The importance of secure email hosting

When former United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress in July 2019, information security experts paid attention to his testimony for reasons that were more technical than political. One of the various matters that Mueller investigated during his tenure was the hacking of email accounts operated by the Democratic National Committee as well as a private email server physically hosted in the residence of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

When former United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress in July 2019, information security experts paid attention to his testimony for reasons that were more technical than political. One of the various matters that Mueller investigated during his tenure was the hacking of email accounts operated by the Democratic National Committee as well as a private email server physically hosted in the residence of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

THE THREATS TO BUSINESS NETWORKS

Malicious hackers and cybercrime groups are constantly on the lookout for vulnerable email servers, and information security specialists know exactly what makes these digital systems such highly prized targets in the digital underworld. Email users tend to consider this form of business communication as being private and secure, which means that they will discuss important matters and share crucial information on this medium. This is something that hackers know very well; for all the convenience of business communications apps such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, the enterprise world still prefers to conduct business over email.

Breaching a vulnerable email server or successfully launching a phishing attack similar to what happened in the DNC hacking incident are actions that malicious hackers are very interested in; they view business email systems, particularly those that keep archived copies of messages dating back years, as treasure troves. Think about all the information your employees share via email; this is just the tip of the iceberg for cybercrime groups; now think about all the email addresses of your customers falling into the wrong hands. If you run a business that provides customers with access to online accounts, there’s a strong chance that you have sent out passwords on email messages.

SECURE YOUR EMAILS AGAINST MALICIOUS ACTORS

There are many reasons you should make email security a business priority. In general, you want to run your email server separately from the office network, at least in a separate container because you don’t want to give hackers access to everything if they manage to breach a single endpoint. Our remote email solution, SonicExchange, is securely hosted on a Microsoft Exchange server complete with spam and virus scanning as well as access policies that reduce the likelihood of phishing attacks. You can also increase security of your SonicExchange email server by setting up two-factor authentication.

SonicExchange offers data encryption plus other security features that comply with state and federal regulations such as HIPAA. Contact our office today to learn more about SonicExchange and other data security solutions for your business.