Where do I start with E-mail security

Cyber security is a crucial aspect of any business and should never be taken lightly. With the increasing number of cyber threats, it’s imperative to take proactive measures to protect your company’s sensitive information, customer data, and financial details. But where to start? Well, let’s start with the one part of your business that’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – your email.

Your email is like the front door of your business, and just like a front door, it needs to be monitored and secured. It’s essential to understand that even if you’re using a well-known email provider like Office 365 or Google Workspace, it’s not enough to guarantee that your emails are secure. These providers are in the business of providing email platforms and are not  only focused on security. So, it’s vital to take the necessary steps to protect your email and secure your incoming and outgoing messages.

One of the first things you need to do is  make sure  your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are set up correctly. These 3 records all work together to make sure your emails are properly sent and received.   They help to verify the email senders  and ensure that the email hasn’t been altered in transit. Setting up these records correctly will help protect your emails from being spoofed or intercepted and will also immediately increase email deliverability

If you’re running a simple email environment, it should take less than an hour to set up these records, and will immediately add an extra layer of security to all your emails.

Now, let’s talk about your staff. It’s unrealistic to expect most people to be able to detect all cyber threats, current and future, even if they are technically competent. 

To ensure that your staff and business are not exposed to any risk, you need to implement external email security. This solution should include email security specialists to assess the release requests and ensure that you aren’t relying on unqualified staff to identify and avoid the multitude of possible threats.

Let’s say you have some technical skills or you employ an IT professional, you can call them and ask them to check and confirm that they have installed and configured your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. And if this sounds like Greek to you, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Book a call with one of our experts, and we’ll point you in the right direction. 

If you need us to do it for you, let us set up a call, and we’ll see what’s involved.

Now, let’s dive a little deeper into how SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work together. SPF provides a framework for authenticating ownership of a domain, which is crucial to getting the benefits of DMARC and DKIM. 

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records enable email systems to check that the domain from which a message is being sent is authenticated as being the owner and controller of the domain. In simpler terms, SPF records help your email systems check that you are who you say you are, and the people who are sending you emails are who they say they are. If not, it stops or redirects the email to junk.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)records are essentially an enhanced version of the SPF record, which is done by giving your emails an encrypted digital signature. Implementing the DKIM standard will improve email deliverability. If you use a DKIM record together with DMARC (and even SPF) you can also protect your domain against malicious emails sent on behalf of your domains.

DMARC is an email security measure that protects your domain against hacker attacks.  DMARC enables email senders to specify how to handle emails authenticated using SPF and/or DKIM. The email receiver can then opt to send those emails to the junk folder or block them altogether.  It’s good to note that not all email systems use DMARC yet, but all the major providers do this already, so it’s worth getting it done before your emails all get sent to junk or deleted!

While DKIM, SPF, and DMARC together provide an excellent tool for reducing the threat of spam, phishing, and other email attacks, they don’t protect against all threats. But don’t worry, we’ve got your back. 

We’ve got experts who can help you navigate the complex world of cyber security and make sure your emails are secure.

So, there you have it. Securing your email is a crucial step in optimising your cyber security, and it’s easier than you think. Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect your business. Book a call with us today and let’s secure that email door!