Email Security Should be Seen as the Most Important Security Feature to any Business

Hackers are more frequently attacking emails as it exploits the weakest part of the security chain – the user. Most users will see a ‘rogue’ invoice or an email that they do not recognise and delete it; however it only takes one user to click on a mysterious or bogus link to infect your entire file system.

A bit about me; my name is Jed, I have completed my degree in Ethical Hacking for computer security at Northumbria University. I have also completed my Certified Ethical Hacking qualification.  I worked at Kogo on the support team for a year as a placement year alongside my degree, and now I have finished I am assisting Kim and the sales team doing technical pre-sales.

This blog post will describe the thoughts and processes behind a type of attack on email security and then it will go on to describe how Mimecast can significantly reduce the risk of human error.

The beginning of any hack starts off with some aspect of social engineering (tricking the user). For example; a bogus phone call, fake IT support, or a malicious email. The hacker takes advantage of trusting human behaviour to plant the bug.

So if you were a hacker how would you infect networks en masse? An attacker could call up or knock on your door, however it is far easier to send a blanket of emails to thousands of recipients and see who clicks!

As a rule, a malicious email will have either a link to a malicious site, or contain a spreadsheet or document. Even pictures can contain malicious code. This is why outlook always asks if it can display the pictures first!

So, as a user, you receive an email and it reads