Top 5 Email Security Challenges

Email is the primary mode of communication across enterprises today. Businesses now heavily rely on email for interaction and data sharing. However, with increasing volumes of email, there is an increase in the number of attachments, i.e. the amount of data being shared. While on the one hand regulatory laws require companies to be able to archive, search for and retrieve email messages, on the other, they need companies to protect confidential data from leaks or theft. As a result, IT managers face several issues. And to address these issues effectively, it is essential to understand the nature of challenges posed by email systems. Here are the top 5 email security challenges that IT managers should be aware of:

1. Mal ware/ Malicious Software: Almost all organizations today make use of anti-virus software to protect their email systems. However, not all of them are capable of blocking sophisticated malware programs. Mal ware programs usually find their way through disguised email messages and are mostly undetectable. And with malware writers inventing advanced and invasive ways to attack email users, this tops the list of security threats.

2. Data Loss/ Theft: Email messages travel across the internet and are capable of being intercepted and read by anyone. Also, the possibility that disgruntled employees may transmit confidential data through email to virtually anyone, poses a major threat to data security.

3. Email Continuity: Ensuring continuity of email systems is another challenge. It is essential to keep email systems running despite hardware failure, power cuts etc. Businesses require that employees have uninterrupted access to email as they have to deal with customers, colleagues, and partner companies. Hence, any disturbance/ interference with email systems can be highly disruptive and can largely affect productivity.

4. Ensuring Compliance: It is very important to remember that people are not like computers. Although there may be policies and guidelines regarding usage of email, data sharing, disclaimers etc., it is often not possible to implement these policies to the fullest extent, because employees tend to bend rules and forget regulations. Hence enforcing policy guidelines and ensuring compliance is a great challenge for IT managers. There are several compliance management software solutions in the market that can help address this challenge effectively.

5. Archiving: Archival copies of email are stored in order to preserve ‘corporate wisdom’ as well as for reasons of regulatory compliance. And as email volumes increase, maintaining these archives becomes more time consuming and expensive. Also, disgruntled employees may misuse archived data, or simply create additional work for IT manager by making ‘subject access requests’ as provided by the Data Protection Act. And under these circumstances, inefficient archiving can pose immense problems.

Although there are many issues concerning the use of email systems, in the current scenario, email is an inseparable part of every business and has to be handled strategically to avoid data breach or security attacks in any form. In most cases, opting for compliance management services has proved very helpful, whereas in some others IT compliance and data security have been achieved by adopting a good policy framework and best practices. It is therefore essential to take a need-based holistic approach to tackle email/data security issues.