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The complete guide to safe mailing in 2024

29 Aug

Wat is secure mailing?

Secure emailing involves sending and receiving emails safely. In doing so, you try to eliminate as many risks and threats as possible. This way, you protect yourself and others from malicious practices.

Think of secure email like sending a registered letter. You place the letter in a properly sealed envelope, ensuring that no one can read or tamper with it. Then, you hand it over to a trusted postal worker. When the letter reaches its destination, the recipient must sign for it, confirming its safe delivery. Every step is designed to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of the letter.

Similarly, there are various measures you can take to keep your emails private and handle confidential information with care. In this blog, we’ll explore how to secure your email and the methods you can use to protect your inbox. But first, let’s discuss why securing your email is so important.

The dangers of emailing

We can hear you think: is email really as dangerous as people make it out to be? Unfortunately, the answer is ' yes'. From sending to receiving emails, the smallest mistake can have major consequences.

For instance, a lot of spam and malware is spread through mail. When you click on a link or attachment, malicious software can be installed on your computer. This can lead to identity theft, data breaches and criminals gaining access to your secured environments.

According to Security Magazine, 1.76 billion phishing emails were sent in 2023. Phishing emails are also at a 50% growth compared to 2022.

With an increase in cybercrime, there is plenty of reason to start safe emailing sooner rather than later.

How to mail safely?

The basics

There are some basic principles you can follow to secure your mail:

• Use a strong password for your email account
• Turn on two-step verification if possible
• Use a secure connection, identified by HTTPS in browsers or TLS within your mail client
• Avoid public wifi networks
• Make sure your software is up-to-date regarding patches and security updates
• Limit the amount of personal or sensitive information you send by e-mail
• Beware of phishing emails

Applying these basics will go a long way towards protecting your inbox from cybercrime.

Email security in organisations

When you start looking at email security within organisations , there are several factors to consider. Take implementing technical solutions, or making colleagues aware of the importance of safe emailing. Often, all these implementations have to fall within the organisation's budget and policies, which can be challenging.

Technical security measures

There are numerous technical security measures your organization can implement to ensure secure email communication. Let’s explore what this looks like through a practical example.

Office Chairs XXL is a company that sells office chairs across Europe. Alice Green, the company’s security officer, is dedicated to safeguarding their email traffic. For starters, she has educated every colleague on the importance of using passphrases instead of traditional passwords. Passphrases are longer and thus harder to crack. Additionally, the entire organization now employs multifactor authentication, providing an extra layer of security for their accounts. For handling sensitive files, Alice has established a dedicated portal, enabling her colleagues to securely exchange files with customers.

Alice has also implemented measures to enhance the protection of both incoming and outgoing mail. A specialized filter scans attachments to prevent unnecessary or dangerous emails from reaching the inbox. She has also introduced an alert system for external emails, so colleagues receive a notification when opening a message that originated outside the organization. This helps them identify potential spear-phishing attempts.

Lastly, to avoid accidentally sharing information with the wrong recipient, Alice has set up a sending delay. This allows employees to retract an email if it was sent to the wrong address, minimizing the risk of information leakage.

Policies and regulations on secure emailing

Under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), it has become mandatory for organizations to protect customers' personal data from breaches. It’s worth noting that the United Kingdom has established its own version of the GDPR, known as the UK GDPR. While it closely mirrors the European GDPR, certain adjustments have been made to better align it with the UK's specific needs following Brexit.

As a company, you are legally required not to retain data longer than necessary. However, implementing a process that automatically deletes data stored in emails can be challenging. Additionally, individuals have the right to request access to their data, which can be difficult if you have to manually search through emails to locate this information.

To better safeguard privacy-sensitive information, it’s advisable to share such data through a secure portal. This approach gives you greater control over data security since you can easily revoke access to a portal whenever necessary.

Standards and guidelines

In addition to the GDPR, there are several other standards and guidelines that could impact your organization, such as ISO 27001. It's crucial to incorporate all relevant regulations, laws, and guidelines into your internal policies. These policies should outline how sensitive information is handled via email, how long emails are retained, and the procedures to follow in the event of a data breach or phishing attack, among other things. Additionally, it’s important to regularly conduct training sessions and run phishing simulations to raise awareness among colleagues about safe email practices.

Security awareness and training

Email security is a topic that affects your entire organisation. Therefore, it is important to inform your colleagues on the importance of safe emailing. Run regular phishing simulations to keep your colleagues alert. Follow up with security awareness training to increase your organisation's security awareness.

Trends and developments in secure emailing

How artificial intelligence is changing the email security landscape

Advancements in AI have accelerated significantly in recent years. While cybercriminals may exploit these technologies, AI also offers powerful solutions that can help you tackle threats more intelligently and efficiently. With these tools at your disposal, you can intercept a wide range of threats before they become serious issues.

Quantum computers demand hyper-intelligent formulas to protect data

The rise of quantum computers has been anticipated for several years now. These incredibly powerful machines can process a vast number of calculations simultaneously, posing a serious threat to today’s security systems. As a result, there’s an urgent need for a highly sophisticated solution to counteract this potential vulnerability.

Recognising secure mail

If you were to ask us, the most important factor in secure mailing is awareness. By being aware of all the dangers, you can recognise an (in)safe mail faster. We recommend regularly training your colleagues in security awareness to keep the subject top-of-mind.

In our module Secure E-mailing, your colleagues learn to react timely and accurately when there is an unsafe e-mail. It also gives them practical tips on how to secure e-mail traffic. Here’s a small preview:

Our security awareness platform has more than 60 modules that are available in several languages. Start training your colleagues anywhere in the world right away. Get to know our security awareness platform for free for 28 days. Get access to our entire content library and start sending phishing simulations right away.