Safeguarding Your Business: The Importance of Email Security

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Safeguarding Your Business: The Importance of Email Security

In today’s digital world, email remains an extremely common and critical communication tool for businesses of all sizes. While convenient, it also poses significant security risks that not all organisations are aware of.

Cybercriminals openly exploit common vulnerabilities to launch phishing attacks, spoof emails and spread malware without a second thought. These growing threats can easily damage reputations, compromise sensitive information and even lead to substantial financial loss if successful.

For modern businesses looking to counter these threats and maintain robust email security, implementing trust protocols like SPF, DKIM and DMARC are essential practices that shouldn't be ignored.


Why does email security matter?

Email-based attacks are a significant and growing concern for every business worldwide. They are a common entry point of malicious actors to begin a cyber attack with every organisation being a prime target for cybercriminals.

Right now, some of the most common email threats include:

  • Phishing: Deceptive emails that are intended to trick recipients into disclosing sensitive information or login credentials and often appear to be from legitimate sources, such as banks or government institutions.

  • Spoofing: Criminals send emails that appear to be from a legitimate source, such as your company domain, to trick recipients into taking harmful actions.

  • Malware & Ransomware: Malicious emails designed to infect systems or networks and compromise data integrity with malicious attachments or disguised links that can be difficult to identify.

The impact of a successful email attack can be devastating. Beyond financial loss, businesses risk significant reputational damage, customer mistrust and potential legal consequences if any personal information is inadvertently exposed.

Therefore, the need to maintain robust email security is critical, especially as cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and effective every single day.


SPF, DKIM & DMARC: The 3 Pillars of Email Authentication

The best way to protect your organisation’s web domains and prevent fraudulent email attacks is by implementing three proven email authentication protocols. These industry standard protocols each play a vital role in validating the legitimacy of emails sent to and from your company domains, increasing trust and credability instantly.

These protocols are commonly known as:

SPF

Sender Policy Framework

DKIM

DomainKeys Identified Mail

DMARC

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance

1. Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

SPF is often seen as the first line of defence in effective email authentication. It helps prevent shameless criminals, scammers and fraudsters from sending emails that appear to be from your company by specifying which mail servers are allowed to send emails on behalf of your company's web domain. So, any unauthorised server impersonating or spoofing a domain are immediately seen as untrusted and potentially malicious, protecting both your organisation and your recipients.

SPF works by:

  • Publishing SPF records via your corporate domain’s Domain Name System (DNS). These public records contain a list of servers authorised to send email for your company's domains.

  • When an email is sent, the receiving server checks the SPF record to confirm if the sending server is authorised. If it's not, the email can be flagged as suspicious or rejected entirely.


2. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM)

DKIM adds another layer of security by allowing a recipient to verify that an email has not been tampered with during transmission and sent from a trusted source. This is done through cryptographic signatures added to outgoing emails that are sent via an authorised mail server.

DKIM works by:

  • When an email is sent from your compnay domain, it is signed with a private key. The recipient’s email server uses a public key (published via your domain's DNS records) to verify that the email was not altered after it was sent.

  • If the signature matches, the recipient can be assured that the email they have received is authentic and was not modified in transit.

DKIM ensures that even if an email is intercepted or modified in transit, it cannot be changed without breaking the signature and prevents attackers from inserting malicious content into legitimate emails.


3. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC)

While SPF and DKIM work independently to authenticate emails, DMARC ties everything together providing domain owners more control over how their company domains are used in email communications. DMARC is an effective way of instructing email recipients on how to handle unauthenticated emails (using either SPF or DKIM) and provides reporting mechanisms to monitor domain activity.

DMARC works by:

  • Creating DMARC policies that specify what a recipient should do if an email fails SPF or DKIM validation (by either rejecting, quaranting or allowing a message).

  • DMARC also provides visibility through detailed reporting, so domain owners are able to effectively monitor unauthorised use of their company domains and take corrective actions when necessary.

By using DMARC, business can proactively prevent all types of email attacks, improve overall email deliverability and gain insight into how their company domains are being used.


How does SPF, DKIM & DMARC work together?

SPF, DKIM and DMARC are extremely effective defence methods in establishing strong email security. SPF ensures that only authorised mail servers can send emails on behalf of your company domains. DKIM ensures that emails are not altered during transmission and can be trusted. While DMARC enforces policies that provide immediate action on failed authentication attempts with greater visibility for domain owners.

When all three protocols are correctly configured, your business can:

  • Effectively mitigate phishing and spoofing attacks: By ensuring that only legitimate emails from trusted sources reach your recipients, attackers find it harder to impersonate your domain - stopping the most common email attack method in it's tracks.

  • Greatly improve email deliverability: Enterprise email services like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace prioritise properly authenticated emails, reducing the chances of legitimate messages finding their way into a recipient's junk folder or not being receieved at all.

  • Gain deailed visibility into email activity: DMARCs reporting architecture gives insight into how your company domains are being used across the internet, helping to detect and respond to potential threats quickly.

Email security is simply not optional in today’s threat landscape. By implementing each of these three pillars - every business can protect themselves from common email-based attacks, safeguard their reputation and ensure the safe delivery of legitimate emails. These protocols work together to provide a robust framework for maintaining good email security, making it harder for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities in email communication.

With email being a critical communication tool used worldwide, ensuring its security is not just about protecting your business - it’s about protecting your customers, your partners and the integrity of your company's brand. Don’t wait until it’s too late, take action today.

  Do you need assistance with your company's email security?

You've come to the right place! To find out how we can help get in touch today or call 0845 154 3560 to discuss your specific needs with our experienced UK-based team.


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