Most modern day businesses wouldn’t be able to survive without access to email and the Internet. Email is used to get important documents to clients, suppliers and other contacts, quickly, cheaply and with minimum amounts of hassle. It is also used to discuss projects and to communicate with prospective clients and partners. There is no doubt that email has made users' increasingly time-poor lives a lot easier. However, as each day passes, more and more threats to email security rear their ugly heads.
Worms, Spyware and Other Nasty Inventions
According to SANS Institute, a top research and computer security business in the United States, there are a number of dangers that business owners should be watching out for this year. Hazards include: growing effectiveness and sophistication in bot nets or ‘worms’ (self-replicating computer programs that perform malevolent deeds such as deleting computer files), increasingly malicious spyware (software that gathers information while a user is browsing the Internet) and advanced identity theft from persistent bots (worms/bots that stay on computers for up to 5 days, gathering passwords and bank details).
How Can Companies Avoid Security Breaches?
Many companies are also turning to secure message and document delivery solutions which use the Internet. This way of transmitting data normally involves the sender logging into a secure, web based account to compose an email or attach a document. The sender then has to enter a secure pass code before the document is sent. In order to view the document, the recipient must also enter a pass code. Some software, such as the just-launched Securit-e, is even simpler than this, and doesn’t even require a pass code to operate.
This kind of software has become particularly popular amongst businesses that often have to transmit sensitive documents and private papers. Such companies might include lawyers, accounting firms, health-related companies, telecoms, businesses and even government organisations.
This type of product can be purchased from a number of reputable software development companies across the globe, such as Software Associates Ltd, in New Zealand and GMSI in the United States.
Other Things That Business Owners Can Do to Protect Themselves
There are a number of other precautions that you can take to shield yourself from all of those vicious little applications floating around in cyberspace.
Firstly, make sure that employees aren’t unwittingly compromising the company’s security by conducting work business through personal email accounts. Sending highly sensitive company information through a personal email account will severely undermine any Internet security measures that the company has put in place.
Also, be very wary of any e-newsletters that you don’t remember signing up to. A favourite trick of many Internet criminals is to send out fake newsletters with an ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom. Unfortunately, if you enter your email address into the purported ‘unsubscribe’ list, you will be hit with a heap load of spam and both your Internet and email security will be compromised.
Finally, don’t forget about your old, reliable friend...the telephone. Unless you need a hard copy of the conversation, consider picking up the phone for a business chat. The telephone is much more secure than a computer and will also add that personal touch which is so crucial for developing client and business partner relationships.
More of the most mistakes in email security can be found at this well-known I.T security site.
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