Email services have been used by millions of people for years. These services develop over the years and undergo changes in line with these developments. This means that these systems are vulnerable while undergoing change. In addition to the change of email providers we currently use, over the years we have seen the birth of many new email providers. On the one hand, we saw that new email providers became popular and old ones went out of use. While the old ones were replaced by the new ones, the speed, convenience and reliability of e-mail services increased thanks to the improved features. E-mail security, which has become an even bigger problem with increasing cybersecurity problems in recent years, was not very important for anyone at first. But today, email security is one of the issues that concern companies and individuals the most. Let’s take a look at the most important email security trends of 2020.
According to the latest researches, despite all the security measures taken, it does not seem possible for us to completely block ransomware or phishing emails containing malware. Recent reports show that one of the 3000 messages we received contains malware. According to the statistics used in the study, company employees receive up to 100-150 emails a day, so even a company with fewer employees is exposed to at least 2 malicious emails a day. This number is even higher for companies with over 100 employees. That’s why today, all company employees need to be aware of email security trends.
Here are the top email security trends of 2020:
5 Most Important Email Security Trends of 2020
1. New Threat Actors
One of the biggest email trends of 2020 is the increased cyber attacks in Russia and Eastern European countries. Eastern European criminal gangs seem to have been added to the increase observed in West Africa in the past years. Accordingly, in 2021, it is quite possible that cyber attacks will move beyond these regions and affect the Far East.
2. Increase in Phishing Attacks
It seems that hackers are turning to social engineering methods and reducing their attacks on systems. Increasing phishing and ransomware attacks and, conversely, decreasing malware attacks in recent years prove this. Experts predict that such phishing attacks will increase and their scope will expand in the coming years.
3. Two Factor Authentication Against Phishing
The two-factor authentication method is one of the most popular security methods in recent years. It is said to be very effective especially in attacks planned using bots. But as you all know, hackers nowadays seem to have found a way to defeat two-factor authentication systems. The most common method used to defeat these systems is social engineering, i.e. phishing attacks. Through phishing attacks, hackers can trick their victims into giving them the verification password. It is a known fact that they overcame two-factor authentication many times with this method in recent years.
4. Attacks on Genetic Research and Healthcare Companies
One of the biggest targets of the attacks that increased with the coronavirus epidemic was the health sector. With the epidemic, the health sector, which started to use communication networks more frequently, became vulnerable to attacks. In 2020, trends progressed through genetic research and health-related email attacks, as hackers were always planning attacks on current events. As a result of the attacks, patient records, genetic codes and research on the virus are among the information obtained. As long as the epidemic continues, the attacks on this sector seem to increase both in number and in terms of their effects.
5. Attacks on Suppliers and Third Parties
One of the increasing number of attack methods in recent years is attacks against business e-mails. In this type of attack, hackers lurk, hijack company employees’ e-mail accounts and start looking for the right moment. Hackers examine the employee’s daily email activity and devise attack plans. Since the attack is applied, it can cause huge damage.
The most current type of these attacks are attacks against suppliers and third parties. In attacks against suppliers and third parties, the hacker specifically examines the employee’s conversations with the service providers and constructs his attack through these mailings.
All these trends are making e-mail services more and more dangerous. Companies and e-mail users have only one question in mind: how can we secure e-mail use?
Here are the Measures You Can Take Against the Most Important Email Security Trends of 2020:
1. Educate yourself and your employees about e-mail security!
Hackers are improving themselves more and more every day and adding new methods to their phishing attacks. That’s why we, the users, should take care to improve ourselves and prepare ourselves against any kind of attack. For this, the best step we can take is to get the appropriate training. With our cybersecurity awareness training, you can plan the training suitable for you or your company and receive training in light of the latest developments. In addition to training, our tool supports you with reminders, videos, screensavers, and interactive games. Just click and schedule your training!
2. Regularly test if your e-mail services are working properly with the E-mail Gap Analysis tool!
Your e-mail security is as important as your individual security. To effectively protect against attacks, we must demonstrate the effort we put into testing ourselves to test the email and internet-connected tools we use. One of the best tools you can use for this is the e-mail gap anaylsis tool. Our tool tests your e-mail security systems working with applications such as antivirus and antispam with regular simulations and detects weak points. With the results of the phishing simulations, you can detect errors and take the necessary action quickly.
“This post is originally published at www.phishing.org.uk”
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