How Safe is your Business Email?

In 2013, there was a data breach at Yahoo which affected every single customer account that existed at the time. Now the new partner of Yahoo, Verizon, have released more data on the data breach and have said that 3 billion accounts have been affected. This includes email accounts, Flickr, Tumblr and other fantasy accounts. Names, email addresses and passwords were breached, not financial information.

Small Businesses are at Risk

There are always news articles about businesses falling victim to a cyber hack or data breach, yahoo being one of the latest well-known businesses to hit headlines. You might think that only big business is at risk, but the threat extends to small business as well.

If you think your small business isn’t a target then you’re wrong, if you’re a small business that gets hit by a cyber-attack then it’s harder for small businesses to recover, it might even cause your business to shut down. Most hackers are encouraged to target business that don’t have the resources to protect themselves from an attack.

How to Protect your Business Email

When a hacker tries to hack your company by email their main aim is to either gain information or steal money. Here are 5 steps on how to protect your business email.

Passwords: Make sure you always use unique and complex passwords that include numbers, lower and upper-case characters and symbols if possible. Try using words that you don’t have a connection to, make them as random as possible.

Encrypt Emails: If your emails include sensitive information then you might need to start encrypting your emails with a complex email for decryption. This will make your email safer.

Create an Email Policy: When creating your email policy make sure your staff are aware of it and make it easy to follow. You might need to keep updating this policy as technology advances.

Antivirus Software: An antivirus software will prevent, detect and remove dangers, it will remove viruses, phishing, malware and ransomware. Antivirus software is a must for any business, but it won’t protect your business 100%. Hackers are now more and more advanced with their technique; antivirus companies will struggle to keep updated.

Firewalls: This will add in another layer of defence against viruses by filtering malicious material and protecting your files and sensitive information.