You’ve got (malicious) mail

Email is the simplest way for cybercriminals to get into your IT systems and some of the most damaging hacks of recent times have been the result of someone clicking on a link or opening an attachment within an email; something many of us do tens, perhaps hundreds, of times a day.

Jersey is proud to be home to many multinational businesses so could provide an attractive entry point for a hacker to gain access to a global set of users. Indeed, Mimecast stopped almost 10,500 in Jersey alone in January this year. It’s imperative that local boards, leadership teams and executive committees take this risk extremely seriously and ensure they are stepping up and taking responsibility for their organisation’s security.

At Sure we work with Mimecast to protect local businesses from cyber threats and we generally adopt a three-pronged approach to security:

Gateway security: Clearly the first line of defence against these attempts is the technology that processes emails in the first place: mail clients, networks and mail servers. Mimecast has a dedicated Targeted Threat Protection (TTP) platform that evaluates attachments (by opening them in a secure environment to verify their authenticity before they reach the end-user), scans links and analyses emails to identify potential spoof addresses or accounts.

Internal issues: Having the right gateway technology can only provide a certain level of protection; increasingly problematic is the insider threat which is becoming harder to detect as companies start to move to cloud infrastructure. To combat this, Mimecast combines and directs its gateway TTP and data leak protection technologies to extend and protect internal and outbound emails, applying the latest solutions to combat this growing problem, giving 360 degrees of protection across 100% of mail traffic.

Training to protect: The final prong to modern cyber security is awareness training. People can be a business’ greatest asset in the fight against cyber threats but only if they are trained adequately. At Sure we’re always advising our clients to constantly review and revise their cyber security policies and check they are fit-for-purpose; it’s no longer adequate to assume the IT manager is handling the security when every employee is online when at work, on-the-go and at home and the threats are varied and constant.

Cyber threats aren’t going away so the best thing you can do is make sure your organisation is taking them seriously, has a suitable policy and has staff who are committed to helping your business stay safe. To learn more about how Sure can help protect your business get in touch.

Originally published on LinkedIn by Kenny-Lee Holberry, Head of Sales