5 Reasons Email Security Is Crucial for 2018
Before you think this is another blog post you can scroll past, think again! Email security is often the only thing standing between you and full-fledged cyber attack. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and PhishMe, "91% of cyber attacks begin with a phishing email and 93% of them are ransomware payloads".
1. Email-Based Attacks Will Rise
If you think that these phishing scams will cease in 2018, then you would be mistaken. Unfortunately, there have been too many email scams already reported this year alone to ignore. Since email is the easiest, cheapest way to reach out to people and half of the entire world's population has one - email inboxes make a perfect breeding ground for cyber criminals.
2. Financed Based Companies Will Be Targeted By Phishing Attacks
In 2017 the number of phishing attacks directed towards financial institutions doubled, but only 10% are choosing to implement network security initiatives to prevent cyber attacks. One can ultimately assume that 2018 will result in a flurry of cyber attacks towards financial institutions, because security measures were not put in place.
3. Small to Medium Sized Companies Will Be Targeted More So
In 2017, big wig companies like Equifax and Yahoo! were the targets of detrimental cyber attacks. But smaller companies are also being targeted by hackers. 71% of cyber attacks aim for companies with fewer than 100 employees. This spells out bad news for small to medium sized companies.
4. Users Are Not Adequately Educated
The amount of emails sent per day is staggering. According to the Radicati Group, an average of 269 Billion emails are sent every day. Out of those emails sent every day 59.6% are spam [or phishing scams]. Most users cannot decipher what is a "real" email compared to a "fake" email anymore. Companies should properly educate their employees on the dangers of email phishing and ransomware.
5. Web Filtering Products Will Rise
There will always be users who click on spam or phishing emails regardless of how much education is offered. Why? Because telling a group of people to do something is kinda like herding cats. It doesn't really work all the time. Web filtering protects your company from those careless employees who click on every email that hits their inbox.
Once a phishing email is clicked, there is usually an attachment that is downloaded which pulls malware from the internet and infects your computer network. Web filtering prevents the downloaded attachment from accessing the malware on the internet by blocking malicious websites. This safety net is crucial for businesses, because chances are your employees will get hit with phishing emails.
Does your company have the right network security system in place for when that happens?
What We Can Learn From 2017
Cyber attacks and their costs are only going to increase in 2018. Perhaps even more so for small to medium sized businesses. On average, a data breach can cost companies more than $3.6 million. However, this does not account for the cost to increase network security, employees lost, or the decrease in brand trustworthiness. Yahoo! lost millions in revenue due to a lack of network security and upkeep.
Email inboxes are regularly targeted because it is easy to bypass network security infrastructures via email. Your inbox is practically a gold mine of valuable and sensitive information for cyber hackers. Which is why securing your email is important. Now you may think that it's easy to spot a fake email compared to a real one, but phishing (or spear phishing) scams are now using perfectly crafted messages that a user might get from their bank or boss. With the naked eye, these emails are almost impossible to weed out from your personal inbox.
In response, some companies hire more IT professionals, but that can increase overhead especially if those new hires don't have years of industry experience. Many companies have opted to partner with an outsourced IT service to reduce the overhead that many in-house IT departments bring to the table. A wide variety of companies partner with TechKnowledgey for network security as a service. Check out our success page for more information.
Remember, email security is network security.
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Boyd Smith
This article originally appeared on the TechKnowledgey Blog.
TechKnowledgey, Inc. is a midwest IT company creating successful hybrid cloud solutions, integrated IT services, and managed print services powered by IoT for their customers. TechKnowledgey services a wide reach from its headquarters in Goshen, Indiana.