Email Security: What You Need to Know

A lot of people forget that email is a major corporate security risk. Intentional or not, email is one of the easiest ways to leak private company information. In most cases, passwords and other basic email security measures just don't cut it - you need to take these measure to the next level. A corporate security policyhelps, as it shows the "lay of the land" for employees who might not be the savviest tech users.

Here are some tips and solutions that can be used to reduce email security risks:

What to Watch for When Composing Emails

1. Password Strength: You've heard it before- don't use the same password for everything. The same applies to your email accounts. If anything, your email password should be one of the strongest ones you create.  Email accounts are the most common targets for hackers, so don't make it easy for them to break in. You'll also want to regulate where you access your emails from. Unsecured wireless networks or communal computers (think libraries or internet cafes) aren't very secure, so avoid checking emails at these locations.

2. The "To" Field: Double check the names and email addresses of the people you are sending your message to. Autofill can be convenient, but it doesn't guarantee that the correct email address is selected as you begin typing in the first few letters of the recipient's name/address. I know this sounds silly, but this exact mistake has been made by staff at major companies. The result: embarrassing data breaches that cost a lot of money to repair.

3. Use "BCC" for multiple recepients: When sending to multiple recipients that may not know each other, use the BCC line instead of the "TO" line to send your message. This tip comes to us from the TechRepublic article "More Email Security Tips," by Chad Perrin. The reason for selecting BCC for multiple senders is the fact that you don't want recipients to see the email addresses of everyone else included in on the message since they may not know each other or need to see why the message might be sent to someone in a particular company.

Getting a Bit More Technical

Encrypting outgoing emails gives you extra protection to keep your messages private. Most email services, such as Microsoft Outlook, come with built in encryption functionality- you simply have to enable it. Encryption takes the original version of your message and scrambles it into an unreadable form. The only way someone can read the message properly is if they possess the private key- in other words, a password; to unlock the message.

Digital Signatures are critical when sending emails containing contracts or other legal documents. According to the US-CERT website, digital signatures are useful for corporate emails because:

"Authenticity may be especially important for business correspondence—if you are relying on someone to provide or verify information; you want to be sure that the information is coming from the correct source. A signed message also indicates that changes have not been made to the content since it was sent; any changes would cause the signature to break."

Consider using an email security service or software provider. There are a ton of companies out there that offer services that scan outgoing messages for sensitive corporate information, block spam, encrypt emails and so much more. Remember, no email message is ever guaranteed to be 100% secure. This is why taking proactive steps to increase the level of security of your email messages is necessary.