With cyberattacks continuing to increase on a daily basis, we’ve put together a series of blog posts on some of the most important cybersecurity measures and how you can implement them in your firm. In our latest post we cover the topic of inline email security.

What is inline email security?
Prevention is better than cure. That’s the entire objective of inline email security. Inline email security is a cybersecurity application that is designed to block malicious emails or files before they even enter a user’s mailbox. By scanning every email and file in advance of it being delivered provides a high level of protection for every system user.

How does inline email security work?
Most inline email security works by leveraging the SaaS email and storage provider APIs to create mail flow rules that inspect emails and files to ascertain whether they pose a threat. Any emails or documents that the pre-set rules deem ‘suspicious’ such as malware, phishing or ransomware attacks, will immediately be quarantined.

Such emails or files are directed to and stored in a designated ‘quarantine mailbox’ where they can then be reviewed and remediated as required. Only a limited number of users will have access to the ‘quarantine mailbox’ to further mitigate risk.

It’s useful to understand how this specific cybersecurity measure works alongside other such tools such as multi-factor authentication. The process can be broken down into three main steps:

• Any email or file incoming to the firm is funnelled into the general mail flow processing
• Each email or document is redirected through to the inline email security application where it is scanned and assessed against the mail flow rules or policies
• If the application classes the email or file as malicious action is taken and it is quarantined. If the email or file is classed as safe it is returned back to the general processing flow for delivery to the recipient

Review your cybersecurity policy, now
It’s worth mentioning that email notifications and release workflows as outlined above are all based on defined rules and policies that should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure their efficacy. Inline email security should be a key part of your wider cybersecurity policy and, as with any other corporate policy, it’s vital that it is fit for purpose. When was the last time you appraised your cybersecurity policy? If you’ve not done this in the last three months you should implement a review as a matter of urgency.

What’s more, if you’re one of the many UK businesses that runs Office 365, it’s also worth noting that any malicious account takeover initiated by cyberattack will expose ALL apps in Office 365, including Sharepoint. Since Sharepoint is a collaborative working platform it is a very easy way for cybercriminals to potentially gain access to business critical documents should they be stored in Sharepoint.

Get ahead of cybercriminals and stay ahead
Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility and there are multiple, cost-effective tools available that will ensure your firm stays ahead of the cybercriminals. What’s more, they don’t cost the earth, far from it in fact. If you have any queries about your existing cybersecurity measures, or specific queries relating to inline email security, please get in touch and we’ll help. Call the etiCloud team anytime on 0333 358 2222 or drop us an email info@everythingthatis.cloud and we’ll make sure you’re always ahead.