Data security is of the utmost importance to all business owners, not only on a physical level but on a technological level too. It can be difficult to instil the urgency that you have toward security into your employees if it is not necessarily their heads on the line or their bank balance that will directly suffer, should there be a security breach.
One of the main tools practically everyone in the modern world uses is email. Email connects us and allows us to communicate no matter our geographical location. It is a wonderful tool that truly has changed the landscape of the world, both in our free time and in a work setting. Unfortunately, due to its popularity and widespread use by users that are not technologically competent, hackers and cybercriminals see it as a platform to reap havoc on the online community.
Microsoft 365 has the tools available to cover you and your employees’ backs should you let your guard down.
Email encryption
Microsoft 365’s email encryption function helps ensure that only your intended recipient can view your email content. Aside from encryption, you can also define permissions by which your recipients are restricted on the actions they can take with your email – such as blocking the email from being forwarded, printed or the content copied elsewhere. This allows you to feel safe knowing that your sensitive work emails are not being shared around to unknown – and in turn – untrusted individuals or organisations.
To send a protected email:
- In Outlook for Windows, select the ‘Options’ tab and click ‘Permission’.
Anti – email phishing
Phishing, a definition – “Phishing is a type of online scam where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations via email, text message, advertisement or other means in order to steal sensitive information.”
Anti-phishing technology, ‘Safe Links’ as a part of the Microsoft Defender service, can help protect your users from inadvertently clicking malicious website links within emails or other files. Safe Links provides time-of-click verification of web addresses within emails and Office documents, and how this service acts can be defined within the Safe Links.
This can be implemented by:
- Visit https://protection.office.com/ and login with your admin credentials.
- In the Security & Compliance Centre, on the left-hand navigation, beneath ‘Threat Management’ select ‘Policy’ > ‘Safe Links’.
Email spoofing
Your custom domain can be protected from being ‘spoofed’ through Microsoft 365’s anti-phishing protection. This protection includes the support of email security best practices, including SFP, DKIM and DMARC protocols.
This can be a difficult, lengthy process, and therefore it is advised you seek the expertise of a Microsoft 365 consultant to ensure the correct configuration of the protocols.
Using these features as a precautionary measure against hackers is a good way to ensure that you and your employees have the best foundations to work from in regard to security.
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