Email and instant messaging have become the industry standard for business communication. Recently, instant messaging services such as Google Chat and others have taken over as the primary mode of communication for everyday issues and problems, while email is used for more formal communication and tasks such as file transfer. Because they relied on instant messaging, they have become much less formal in their emails of late, as well as much less cautious when emailing. Less formal language, unsecured email platforms, and risky file transfers have inundated the email world, and it’s up to you to take action to protect yourself and your colleagues from potential email disasters.
MySEOTools has some advice to help you improve your email security.
1. Never use personal email platforms for business purposes
When creating an email address for your business, make sure to use your company’s domain name (you@company.com). An email address that includes a business domain name adds legitimacy and appears more official to the recipient. Sending business emails from a Gmail/Yahoo account gives the impression that you are running a hobby rather than a legitimate business. Make sure everyone in your company uses it; it will make your team appear more put-together and professional. Most large providers, such as Gmail and Yahoo, even provide a low-cost (or free) option to use your domain name with their services.
2. Avoid using personal email platforms for business purposes
When creating an email address for your business, make sure to use your company’s domain name (you@company.com). An email address that includes a business domain name adds legitimacy and appears more official to the recipient. Sending business emails from a Gmail/Yahoo account gives the impression that you are running a hobby rather than a legitimate business. Make sure everyone in your company uses it; it will make your team appear more put-together and professional. Most large providers, such as Gmail and Yahoo, even provide a low-cost (or free) option for using your domain name with their service.
3. Protect sensitive attachments
Email attachments are the most convenient way to send a file to someone. When sending files via email, it is critical to consider the information contained in the file and to implement adequate security measures to prevent unauthorized access to those files. Attachments, like the email message, are visible to every system the email passes through and may be copied/stored on intermediary servers. Files containing personally identifiable information (such as your tax return, bank statements, and so on) are of particular concern because they can be valuable to identity thieves.
4. Always enable two-factor authentication
To reduce the risk of unauthorized access to your email account, enable two-step verification whenever it is offered when configuring your email login credentials. It’s simple to gain access to an unsecured email account; simply figure out the password and you’re in. By implementing two-step verification, a hacker must also have access to your phone, making the process much more difficult and secure. It only takes a few minutes to enable the feature, and it could save you from having your data compromised. Because of the widespread use of instant messaging, many people have recently become less formal and cautious when sending emails. Less formal language, unsafe email servers, and risky file transfers have taken over the email world, and it’s time for you to act to protect yourself and your co-workers from potential email disasters.
5. Restrict forwarding
When we send a message that we want to share, we frequently click “Forward” without considering the consequences. Where is the message going? Who is going to see it? Where will it be kept? If your email is hosted on a corporate server, certain security measures are most likely in place to protect any sensitive information contained in your private email. When an internal email is forwarded to a recipient outside of your company, you expose that data (along with any other emails in the forwarded chain) to potentially unsecured, unencrypted servers.
6. Make sure your messages have expiration dates
While some of us can’t stand a cluttered inbox, the average user doesn’t bother cleaning up their email, viewing deletion as a waste of time. Can you blame them, given that more than half of us receive at least 11 emails per day? That means any sensitive information you send to a client could end up sitting there for months. You no longer have control over the fate of your data at that point.
We developed some recommendations to improve your email security. MySEOTools, the best email privacy checker, can point you in the right direction!