Why Every Marketer Should Care About Email Security

The move to hybrid and remote work has made many organizations adopt email communications. The use of distributed data processing systems has also ushered in a new wave of cybercrimes, among them ransom attacks and compromised scams. 

Over 91% of targeted attacks come from emails, meaning that many organizations remain highly exposed. As a marketer, you should not allow your employees to sacrifice the reliability, economy, and mobility of their inboxes. In this blog, we look at why you should care about email security. 

Avoid theft of identity

People often receive emails containing sensitive information. If the information is sent through encrypted email, they may be left exposed to identity theft. If a person knows your username and the password you use to access the email servers, they can read all the messages therein. 

Worse still, they can send false messages on your behalf, leading to business email compromise. Email encryption is the best way to keep customer data safe and prevent business email compromise. The key things to encrypt include the actual email messages and the cached, stored, and archived messages. Encryption prevents unauthorized users from capturing or intercepting your login details and the email messages you send and receive. 

Avoid risks and be compliant

In email security, a message is converted from plain text to cipher text. If a message was to be accidentally or maliciously intercepted, it would appear in the form of indecipherable text. You can set encryption at the message or company-wide level.  

Depending on the governance and industry framework, encrypting emails may be compulsory to maintain business compliance. Frameworks such as the MITRE ATT&CK and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) require email encryption compliance. Failure to meet the mandatory requirements can make your business vulnerable to lawsuits and fines from users whose data is compromised. 

Whether you want to start an online business or a brick and motor enterprise, always protect your email to reduce business risks and comply with legal requirements. Without email protection or encryption, competitors and strangers can access information in your business email. 

Safeguard confidential information

From sales reports to contract information, the existing email data should remain confidential during and after transmission. A wrong click could lead to a data breach by exposing your company information, such as sensitive negotiations and private financial statements. 

Email encryption is an effective way to protect confidential information such as bank accounts, credit card numbers, and intellectual property. Failure to encrypt your email may make third parties use your sensitive information for personal gain. Besides email encryption, other procedures you can adopt to protect your confidential information include:

• Comprehensive checking. Adding the word “confidential” in your email subjects is a practical way to enable your email recipients to safeguard your sensitive information. 
• Blocking false emails. Use IT support services to protect suspicious emails from getting into your servers. Since it is difficult to differentiate between genuine and fraudulent emails, the service providers will help you to mark unverified addresses as junk.
• Using drive links. In some scenarios, it may be necessary to use emails to share confidential information such as personal details and bank account details. To secure sensitive information, use the share feature for spreadsheets or documents in the cloud, i.e., Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.  

Nullify the possibilities of message reply

Any message you send via email can be modified. Besides modification, the message can be altered, saved, and re-sent in the future. You can receive a genuine message first and then receive other fake messages that seem official. It may be difficult to tell whether a message has been modified or whether the source is authentic.

In case the email message was deleted, you may not know that it had been sent to another person earlier. You can protect your emails through encryption-email services using timestamps, expiration times, one-time passwords, and ransom session keys. These features ensure that email messages are discarded to minimize the risk of message replies. 

To save costs

Email encryption helps to protect data using advanced security procedures such as cloud-based solutions. Per-user pricing simplifies the process of accounting for growth and tracking spending without compromising email security. 

If your firm is a target of cyber attacks, you will need to commit time and resources to resolve the issue. This may lead to significant financial losses and reputational harm that could jeopardize the viability of your organization. As such, you need to worry about email security since emails will continue to be important means of communication. 

The inbound marketing methodology is based on trust

There are different ways of building trust in your business. One of the best ways to do so is by creating genuine relationships with your customers. This means keeping the email messages clear, reliable, and authentic. Continuous support makes the customers successful, so they feel comfortable when recommending your brand to others. According to experts, one out of every 239 email attachments contains malicious messages. Your goal should be to block threats when sending email newsletters to prevent email-based business compromise. The best practices to build trust with customers through emails include:

• The message you send must always respect customers. Email conversations should not be different from ordinary one-on-one conversations. Think of every email as a covenant between your business and the customer.
• Clarify the source of the message. Sender identity contributes toward building customer trust. Personalize the messages and avoid generics such as “sender” or “noreply.” 
• Leverage personalization technique. Use personalized emails with customer data to deliver exceptional experiences. This is an effective way to build and maintain customer trust. 
• Build relationships using newsletters. All the newsletters you send should educate your audience about your brand. Use an email newsletter to inform customers and not to sell to them. 

Conclusion

Email security should be part of your information systems security controls. It helps to avoid theft and business risks while safeguarding confidential information. It also nullifies the possibilities of message modification and resend, saves costs, and helps to build trust with customers. Since marketing emails are targeted by cybercriminals, ensure that every message is secure and authentic.