A 2020 study revealed that email is a major cloud attack vector in the corporate world. Organizations of various sizes and specializations are threatened daily with spam, malicious emails, and emails containing malicious links. Such attacks are successful because it is easy to entice humans to click links and open attachments without due diligence. This makes it the easiest way to breach an organization’s security infrastructure.
Email security threats have soared by 64%, even as the world struggled with the pandemic in 2020. This period was precisely when the world was learning to become ever more dependent on the cloud to sustain and boost business. Eight out of ten users acknowledge that their lack of preparedness resulted in harm to their businesses.
Achieving email security is a compound result of anti-phishing and ransomware protection tools and users’ education to steer free from malicious emails.
What Does Cloud Email Security Mean?
Cloud email security is a multi-layered protection mechanism that involves various email security tools in the cloud environment, such as anti-phishing and ransomware protection services. Cloud email security offers a comprehensive solution that can protect against a wide range of potential threats, such as spam, malware, and viruses.
Various security challenges that may hamper email services are also responded to and taken care of. Such a service associated with the cloud also eliminates the need and cost of on-site infrastructure to deliver up-to-date protection.
The multi-layered cloud solutions offered can be summarized as below:
- Targeted Threat Protection: This solution provides real-time scanning of links, websites, and attachments to block suspicious ones.
- Sandboxing Technology: It protects from malware downloads or exposure of credentials and sensitive information to external entities.
- Encryption: This solution enables users and employees to communicate without TLS to protect them from snooping eyes.
- Data Breach Prevention: It prevents data leaks by actively scanning email communications and attachments using keywords, file hashes, and dictionaries while supporting compliance.
- Secure File Sharing: Secure file sharing enables employees to share and collaborate without burdening the email security system of the organization.
Such a multi-layered approach towards cloud email security enables:
- Improved security by protecting against email threats before they can enter the organization’s network.
- Simplified cloud email security through an independent cloud email platform that constantly updates its threat intelligence.
- Application of cloud email security policies with entirely centralized monitoring and control for the administrators in the organization.
Why Is Cloud Email Security Essential For Organizations Today?
According to a study, 2020 recorded 304 million ransomware attacks globally, approximately a 62% rise from the previous year. Another study reports that there were 306 billion emails sent and received in 2020. These reports suggest that the use of email and the threats to it are constantly on the rise, emphasizing the need for a robust cloud email security solution for your organizational needs.
Cloud email security is essential for organizations for reasons summarized below:
Faster Deployment And Updates
Since there is no software to download in the cloud-based solution, deployment and migration become swift and effortless. It can only take as little as half an hour to set up an enterprise-grade cloud email security service in a few simple steps. The process begins with contacting the security provider with a request for deployment or migration. The configuration is then transferred from the on-premises gateway to a cloud email security solution that also offers email archiving, email forwarding, and email hosting. Next, the MX records and traffic are added to the new solution.
The email security solution provider will also ensure that regular updates are provided to the security solution to have a robust security infrastructure.
Proper Deployment Of IT Resources
IT resources are often stretched beyond their limits in this modern world of business. However, it is more prevalent in small and medium enterprises as they lack dedicated staff for security. The advantage of cloud email security services is that there is minimum maintenance and no hardware involved, freeing IT resources and time. Moreover, the organization does not need to deploy any additional or special personnel to take care of it as the solution provider assists with complete support. It immensely helps the organizations’ IT resources to focus on strategic and specialized activities such as threat analysis and security forensics.
No Hidden Costs
Since there is no physical infrastructure to maintain, a separate budget for investment in infrastructure or maintenance is not required. The cloud email security service is completely transparent, and so is the cost structure of security infrastructure that also offers tenant to tenant migration. Due to such commercial transparency, organizations get a clear idea of their monthly expenses and budget. This transparency makes cloud email security solutions great for small and medium businesses that do not have the capital for immediate investment in costly (and mostly unnecessary) hardware solutions.
Advanced Email Security Features
Cloud email security solutions ensure access to advanced security features to offer extra levels of protection. One of its advanced features is compliance. Government regulation has been growing recently concerning the storage and sharing of sensitive data pertaining to a user’s privacy. Cloud email security solutions help organizations comply with these regulations by offering archiving and other such tools to ensure that the organization complies with the latest compliance and regulatory issues.
Final Words
The lack of a robust cloud email security service can lead to disastrous consequences, such as data breaches, proving spine-breaking for any organization, leading to monetary losses amounting to millions. Cloud email security solutions offer comprehensive security against various email threats through anti-phishing services, ransomware protection, etc. Thus, deploying a robust cloud email security solution is becoming the need of the hour for organizations, given the rise in email security threats. Besides, every organization bears the responsibility of protecting data belonging to itself, its employees, clients, and associates, which is crucial from the compliance perspective; an experienced email security service provider can also guide you through the regulatory requirements, ensuring your organization does not end up paying up a fortune, in case there is a breach.