement if you’re serious about preventing email-related cyber crimes.
What is email security and why is it important?
Email security describes the strategies you use to protect your email account and the content you send.
Cybercriminals will attack just about any kind of business, but they especially love software-based businesses.
Telematics systems, as well as other software-based businesses, such as SaaS companies, rely on information stored in the cloud. This makes them especially vulnerable to cyberattacks, such as phishing.
The problem? With the transition to remote and hybrid work, increasingly more brands are using software solutions and apps to run their businesses.
In other words, even if you don’t own a software-based business, chances are, you’re still using cloud-based systems.
For that reason, protecting data requires a strong policy and a firm grasp on mitigating cyber crimes.
If you experience an email-related cyberattack, your entire business could be on the line. From phishing attacks, watering hole attacks, data leaks to malware, hackers and cybercriminals will stop at nothing to get access to your system — and carry out crimes on your email recipients.
Incorporating evolved pentesting methodologies to find breaches in your email infrastructure becomes crucial in today’s dynamic threat landscape. From phishing attacks to data leaks to malware, hackers and cybercriminals will stop at nothing to get access to your system — and carry out crimes on your email recipients.
In other words, your business can’t afford to skip out on email security best practices.
And that brings us to …
5 Email Security Best Practices
Now that we’ve laid the foundation, let’s take a look at five email security best practices your business can start implementing right away.
1. Host an email security training class
Whether you’re onsite, remote, or hybrid, it’s crucial to get all of your team members on the same page regarding email security.
To ensure your team has the tools they need to keep your brand safe, you can:
- Meet with a cybersecurity specialist to create a training protocol
- Enroll your staff to attend a renowned email security webinar
- Implement an email safety checklist team members must fill out before sending emails
- Meet with management to discuss top security measures they should relay to their teams
- Provide staff with opt-out guides from data brokers to reduce the exposure of personal and company information, further strengthening overall security measures
If your team members work from home or use personal devices, ask them to discuss internet safety best practices with anyone who shares their device, especially children.
2. Tighten your email password security
The second best practice on our list is one of the simplest and most effective tips you can implement.
Here’s how to tighten your email password security in just a few steps:
- Use a password manager like LastPass to store company passwords and logins
- Consider using biometric security features to access email-related channels
- Use strong email passwords that include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters
- Keep your personal and your business email accounts separate
- Use a different password for each email account
- Enable 2-factor authentication
- Implement passwordless authentication such as magic links.
3. Encrypt your emails
Anytime you send an email, you risk having it intercepted by an attacker while it’s en route to your recipient.
When you encrypt your e-mails, you essentially scramble the original content so it’s unreadable. When the email reaches the recipient it’s supposed to go to, they’ll need to authenticate themselves to get access to the message.
If an incorrect recipient receives your email by mistake, they won’t be able to read it.
To encrypt your emails, you can use Gmail, Android, Microsoft Outlook/Office 365, or webmail, among other services.
Be sure to also encrypt your email provider connection and archiving processes as well.
4. Use an email list verification tool
Practicing email security on both the sending and the receiving side is essential to creating a well-rounded security protocol.
To keep your sender score safe, we recommend using an email list verification tool.
We may be biased, but we think our email list verification tool is pretty genius.
If you want to give it a go, here’s how it works:
- Upload a .CSV file, copy and paste the addresses, or connect an integration
- Let our handy virtual assistant, Norbert, process and scan the email addresses for you
- Receive your results and immediately know if any recipients are marked as high-risk
5. For high-volume needs, consider using a DCIM solution
If you run high-volume email campaigns, you inevitably have more customer data and sensitive information on your hands.
While a data center infrastructure management solution (DCIM solution) isn’t right for everyone, it’s worth finding out if it can help keep your data systems safe.
If you’ve never heard of a DCIM solution before, you can hop on the phone with a rep to see if it’s a practical solution for your business. Or, consider attending a free webinar training.
You can make a DCIM solution part of a wider vulnerability management program, and this certainly makes sense for organizations facing down high-volume needs and the risks associated with them.
Wrap up
And that’s it! In today’s article, we covered what email security is, why it’s important, and five best practices to keep in mind.
We hope this guide has inspired you to implement email security measures to keep your business — and recipients — safe.
