Where We Answer The Question: 'Is Email Secure?'
Email is used every day by billions of people worldwide. This must mean it's very secure, right?
Not at all. In fact, email is an inherently insecure communications medium, which can only be secured through great effort. One of the biggest security mistakes anyone can make is assuming they're email is secure. It is not.
Electronic mail messages are sent in plain text format by default. This means millions of email servers worldwide send and receive emails all day long in easy-to-read plain text. This type of message can be intercepted by anyone, and easily stored for later viewing. Since these email messages have not been encrypted, there is no barrier to their being read.
What's The Big Deal About Insecure Email?
These days, insecure email is a very big deal indeed. In fact, it can be huge! Using email encryption can help reduce many of the numerous threats posed by insecure email and regulatory fines.
To put it frankly, insecure email kills. Entire organizations are at risk of being put out of business by huges fines which can be issued for FINRA or HIPAA violations. Very few organizations could successfully weather the impact of a multi-million fine. That's why savvy companies are wising up and learning about the many possibilities of securing their email on the cloud.
Is Email Encryption The Answer For Securing Email?
In many ways, email encryption really is the Holy Grail of secure email. Properly encrypted emails can only be decrypted and read by those with specific access, reducing many of the risks associated with default email.
Cloud email, combined with email encryption, is the perfect solution for compliant email. Electronic mail that is encrypted before transmission and decrypted upon receipt, and then stored on the cloud in an encrypted format, eliminates the woes presented by locally delivered and unencrypted email. 
Encrypting your email is the best solution for gaining compliance. Encrypted email can only be read by the recipients it was intended for. Even a mis-delivered email can't hurt your organization because it cannot be read by anyone.
Automatically encrypting outgoing and incoming email solves compliance problems. Enforcing a set of rules defined specifically for your organization's data security needs is the perfect way to 'set it and forget it' when it comes to securing your email. Sending insecure email is too risky of a practice to consider taking. Protecting your email from prying eyes helps stop the type of data breaches that have become all too common.
How Secure Is Email?
As you probably learned by this point, security just isn't secure enough. You can no longer go through life content in the knowledge that your email is secure unless you've actually secured it. Protecting your email is a top priority and neglecting this fact can only lead to hardship.
Each day phishing and spam attacks clog the mail boxes of millions. Despite the constant cost associated with this email, some companies still complain that email security is too expensive. This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it's safe to say that not securing your email will end up costing you much more money than any you could save by ignoring the need.
Email Is Not Secure
If money isn't the issue, some organizations might claim that time or a steep learning curve is the roadblock to email security. These issues do not hold water, either.
Learning about and implementing robust email security will not take that much time or effort. In fact, using an email solution that is completely automatic takes almost no learning at all!
Key Points To Remember About Email Security
- Unencrypted email is a no-no. Failing to encrypt email is non-compliant.
- Locally stored email cannot be secured without removing physical access.
- Moving your email to the cloud from a local server is almost always a 'best practice.'
- Managed email services are designed to make your life easier.
- Managed cloud email security providers exists to make your life easier.
- It's never too late to secure your email, gain compliance, and eliminate the dangers of insecure email.
Consider Hosted Email Security
Hosted email security is a good solution for businesses who have to be compliant with regulations. With a hosted email security service you leverage the qualifications of the service provider to meet your exact requirements. You can't afford guesswork when it comes to securing your email. In fact, regulated companies need to be sure their email is compliant and that their privacy and data security policies are enforced automatically every time they send or receive an email.
Threats to email security are growing in intensity and frequency. Major criminal organizations are now involved in the decimation of email attacks. Phishing attempts are made as part of an orchestrated theft ring which costs consumers billions yearly. To ignore this threats is foolish. If you implement an effective email security plan, you can eliminate most common issues associated with email.
People are always looking for the best free email security, but commercial applications are typically much better solutions. Sure, free email security could help you save money. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. If your organization is hit with a massive fine for an email compliance issue, you won't be too happy about your 'free' solution. Always choose a robust commercial solution which solves your business problem.
What Is Phishing Email?
Phishing email refers to an electronic message that is specifically designed to 'fish' for confidential information. Phishing email attacks use psychological engineering in order to lure victims into giving up important information like passphrases. The attacks are designed to fool the victims and often rely on emotional appeal in an attempt to short circuit logic.
More and more phishing attempts are using trending news in order to entice people to cough up their details. When they do, further damage is done. Protecting your email includes removing phishing emails through scanning. Phishing is extremely damaging to companies and often heralds a much larger data breach that will soon arrive. Once you've lost your passwords to your financial accounts, the end of your business could be near.
