You likely know that emails from a Nigerian Prince who offers you a portion of his fortune if you wire him $10,000 right now are fake. But phishing emails aren’t the only way cybercriminals can use email to attack your business. Whether it’s through sending emails that look legitimate, learning your password to gain access to your network, or one of your employees clicking on a link they shouldn’t, you need to take corporate email security very seriously.
Having strong passwords isn’t enough. You need email security and spam filtering solutions from an IT company that understands small businesses like yours. InnoTek Computer Consulting can provide the email security you need to thwart cyberattacks, intercept malicious links that lead to malware, and teach your employees proper security measures to protect your business. Learn the five steps you need to take today.
1. Ensure You Have Email Security from a Reputable IT Company
Did you know that hackers love small businesses? Because a small business often doesn’t have the same security protocols as larger companies, it is an easier target. A study conducted in 2021 revealed that a business with less than 100 employees will experience 350% more social engineering attacks than an employee of a larger enterprise.
However, with InnoTek on your side, you don’t have to worry about phishing attacks and other email threats. Whether your business is in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Bloomsburg, Hazleton, or any of the surrounding areas in NEPA, we can help you with:
- Spam filters to weed out malicious emails
- Email encryption so that only the intended recipients read your emails
- Multi-layered security protocols to prevent data breaches
- Complete email inbox security to weed out viruses, spam, worms, and other malware
- Access to archives to preserve older emails and free up space on your network
2. Use Strong Passwords
While only having strong passwords isn’t enough to protect yourself from cybercriminals, it’s also an essential corporate email security best practice. A strong password should contain upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Don’t use personal information in a password, such as a pet’s name or your birthday.
Be especially careful about what you share on social media, by the way. Do you know those posts that go around where people share things like their favorite pet names, the street they grew up on, and the names and birthdates of their kids? These viral games are effortless ways for hackers to guess your password and access your accounts.
Other password tips include not using the same password across multiple accounts and using phrases instead of single words as your password. For example, !L0v3Cats482 is a far more secure password than something like Tigers22. (Password123 is not a secure password, by the way!) You should also change your passwords regularly.
3. Implement Two-Factor Authentication
Another way to improve your corporate email security is by implementing two-factor authentication. When you partner with InnoTek for your security needs, we can help you set this up for your business. But, in short, this security feature means that if someone has your password and tries to log into your account, they’ll be stopped by the two-factor authentication software.
This software will verify that you are trying to sign in, usually through a one-time passcode sent via phone, text, email, or an app. All you have to do is enter the code or click approve on the app, and you can read your emails. However, if someone learns your password and tries to gain access to your email, the two-factor authentication will stop them in their tracks.
4. Train Your Employees in Cybersecurity
Your employees are your number one security risk. In a world where phishing attempts become more sophisticated and appear from legitimate sources, your employees need to learn how to spot suspicious emails. With InnoTek’s security awareness training, we will provide a one-hour training session where your employees will learn about things like:
- Internal and external threats
- Phishing scams
- Phone scams
- Password best practices
- When it’s safe to open email attachments (and when it’s not!)
- Dangers of public WiFi
In addition, your employees will stay informed of the latest email attacks through weekly micro-trainings and monthly security newsletters. Plus, your company can save money, too, by preventing data breaches that could cost you hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
5. Avoid Public WiFi
You may think that you’re saving your company money by limiting data use and connecting to public WiFi when you’re not at the office. However, something as simple as checking your email, opening attachments, or working within Microsoft 365 on public WiFi is dangerous for your corporate email security. Hackers can much easier gain access to your network and system when connected to public WiFi.
Cybercriminals use public WiFi to learn information about your company. They imitate high-level executives to reach assistants or other personnel or use it as an opportunity for a man-in-the-middle attack (where they’ll intercept your personal, financial, or sensitive information when you submit orders, send emails, or perform other online activities). Utilizing private WiFi and only working from secure locations can help prevent unwanted people from viewing and accessing your information.
Let InnoTek Help You Get the Corporate Email Security You Need
You work hard to keep your business running smoothly and to grow profitability. It would be a shame for something as simple as opening the wrong email attachment to be the thing that brings your business down. Unfortunately, many small businesses never recover from cyberattacks, so you need corporate email security and spam solutions from InnoTek to ensure you can.
When you partner with us, we’ll filter your emails through the latest spam detection software, so you minimize the risk of dangerous emails even getting to your or your employees’ inboxes. In addition, we implement strict compliance standards that protect sensitive information from the wrong hands. Today, safeguard your business with our email security and spam protection solutions from InnoTek.
