For Email Security Encryption Is Key
For email security, a big component that’s needed by most organizations is email encryption. Email encryption eliminates one of the biggest risks of insecure email, greatly enhancing the security of any organization that implements it. Email encryption prevents emails from being read by anyone other than intended, authorized recipients. For compliance and regulatory issues, this additional layer of security is a necessity.
Email is sent by default in plain text. Not only is that a big problem, but the way electronic mail is delivered compounds the issue. Email servers store email in the format in which they receive it. So, if it arrives in plain text, it is stored in plain text. Email can be archived indefinitely on any number of servers, increasing the chance that plain text email can be read, revealing potentially sensitive information.
If you work in a regulated industry, using email encryption eliminates this risk. Email encryption locks an email from being read by anyone, requiring authorization to open and read the email. The bonus is that encrypted email will also be stored in encrypted format. This simple fact helps improve security and privacy for sensitive electronic records, especially records sent via email.
Compliance issues arise when people have access to data that they should not have. Surprisingly, many breaches that have caused non-compliance this year have been related to employees who were ‘snooping.’ These nosy workers look at sensitive data out of curiosity, which is a major problem for privacy and security. This is one of the reasons that policy-based user access is gaining in popularity. By setting policies, organizations can eliminate unneeded access to electronic mail.
If you’re considering implementing email encryption, there’s good news for you. It’s easier than ever to implement encryption and set policies that make your organization compliant.
At MostHost we offer MXSweep encryption. This SaaS security will secure your email server and make sure that unencrypted ‘plain text’ email never ends up in the wrong hand. If you want to go one step further, we can also add Large File Transfer and Media Encryption, if desired. That means you can encrypt USB drives, CD-Roms, or large files you send to others.
