Email is still an incredibly important tool for small and medium businesses (SMBs). However, it is also the primary gateway for criminals to launch targeted attacks that carry significant financial and reputational risk.
Relying on basic spam filters is no longer enough. Building an email security strategy requires a layered defence that protects inboxes, identifies deep threats, and trains employees to recognise sophisticated scams.
Why are phishing and impersonation attacks succeeding?
Phishing has become the most successful tactic used by cybercriminals, accounting for the majority of breaches. Attackers don’t just rely on obvious spelling mistakes. Instead, they craft messages that spoof trusted senders, often targeting finance teams or executives with urgent requests for payments or data.
The solution must be able to detect fraudulent requests, even when they come from a known contact whose account has been compromised. The filtering system needs continuous updates to flag new scam tactics the moment they emerge.
These layers of defence include:
- Attachment Sandboxing: Automatically detonating suspicious files in a safe environment to check for malicious code before they reach the user’s desktop
- Link Rewriting: Changing hyperlinks in emails so the destination can be verified at the point of click, even if the original message passed the initial scan.
- Domain Spoofing Protection: Verifying that a sender’s address actually belongs to the claimed organisation
Where does malware hide in business communications?
Malware, including ransomware, can be disguised as a harmless attachment like an invoice or a zipped folder. Security systems scan the attachment but fail to inspect the content of the message itself, allowing highly targeted threats to pass through.
Comprehensive email security must inspect every part of an incoming message, scanning images, text, and embedded code for harmful indicators. The system must also perform a deep inspection of all outbound email to prevent a compromised internal account from distributing malware to customers or partners. Protecting your brand’s reputation is just as important as protecting your own network.
Should it stop users from receiving unwanted messages?
Spam and unsolicited marketing can overwhelm inboxes, wasting employee time and increasing the chance that genuine threats are missed. While pure junk mail is often annoying rather than dangerous, it can still distract and create admin strain on IT teams.
A dedicated content filtering capability is important for productivity and should go further than reputation lists. It should allow IT staff to set policies based on content, sender, or subject line. This is particularly useful for filtering large volumes of low-priority mail.
Why is account takeover the biggest internal risk?
Once an attacker gains access to a corporate email account, the consequences are severe. They can spy on internal communications, launch scams, and move across your internal network. Account takeover is often achieved through successful phishing attacks.
The email security platform should work with identity and access management tools for continuous monitoring of user behaviour. If an internal account begins sending thousands of emails late at night, or attempts to access sensitive data stores, the system should flag this immediately. This proactive stance is vital for limiting the damage of a compromised account.
How does protection extend to stored data and archives?
Many businesses forget that GDPR and other data privacy regulations apply to archived emails just as well as live communications. Sensitive personal data that is stored incorrectly creates a compliance risk that basic inbound filtering cannot solve.
Compliant email archiving ensures all messages are stored immutably for legal, audit, and HR purposes. This capability is essential for audit preparedness as it provides a verifiable, tamper-proof record of every communication. The email security platform should offer integrated archiving, so that sensitive information is continually tracked and protected.
How can conversion tracking guide user safety at a glance?
One of the newest and most effective ways to reduce human error is through conversion tracking, using banner overlays. These visual warnings appear at the top of an email to give users immediate context and guidance.
These banners alert staff when:
- A message comes from an external sender the user has never interacted with before
- The content includes unusual requests, such as asking for a wire transfer or sensitive financial data
- The sender’s domain has a low reputation score or is known to be associated with suspicious activity
These alerts empower employees to make safer decisions instantly, serving as an extra layer of defence against targeted email security threats and social engineering.
What can user awareness training do?
Technology alone cannot solve the human element of security. Employees are the final line of defence against social engineering attacks. One click from a tired or distracted user can compromise months of security planning.
Mandatory and frequent user awareness training is a key part of the strategy. Training should be continuous, engaging, and based on realistic simulations of current attack trends. This approach ensures that staff remain vigilant.
Training programs must cover:
- Identifying signs of manipulation in emails
- The dangers of clicking links or opening attachments from unknown senders
- Protocols for reporting suspicious mail
Pairing email security technology with regular, targeted staff education significantly reduces human error.
Is your email security platform slowing down your business?
Security systems that are poorly optimised or rely on outdated proxy-based architecture often mean noticeable delays. Employees become frustrated when mail delivery is slow, leading to complaints and occasional pressure on IT teams to reduce security settings. Security should enhance business operations, not impede them.
Cloud-native email security is designed for speed and scale. It processes messages in milliseconds, so your users receive their communications instantly. An easy-to-manage system saves time that can be redirected toward business-critical projects.
Why unified security makes a difference
Treating email and web-based attacks as two channels with separate, isolated point solutions creates blind spots. Alert fatigue is a serious problem for small teams managing multiple consoles.
A unified platform provides a consistent policy across both email security and web security, simplifying deployment and management. You can monitor user behaviour across both channels from a single dashboard, eliminating the gaps between security products and providing cohesive coverage.
How can SMBs build a truly resilient defence?
Effective email security relies on a structured plan that combines advanced technology with ongoing user vigilance. By prioritising deep threat detection, integrated identity controls, and continuous user training, your SMB can have an email security solution that gives your SMB the right defense against attacks.
Cybersecurity shouldn’t slow your business down. We simplify cloud security for the modern SMB. It’s fast to deploy and built to grow with you. Book a demo today.
