Email Security Threats Your Business Needs to Know About

Check Point Research (CPR) has found that global attacks?increased by?28%?in?the third quarter of 2022?compared to the same period in 2021. The average weekly number of attacks per organization worldwide reached over?1,130. While there has been an increase this year, it has plateaued when compared to the sharp rise seen in 2021. This could be an indication of how enterprises and governments are addressing the risks by increasing investment in their cybersecurity strategies and putting a greater focus on?finding and detaining hackers.

Email is the entry point for a maximum number of cyber threats. An email attack happens when a malicious actor targets your email id with the intention to gain information, illegal system access, or direct money through funneling.

Email attacks target both individuals and organizations. So, even if you are just an aware citizen looking to learn more about email-borne cyber threats, or an organization looking to fortify its email security, this article is for you.

This Article lists several?types of email threats?you should be aware of.

9 Dangerous Email Threats are as follows:

1. Spam

2. Virus

3. Email Spoofing

4. Phishing

5. BEC Attacks

5.1 Display Name Spoofing

6. Ransomware/Malware

7. Zero-Day Attacks

8. Account Take Over

9. Keyloggers

10. BONUS – Social Engineering

Spam

There’s power in numbers. This is sadly also true for email attacks. Cybercriminals send spam emails in bulk to several victims at once. They can profit from the percentage of users engaging with spam emails.

But more often, spam is used to lay the groundwork for launching other email attacks. Spam mails are almost always unsolicited and are likely to repeat multiple times (as long as the cybercriminal runs his or her campaign).

This is different from the promotional outbursts from companies you know you are dealing with, you can just unsubscribe to these emails and your problem is solved.

Spam is different in that you did not request a newsletter or did not consent to promotional content. Don’t hurry to unsubscribe as even the subscription landing pages are botched (Unorganized).?

Virus

Email viruses are pieces of damaging code spread through emails. They usually rely on user interaction with an email.

Viruses often hide behind innocent-looking files, which when you download them on your machine, get deployed through batch files.

Viruses may also exit your system by creating backdoor accounts, which are invitations for other threats to attack your system.?

Email Spoofing

Spoofed emails use email headers to mask the true origin of the email. The sender’s address on the surface looks legitimate but is in fact different from what it appears.

Email spoofing generally targets decision-makers in the company. Through an attack called CEO impersonation, a spoofed email apparently coming from the CEO will often instruct someone in the finance department to release funds into a designated bank account.

Spoofed emails can be caught with multiple sign-offs and well-defined payment release processes. Do not interact directly with such emails, but rather verify with an actual person first.

Phishing

Phishing attacks use subject lines and lucrative offers through emails to bait their victims. The victim is asked to click a link and fill out a form on a phishing website, whereby his credentials are captured.

You lose your sensitive financial and authentication information to a fraudster if you interact with a phishing email.?

BEC Attacks

These are attacks that target companies that are prone to deal with remote and offsite payments. An attacker patiently monitors your email communication and absorbs your email mannerisms. Then, when the time is right, the attacker injects himself or herself into the conversation and impersonates a regular employee, asking either for payments or credentials. These do not use links or attachments to deploy malicious code.

"Display Name Spoofing"

The spoofed email displays the name of a trusted person but the actual email address behind it is incorrect. This is distinct from regular email spoofing in that it is not always someone impersonating a high-placed executive in your company.

It can be friends, co-workers, business partners etc. This type of attack does not always ask for a money transfer but can also ask you to interact with a fraudulent link, a document, or any other attachment.

Ransomware/Malware

Ransomware enters the systems through an email and encrypts all your files. It is malware that locks you out of your own system.

The attacker will leave a note as a text file, asking for money in return for the decryption key. This is the costliest form of malware attack yet, as it forces you to pay money directly.

Zero-Day Attacks

Security holes in software are nothing new. What matters is the sincere efforts of the developer in providing security patches time and again, for all the bugs in the code.

However, users sometimes don’t meticulously download and update application patches, creating a security hole for hackers to exploit. Keep your application or software updated to keep up with security patches.

Update your applications as soon as the developer releases a patch. If there is an option to auto-configure updates, use it; don’t be put off by the fact that you might have to restart your machine due to it.

Account Take Over

ATO attacks occur when a threat actor gains illegal access to an account. ATO can take help from phishing for this or use guesswork to get the passwords of an employee.

The damage done using ATO is limitless. It’s as good as you giving someone the key to your house and?Safety?leaving for a vacation. You?will be robbed of everything you have.

Keyloggers

Keyloggers are malicious programs that enter your system when you download a phishing attachment. They are instructed to monitor your keystrokes and report back to a server, possibly at midnight (00:00 on the clock) when other processes are likely stopped. Keyloggers can record your passwords and other security credentials as you enter them.

BONUS – Social Engineering

We can’t?exactly count this among email threats on its own, but rather it is an attack construction method that cyber criminals base their attacks on. It relies heavily on the social aspects of online communication.

An attacker will patiently inculcate every aspect of communication, right from the decision hierarchy to the busy times when your company is used to sending a lot of invoices and sensitive data. These attacks employ psychological tricks so that the attacker can ‘become’ an employee of your organization and mingle into your email stream. These attacks don’t depend on your interaction with an email. So, however much wary you remain of phishing emails, won’t help. Invoice frauds are an excellent example of social engineering attacks.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is important because it protects all categories of data from theft and damage. This includes sensitive data, personal information, intellectual property, data, and governmental and industry information systems.

Without a cybersecurity program, your organization cannot defend itself against data breach campaigns, which makes it an irresistible target for cybercriminals.

To keep data protected and the system secure, intelligent cloud security solutions should be implemented alongside strong password policies like multi-factor authentication to mitigate unauthorized access.

Also, Do not open links from Emails you do not recognize.

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