Are Your Emails at Risk? A Deep Dive into Stopping Email Threats

Getting familiar with email-based attacks and the ways you can avoid them is essential for remaining secure today. Email has evolved over its time, but this fundamental infrastructure was not designed with security in mind. This means that organizations must take responsibility for safeguarding against email threats and the significant damage they may cause.

According to the 2024 Data Breach Investigation Report from Verizon, 68% of breaches involved a non-malicious human element, such as a person falling victim to a social engineering attack. With these kinds of statistics, it is no wonder that organizations are concerned with the security of their emails, which is the most common attack vector for these kinds of attacks.

In this article, well deep dive into the subject of email security, exploring the ramifications of poor email security practices, the most common threats to be aware of, the signs to look out for to identify phishing, and preventative measures you can take. With an improved understanding of the email security landscape, individuals and organizations can better prepare themselves to face it.

Reasons To Protect Email And The Consequences Of A Breach

While headlines may be dominated by new and innovative forms of cyberattacks, it is important to remember that most of the time if a breach occurs, the entry point for it is likely to be email. Email remains the most popular attack vector for cybercriminals due to its broad use, with the rise in email based cyberattacks rising by 197% in the latter half of 2024.

A successful email breach may result in the following:

• Loss or compromise of sensitive information like PII or credentials 
• Consequences of non-compliance with industry standards 
• Damage to organization’s reputation 
• Lost productivity in the event of a service disruption 

Secure email practices are important for safeguarding personal and business communications, as well as ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of important data. In addition to this, compliance with industry regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS often require strong email security measures to protect user data and maintain trust.

Common Email Security Threats 

Some common email security threats for organizations to be aware of include:

• Phishing attacks
• Spear phishing
• Business Email Compromise (BEC)
• Malware and Ransomware
• Spoofing and Impersonation
• Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks
• Email account takeover
• Spam and Malicious links
• Data Leaks and Insider Threats
• Credential harvesting

One thing that many of these attack types have in common is their exploitation of the human element. Attackers tend to exploit human psychology, which is one of the things that makes email such a common attack vector. Their frequent use of social engineering tactics like urgency, fear, or curiosity to manipulate users into clicking malicious links, downloading malware, or revealing sensitive information is one that is very difficult for organizations to correct for. You can train employees all you want on the most up to date tactics, but all it takes is for one person to be stretched too thin or overwhelmed with communications in the moment, for an attack to slip through their defenses.

Adding to this, email-based attacks are also a relatively inexpensive and straightforward attack to carry out, which allows attackers to reach huge volumes of potential victims with minimal cost and effort. Many organizations unfortunately lack advanced security measures such as MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) or email filtering, which increases their level of vulnerability and risk of a successful breach. Additionally, the rise of remote work opens organizations up to a number of challenges when securing their workforce, as this tends to open up more possible security gaps for cybercriminals to make use of to gain unauthorized access to accounts.

Signs Of A Phishing Email 

Just when we think we’ve heard of every conceivable attack method, we discover a newer, sneakier, and more innovative method being used in the wild. It is important to make sure that your employees are as up-to-date and knowledgeable as possible, to minimize the window of uncertainty where attacks often make their entrance. A great tool to help with this is Security Awareness Training (SAT), which you can read about here.

There are many different types of phishing, but, ultimately, phishing can be any type of attack by email that is designed to result in the recipient taking a specific course of action. Some common signs to look out for which may indicate a phishing attempt include:

1. The wording or tone of the email is off. This is one to bear in mind when receiving correspondence from people you know or communicate with regularly. Do they sound like themselves? Are they using words or phrases they wouldn’t normally? Making spelling or grammar mistakes they usually would not? Is the email written in a generic tone and lacking any use of names or titles that you know that person should know about you? If so, it is best to reach out to that person on another channel to confirm the email is from them.
2. Inconsistencies in links, domain names, and email addresses. Users with an awareness of threats like email spoofing are in a much better position to notice the kinds of inconsistencies that may indicate an attack. To protect against this, users can double-check that emails they receive have matching email addresses with previous correspondents with that person. For embedded links, you can hover the pointer over the email link to verify what pops up.
3. Email creates a sense of time-sensitivity and urgency, demanding immediate action. This kind of manipulation, especially if it appears to be coming from a more senior employee or other authority figure, can be very difficult to resist. Attackers will often take the tone of frustration or panic to cause recipients to stress about making the situation worse by going through possibly unnecessary checks, but it is important to resist manipulation and verify before acting. Rarely will a situation be so dire that it cannot wait a few minutes for you to call or confirm the sender’s authenticity before carrying out the action.

Preventing And Mitigating Email Threats 

Preventing and mitigating email threats is crucial to protecting sensitive data, maintaining business continuity, preventing financial and reputational damage, and preserving the image of security and reliability that the organization has earned over time.

Some points to keep in mind that may help you to avoid falling victim to email threats include:

1. Email security tools can use different strategies to filter mail
   • Email security gateway: Organizations change their MX records to have inbound mail redirected to a service for filtering before delivery. The clean messages are then relayed onward to the organization’s email server.
   • API-based email security: Requires no MX record changes. Inbound mail is scanned once it reaches the organization’s mail server after delivery. The direct API connection allows the security tool to remove any emails it detects as malicious.
   • Rule-based email security: Instead of changing MX records, organizations set up mail flow rules / transport rules on their email server to redirect messages to a third-party service for filtering.
2. Even with the best security tools in place, organizations can still be vulnerable if users are not following best practices
   • Conducting regular Security Awareness Training helps mitigate security risks on the human side by keeping users aware of what suspicious activity looks like.
   • Foster a positive company culture surrounding cybersecurity. Rather than being punished for failure, end users should be rewarded for learning.
   • Implementing an easy way for users to report suspicious emails allows everyone in the organization to collaborate with their IT teams.
3. Have a procedure in place for if a phishing attack or account takeover occurs
   • This should include immediate actions to address the threat and a recovery plan for any lost data.
   • Any compromised users should have their passwords reset as soon as possible and be logged out of any open sessions.

It is advisable for organizations to use encryption when transferring sensitive information, and to make sure to properly configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to help protect against impersonation. Tools like Secure Email Gateways (SEGs),which filter emails as they enter or leave your email server and prevent the delivery of malicious or unwanted emails, are also helpful in preventing breaches. 

By proactively addressing email threats, organizations can safeguard their assets, ensure compliance with regulations, and maintain trust with customers and stakeholders.

For more information on email threats from Expert Insights, check out some of our related articles: 

• Email Security Hub 
• Email Security Buyers’ Guide 
• The Top Phishing Protection Solutions 
• The Top Email Encryption Platforms