What is Email Security?
Sometimes, your emails may appear boring to you, but each mail you send or receive is a treasure for cyber-criminals. It is very common nowadays that people send a lot of sensitive information like credit card details, bank data, login credentials, etc through mails. It is crucial to note that it is of key importance to make sure that there is sufficient and strong security setup is configured in your device to protect and safeguard your data and to prevent hacks.
Sometimes we tend to think that not all emails are of utmost importance but exposing anything as small as your pet name, your address, your maiden name may reveal your identity. Criminals stalking you may plot this small information piece by piece and may plan well in advance how to hack your device.
To put it in simple words, Hackers may gain access to your detailed information even through invaluable emails. Each email works as a raw material for the hackers, by using which they can prepare a whole finished product.
It was easier to define email security best practices in the past like-don’t open mail if it has come from unsolicited sources, keeping passwords strong which should not be a pet name, any family member name, etc. Some of these best practices still hold good even in the current times. We will discuss the safety measures in this article later.
Email Encryption & Filtering: Is Email Secure?
Although most email applications have basic security features like encryption, privacy settings, spam filtering inbuilt However, email hacks and cyber crimes are evolving. The basic features help in filtering the suspected, malicious mails but we can not solely rely on that. Looking at the current scenario it is equally important to understand some features other than the basic ones to safeguard our data as well as devices.
Before we move forward, you need to remember that cyber security practices are the foundation of your privacy and no amount of these practices will be able to protect you till the time you understand the possible threats and the available solutions to prevent those threats.
Security: Email Encryption
Encryption is an important email protection solution. Transport Layer Security (TLS) and end-to-end encryption options such as S/MIME, GPG, and PGP are the main and common encryption protocols used for securing mail.
The TLS protocol is a cryptographic protocol that develops out of the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. This protocol is designed to deliver data safely so that cybercriminals can not access or misuse the data. You may say that site is protected with the TLS beside the URL link by the green padlock.
End-to-end encryption happens before a sender sends out the email, and decryption happens after the receiver receives the email. This type of encryption is based on two types of decryption keys– public keys and private keys.
The sender’s message is encrypted communication with a public key that stops third parties from accessing the content of the mail. If someone tries to access or misuse the mail, the encryption of the mail disorganizes the information so that the mail reads that an illegitimate person is trying to access it.
Best practices to follow for email security:
In today’s times, email has become increasingly important to any business irrespective of its size. Hence there are some best practices recommended to be followed for email security, summarized as below:
- Provide training to your employees and other staff on best practices for email security.
- Make a strong password.
- Consider changing passwords at reasonable intervals.
- Use two-way authentication
- Understand phishing and other modes of scams and the possible solutions to safeguard yourself.
- Do not open links received from unknown sources.
- Keep business and personal mails separate
- Do not use public Wi-Fi
- Understand email protection features and how to use them.
Concluding thoughts over email security:
Email security needs are different for each person depending on whether you want it for personal use or business use. The most commonly used email applications like Gmail, Yahoo, Firefox, etc. safeguard their user’s conversations with TLS, however, it may not be sufficient cover for most. Hence there should be sufficient understanding on the part of users so that they can protect themselves against any possible threat.