What is email security policy? Why is it so vital to keep sensitive information safe? As we all know, these days, email is a major gateway to all kinds of cyber threats.
These risks include people getting access to your emails without permission, your sensitive information being stolen, and your emails being disrupted by malicious actors.
On the other hand, Australian businesses have to stick to the national standards to make sure they stay safe.
These policies are the building blocks of safe digital communication, encouraging both compliance and resilience.
What is Email Security Policy?
An email security policy is a set of guidelines to keep your company’s email system safe from unauthorized access, data breaches, and malicious attacks.
Cody Faldyn, Senior Marketing Manager at Guardian Network Solutions, outlines the main goal of internet and email security policy in a paper called “Sample Internet and Email Security Policy.”
The goal is to minimise risks associated with internet and email use, including protecting sensitive data and ensuring safe communication across company networks.
By setting out how to use encryption, filter out malicious content, and manage suspicious emails, these policies provide a structured way to defend against different types of threats.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) in Guidelines for Email says it’s important to use measures like protective markings, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols to make sure emails are genuine.
These controls make sure your email exchanges are secure and that any potential problems are spotted and fixed.
Yumi E. Suzuki and Sergio A. Salinas Monroy in “Prevention and mitigation measures against phishing emails: a sequential schema model” highlight the fact that phishing attacks, which made up 31.4% of all webmail and SaaS breaches in 2020.
These show just how important it is for organisations of all sizes to have such policies in place.
So, an email security policy isn’t just about stopping unauthorised access. It’s also about making sure business continuity is maintained by protecting sensitive communication channels.
Benefits of an Email Security for Businesses
There are lots of advantages to having a good email security policy in place. Firstly, it helps to stop data breaches, which can harm businesses, including financial losses, damage to their reputation, and legal liabilities.
Yumi E. Suzuki and Sergio A. Salinas Monroy say that phishing attacks are the most common type of breach. They often lead to identity theft, ransomware infections, and other malware attacks.
If businesses educate their employees about phishing techniques and put in place strong email filtering and authentication systems, they can make a big difference in reducing their vulnerability to such attacks.
Secondly, an email security policy helps to keep the business running smoothly by reducing the impact of cyberattacks.
Ransomware attacks can mess up an organisation’s operations by encrypting important data and demanding payment to get it back.
If you’ve got a solid email security policy, plus regular data backups and an incident response plan, you’ll be able to bounce back from attacks quickly and keep your downtime to a minimum.
Last but not least, an email security policy helps you stay compliant with relevant regulations, such as the Privacy Act 1988 and the Spam Act 2003 in Australia.
These regulations set out the rules for how organisations collect, use, and share personal information, as well as how they send commercial electronic messages.
For a full overview of how email security works, kindly check “How Does Email Security Works: Step-by-Step Guide for Aussie Business.”
Components of an Effective Email Security Policy
There are three components of an Effective Email Security Policy:
- User authentification and access control
- Email usage guidelines
- Security measures
- Data retention and archiving
The following is an explanation of each component:
User Authentication and Access Control
The first thing you need to do to keep your emails safe is make sure your users can only access them if they’re who they say they are.
Cody Faldyn says it’s crucial to have unique user IDs and strong passwords that follow the company’s standards.
It also suggests checking accounts are still authorised at least every six months to make sure only the right people have access.
Another way to add an extra layer of protection is through multi factor authentication (MFA), as shown in the Suzuki paper.
MFA means users have to give more than one form of ID, so it’s much harder for hackers to get into accounts even if they do get a password.
Email Usage Guidelines
Clear email usage guidelines are another key part of an effective policy. Faldyn’s policy is all about making sure that users know what’s allowed when it comes to using email systems.
In Australia, where phishing is still a big cyber threat, organisations also need to make sure they’re following the local rules.
This means setting rules for using email for work only, as Faldyn says, to stop employees sharing sensitive data through personal messages.
On top of that, all emails must be decent and avoid offensive or defamatory content, which helps to reduce the risk of legal issues.
The ASD manual goes even further with email usage, requiring protective markings on emails based on their classification.
For instance, if you’re sending an email with sensitive data in it, you should mark it so that it doesn’t get forwarded to the wrong people.
Security Measures
The technical side of email security is a big part of keeping your business safe from cyber threats.
The ASD gives you a lowdown on all the different security measures you can use, including centralised email gateways, email content filtering, and blocking suspicious emails.
It also goes into detail about why it’s so important to encrypt email server transport using opportunistic TLS and MTA-STS to stop interception and downgrade attacks.
We also look at how SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can help us to authenticate emails and protect against spoofing.
The Suzuki paper also says we should make sure our networks are secure with things like firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and database security through encryption and backups.
Data Retention and Archiving
The last thing you need to get your email security policy just right is a clear plan for how you’re going to store and keep records of your emails.
Cody Faldyn reckons you should keep email messages and attachments for at least seven days, with regular backups to make sure the business keeps going.
This is especially relevant when it comes to Australian regulations, where businesses have to keep certain records for specific periods under laws like the Corporations Act 2001.
The ASD also points out that it’s really important to keep email data safe when you’re archiving it.
It’s a good idea to encrypt your backup systems and keep them somewhere else, just in case your hardware fails or there’s a cyberattack.
What is an Example of Email Security?
A great example of how to keep your emails safe is to use Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM). You can find out more about this in the ASD manual.
SPF makes sure that emails from a company are only sent from the right servers, while DKIM adds another layer of security by letting the recipient check the sender’s domain through a digital signature.
Together, these protocols stop people spoofing emails and carrying out phishing attacks.
Another great example is the sequential schema model for phishing mitigation, which was put together by Yumi E. Suzuki and Sergio A. Salinas Monroy.
This model suggests using email filters that identify and block suspicious messages before they reach the recipient.
In one study cited by Suzuki, these filters were able to block nearly 31.4% of phishing emails aimed at financial institutions.
Common Email Security Threats Addressed by the Policy
One of the most vital parts of an email security policy is to tackle the most common threats that come through emails.
These include things like phishing attacks, malware, spam and data breaches. Suzuki and Salinas Monroy’s paper shows how phishing is on the rise, with over 31.4% of phishing emails targeting webmail and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms.
Phishing is a big problem because it can lead to people losing their credentials, getting infected with ransomware, and having their data stolen.
This is why it’s so essential to have strong email security measures in place.
Also, malware is still a big problem, often hiding in email attachments or embedded in URLs.
Suzuki and Salinas Monroy found in 2020 that 97% of phishing emails included ransomware. Malware like this can cause a lot of operational downtime and financial losses.
Meanwhile, ASD says companies must set up filters that can block harmful attachments and suspicious emails.
Another thing an email security policy can help with is data loss.
Because it’s not just hackers who can leak data. People can accidentally send sensitive information in emails that aren’t properly encrypted or authorised.
And last but not least, unauthorised access to email accounts and systems is a big problem.
Weak passwords, stolen credentials, and lack of access controls can let people without permission get hold of sensitive information and mess up operations.
For reference, please refer to “How Email Encryption Works: Methods, Protocols, and Can It Be Hacked?”
Implementing an Email Security Policy
What is email security policy if you don’t put it into practice? But be aware; there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to implementing an email security policy.
You’ve got to plan, communicate, and keep an eye on it to make sure it’s working.
The first thing you need to do is put together a comprehensive policy that addresses the specific needs and risks of your organisation.
This means identifying what data is sensitive, looking at the potential threats, and setting out clear rules for how to use email, control access, and keep things secure.
Once the policy is developed, it’s crucial to communicate it effectively to all employees.
This also means making sure everyone gets training on the best ways to keep emails safe, how to spot phishing attempts, and what to do if something goes wrong.
When you create each user account, make sure to send them the user guidelines.
Then, do periodic reviews to check that everyone knows what they’re doing and is complying with the rules.
Another important part is getting the technical side done. This means setting up email servers and gateways, putting in place spam filters and antivirus software, and setting up multi factor authentication and encryption protocols.
At the end of the day, you’ve got to keep an eye on things and review the policy regularly, to make sure it keeps working as it should, even as new threats emerge.
This also means doing regular audits, vulnerability assessments, and incident response drills.
It’s also a good idea to update the policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, regulations, and business needs.
Best Practices for Email Security
So, one of the most important things to do is use a good email filtering system, as Suzuki and Salinas Monroy explain.
These systems stop malicious emails from getting through by scanning for dodgy links, attachments, and sender details.
This helps to cut down on the risk of phishing attacks, which are still a major cause of data breaches around the world.
If you encrypt both the content of emails and their attachments, even if they’re intercepted, the data will stay secure and unreadable to unauthorised parties.
It’s also a good idea for businesses to have strict password policies and require employees to use two-factor authentication to access email accounts. This helps to reduce the risk of credential theft.
Another important thing to do is to make sure you have email retention policies in place.
If you properly archive your emails, you can make sure you’re following the Australian rules, and you can also keep your data safe.
That’s why Interscale offers a 10-year cloud archive service to help businesses manage their email retention effectively.
We at Interscale also offer great protection through our Proofpoint Essentials platform.
This cloud-based service filters out phishing and spam before emails reach the network, which really helps to reduce the risk of cyberattacks.
We keep things safe with dynamic analysis of URLs and attachments, as well as policy-enforced encryption.
When you’re ready, feel free to take a look at our Interscale IT Email Security & Protection Service page.
We’ve got real-life examples from businesses just like yours. They faced the same email challenges and came out stronger because we were there for them.
And when you’re ready for coffee and croissants, let’s meet up. No hard sell, no pushy pitch.
Let’s discuss your email challenges and how we can help you tackle them.
In Closing
The key to keeping your sensitive information safe and making sure your business runs smoothly is to have a solid email security policy.
This should include things like user education, technical controls, and data management practices.
Remember, what is email security policy? It’s your protection against the ongoing threat of cybercrime, keeping your business’s digital assets and reputation safe.
