If there’s one thing that no company can go without, it is e-mail. Even in a world where IM platforms like WhatsApp and Slack are growing daily, e-mail stays one of the main methods of communication in any business. But how does this old technology weigh-up when it comes to keeping your company (and your clients) safe?
Data Leaks
At the end of the day, it all comes down to one factor; people. Where there are people, there are mistakes. Where there are mistakes there are consequences. One of the most common mistakes made amongst employees is, without a doubt, information leaking.
In a typical scenario, sensitive information sent via e-mail moves between only a handful of parties at a time. But what if an employee accidentally hits send, before double-checking the e-mail addresses they’re sending to. It’s also not uncommon for employees to deal with banking details or information protected by the POPI act – details that you cannot afford to send to the wrong party.
But how do you prevent your employees from making this very common mistake? At the end of the day it really won’t be easy. The best would be to simply continuously train employees on what information can be shared with who and to ensure that your employees are always well-rested and awake, to prevent them from making these simple mistakes.
E-mail Hijacking
Another error that is common amongst humans are often not made by employees, but by external parties. When an e-mail account and the systems behind it is set up, certain measures need to be put in place to prevent unauthorized parties from sending mail on behalf of a company or its employees. I have seen a lot of situations where the parties who are responsible for the set-up aren’t properly trained or does not have the proper experience for the task.
This often leads to mistakes that leave your company open to a wide variety of mistakes. At the end of the day, it is extremely important for a company to ensure that whoever they work with is reputable and well-trained.
Spam & Malware
The last mistake is one that everyone has made at least once in the past. You get an e-mail marked urgent. It’s got a link, you click it, and before you know it files start disappearing from your PC.
Sadly, mail was, and always will be the #1 way to spread malware. Luckily this however means that there are a lot of ways to prevent this from happening. Proper training and a good spam filter will be a good start!
To be safe, you can also contact a security specialist to help you keep everyone (and everything) in your company safe.
