The Changing Face of Email Security
With the rise of remote work, especially in recent months, and the number of net-connected devices rising all the time, email is more relevant than ever. Indeed, as a form of unobtrusive communication and document sharing, email has pretty much cemented its position as the go-to tool for businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, being the popular kid in school is not always a good thing – for a start, it has a way of making you look like an easy way in. Did you know for instance that over **96% of attacks on a business’s security start with a single email? Securing channels of communication become ever more important as businesses move email and other services to the cloud.
The **Enterprise Security Group (or, the ESG) conducted research very recently into email security. The research aimed to capture data that lies behind the scenes of this constantly changing market. ESG surveyed a total of 403 security and IT professionals that are responsible for making purchasing decisions relating to email security solutions, and the managing of those services.
A data-driven report that was generated by the collected data gave some important and interesting insights into the steadily growing rise of socially engineered email attacks, among other things.
Email Is a Cyberthreat Vector to Be Reckoned With
Of the top five cyber attack vectors identified, email is way into the top three, arguably making it one of the more dangerous and targeted cyber threat vectors. When asked, just over two-thirds of those that responded named email security as one of their organizations’ top priorities when it came to cybersecurity.
Despite the relative maturity of email and the security that protects it, organizations are still being attacked via email. Around 68% of people that completed the survey say they have experienced persistent and sustained email-based attacks over the prior 12-month period. 48% of these experiencing the attacks say they have had such attacks monthly, at least.
Why is email such a popular security attack method? Put simply it is a vehicle made for mass attacks! One message, with suitably official-looking attachments included, can be duplicated en masse and sent to millions of addresses with the click of a mouse button. No other delivery method is as willing to do that for you. Or for cybercriminals.
They also factor in the human element. Relying on human action, or more accurately ‘mid-action’, to provide cybercriminals with the widest possible angle of attack.
The Relentless March to The Cloud
More and more businesses around the world are moving toward cloud-delivered email. Almost 90% of those that responded to the ESG survey say they use cloud-delivered email. That being said, two-thirds of those that completed the survey still use local, on-premises, email. Because of this, email security solutions that work ‘cross-platform’ are the best option to provide consistent and effective protection against cyberattacks via email.
Phishing Is Not the Only Threat
Make no mistake, mass phishing emails are still a thing and they are just as potentially dangerous as they always were, but cybercriminals are learning. What is meant by that is they are starting to use socially engineered email attacks. These types of attacks can maneuver past more traditional defenses by putting the human element of businesses in its sights. These types of attacks are known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), and they have led to $26 billion in losses across the last three years.
Email Security Transformation
The world of email security is going through a lot of changes right now in terms of the threats being faced, such as the types of attacks and deployment methods – as well as many other factors. Businesses and organizations are, thankfully, becoming more aware of this and are ready to embrace the necessary changes to protect themselves and their customers.
Not only are businesses embracing these changes, but it also seems that many of them are ‘happily’ making budget adjustments too to back this up. Almost two-thirds are planning to increase spending on security where email is concerned.
Email security is a growing concern, more so today perhaps than ever before because of the growing sophistication of the attacks. No longer are bogus emails a source of comedy gold (most people have had at least one bogus email that was so bad it made them laugh out loud). They are a serious and growing threat and one that Spambrella is perfectly placed to help you fight back against.
References and Sources:
** Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report
** Enterprise Security Group (ESG)
Additional Reading:
