Secure Email
Security Corner
In today’s society email and it’s close relative text messaging have become a major form of communication both in the business world and personal life.
By not paying attention to email issues you can lose business, from an overly aggressive spam filter. Personal information and data can be stolen by click on a link in a email.
Email Threats
Below is a video that is just under 4 minutes that summarizes the scope of email threats.
Email is viewed as the single source of opening a computer or network up to threats. A single email can undermine the effectiveness, reliability and trustworthiness of a whole network. There are three basic divisions of email threats:
- Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses: If you have ever wondered why security professional always say, “don’t open email attachments”, you should look at what can be done to your computer. The destructive and devastating affects could not only open your data to the world, but make your computer a slave to known botnets, Trojan horse, and keyloggers.
- Phishing: Phishing attacks use social engineering to steal your personal and financial data. The attacks rely on deceptive emails that direct recipients to fake web sites that are designed to trick you into revealing confidential financial information such as credit-card numbers, user names, passwords and Social Security numbers. P
- Spam: Junk email can quickly overwhelm an inbox, making it difficult or even impossible for its owner to view legitimate messages. Researchers say that in the first quarter of 2008, 92.3% of all email was classified as spam. Microsoft says the 80% of email is spam. You can report spam and their violators.
The US and Canada have the CAN-SPAM Act to help deal with spam violators.
Email Safeguards
Protecting email users and their systems from attackers is a 24/7 job that requires the use of multiple security tools. I believe if can be broken down into three simple tools. What you use and how much you spend should be directly proportionally to the level of risk your email gets compromised.
- Anti-Virus Tools: Leading anti-virus products and services generally do a good job of spotting and removing viruses, worms and Trojan horses from incoming email messages.
- Spam Filters: A good spam filter can differentiate between legitimate email and spam, freeing a user’s inbox from mounds of digital debris. A drawback to this technology is that a poor spam filter, or one that has not been properly tuned, will remove a certain number of legitimate emails from a user’s view while letting some spam pass through untouched. Improved spam-recognition technologies are making spam filters more accurate — most vendors now promise 99 percent-plus accuracy rates — but even the best spam filter will incorrectly categorize at least some emails.
- Education: Everyone that uses email must be aware of the threats is very important. The potential of a infection coming through an email needs to be emphasized.
Email threats will continue to exist for as long as there are people and organizations that thrive on the misery they inflict upon others. Just like you locking your car, to protect your prize processions, before going into the local mall for shopping, you need to lockdown your email.
