Sending and receiving emails has become such a normal practice for small businesses today, so it’s easy to underestimate the importance of having a secure email policy. There is always news about a company getting hacked and having their important data compromised, and many times the hacker was able to get into their system via an email compromise. Unfortunately, it’s often through employee negligence that creates the biggest issues, since they aren’t sure how to detect phishing or scamming emails and what to do with them when they see them. This is why having proper IT security services is critical, but it’s also important to be proactive with your email policy. Here are some things to consider in this regard.
Potential Consequences of Email Hacks
When you have a quality computer support solution in place, malicious emails should never even be seen by employees. However, with the consequences of email attacks being so severe, proactive steps should still be taken to protect your company. Billions of dollars are lost every year worldwide due to cyber attacks. For small business owners, even a loss of tens of thousands of dollars can be enough to bury you to the point where you have to close the doors. And if that is a possible consequence, it highlights the importance of putting together a secure email policy.
Components of A Secure Email Policy
When you have the best IT security services in place, it should mean having at least these basic email policy components:
- Encrypting all emails so they can only be viewed by specific users
- Strengthening all passwords to email accounts
- Only retaining emails for a certain period of time
- Training employees periodically on email safety and best practices
- Always locking computers when not in use
- Reporting any suspicious emails to the proper personnel
- Backup your email to a cloud provider
While these are very basic components of any email policy, they are essential to incorporate and can save your business from experiencing major data breaches as a result.
Always Maintain Strict Email Policy Standards
When a strict email policy is implemented, you have to ensure the standards remain strict for years to come. It only takes clicking on one malicious link in an email to spread a virus throughout an entire system or network. Having quality IT security services in place will help prevent this from happening, but being proactive about your policies will ensure issues never go that far. Chances are every employee in your organization has an email account, so having a secure email policy is widely regarded as the most important to have.
Single Point of Contact provides comprehensive IT support for small business owners. We understand many small business owners don’t have the time or resources to implement security practices, so we take great pride in helping them do so. Not having the right IT security services in your organization leaves you vulnerable to cyber attacks, which could put your business in jeopardy. Before it gets to that point, contact us to see how our services can help keep your business safe and secure for years to come.
