Email is an essential tool for running a business in the 21st century. Instantaneous communication with clients, vendors and employees often takes place primarily via email and cyber criminals are not ignorant to this fact. Which is why email is one of the most popular vectors for attack, be it via ransomware, phishing, or impersonation scams. Companies of all sizes are realizing that they need additional tools to help safeguard their email systems.
The Threat
More than 90% of cyber-attacks start with an email. The goal of many email attacks is to steal credentials, while others might use impersonation tactics to send malicious attachments or solicit payments. A popular tactic is to identify a higher-ranking member of an organization (information that can typically be found on the “about us” section of a company website), make a new email account incorporating their name and send an insistent email to a lower ranking employee requesting a quick money transfer. The variations are endless, but one thing is common to all of them—email attacks are easy and cheap to mount, and they exploit human behavior to open major loopholes in network security.
What 365 Does
Microsoft’s Exchange 365 services do have some email security measures built in. It regularly filters items it detects as malware, likely spam, and phishing attempts. However, independent research suggests that 22.2% of all emails sent through the Office 365 filters are either malicious or unwanted. This means that that for every 1 million emails that Microsoft delivers, 221,195 of them could have potentially been filtered out for a more secure and less distracting technology ecosystem.
Email That Just Works Better
Mankato Computer Technology has partnered with software company Mimecast to provide a more secure, streamlined, and stable email experience for businesses. Mimecast offers multilayered protection to organizations using 365 email, virtually eliminating the threat from phishing, impersonation and other email-borne attacks, as well as massively reducing unwanted spam.
Phishing and account takeover attacks increased steadily in 2021, continuing a rising trend that was supercharged as the pandemic forced many organizations to increase their remote operations. Mankato Computer technology is pleased to offer Mimecast as a robust solution to keep email safe and productive for our clients. If you have questions about keeping your email secure, drop a line to your local, trusted technology partner, MCT.
