Email is often used by cybercriminals as a launchpad for spreading malware and phishing links. Verizon conducted a research in 2022 and found that phishing emails and email-borne ransomware continue to be problematic for businesses of all sizes. Email-based scams and ransomware continue to be a problem. According to data by Comparitech, 1 in every 323 emails received by a company with 0-250 workers has a harmful attachment or link. Since email is so widely used by a remote workforce, your company is more vulnerable to this kind of assault.
If your firm is worried about hackers obtaining confidential information through email, data loss prevention (DLP) may be a good solution. Tools created with the express purpose of preventing data loss in email do exactly that: monitor an organization’s email traffic for signs of potentially leakable sensitive material.
What is it exactly that emails have the DLP functionality for?
In general, solutions that enable network DLP also monitor email for unauthorised data use, hence the two are often discussed together. Email data loss prevention may be a standalone solution for businesses who go the IDLP route and rely on distributed, autonomous systems.
Traditionally, businesses have relied on email dlp solutions to ensure that no confidential information was sent outside the network. There are solutions designed to prevent attacks like spear phishing, CEO fraud, and company email compromise.
But how does it work, precisely?
Email has become the standard method of communication in companies with employees located all over the world. This also implies that it is the most probable manner for an employee to leak sensitive information, whether on purpose or accidentally. In order to combat “insider threats,” which might be anything that affects an organization’s data security, many email DLP solutions are available.
- Email DLP may be used to anticipate and reduce the possibility of human error by imposing a set of email flow controls. Internal threats may arise when those in authority fail to exercise due diligence, are woefully uninformed, or are malicious.
- The administrator sets the criteria for the screening of incoming email and any attachments for certain words, phrases, and phrasing. Email DLP policies are often stringent. They are created using a universal method, depending on factors like the sensitivity of data.
In what ways does this manifest itself outside of theory? Let’s say a CPA is working on a client’s tax return. For invoicing reasons, the CPA attaches the PDF of the tax return and also includes the client’s email address in the “to” section, copying the assistant on the message. The email DLP tool is activated when the CPA hits the send button.
The PDF, email content, and permissions of the assistant, CPA, and client would all be evaluated by the program. To determine whether an email contains confidential material, its contents would be analysed in light of a predetermined set of rules.
Conclusion
For emails that include sensitive information, DLP scanning may lead to the following actions being taken. Before sending a message to a third-party site, you may ask the sender to encrypt it or delete any sensitive information. To learn more about the recipients and any attachments, you may contact the sender.
