Protect Your email communications with Sharp's Email Security Services.

What are Email Security Services?

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Email security refers to the variety of measures businesses use to protect email communications, accounts, and services from unauthorised access. Methods include educating staff and implementing best practice guides, spam filters, two-factor authentication (2FA), anti-virus protection, and data encryption.

Sharp's 2023 pan-European research¹ found one third have been impacted by computer virus attacks. Other research² suggests methods used by cyber criminals to gain unauthorised access to systems and data have become more sophisticated with a significant percentage, between 75% and 90%, of targeted cyber-attacks beginning with an email. Hackers target unprotected business email accounts to deceive employees and dupe people into handing over money and data, either by asking them to follow a malicious link or posing as another person (usually a stakeholder).

Sharp’s email security services are used to protect and secure email communications, accounts, and services from unauthorised access or compromise.

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Why is Email Security important?

Email security should be of the upmost importance to organisations due to the universal nature of email communication in the professional environment and the staggering statistics regarding cyber security breaches involving phishing.

The UK government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey³ showed that 93% of large businesses and 84% of medium businesses reported phishing attacks in 2023. But despite the very real threat that phishing poses to businesses today, almost 1 in 5 organisations only deliver phishing awareness training to their employees once per year⁴.

Businesses use platforms such as Microsoft 365 to send and receive large volumes of highly sensitive personal information. So, it’s important to protect that data from hackers. Email is used by cyber criminals as the primary intrusion method for malicious activity that seeks to gain access to data, hold companies to ransom, implement phishing attacks, and install harmful malware.

Protecting the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive information is critical, as emails often contain personal data, financial details, and proprietary business information. Cyber-attacks, such as phishing and malware distribution, frequently target emails, posing significant risks to organisations.

Implementing robust email security protection not only ensures data security but also helps maintain compliance with industry regulations and legal requirements. Furthermore, it safeguards an organisation's reputation by preventing email spoofing, scams, and other fraudulent activities. On a personal level, strong email security helps safeguard against identity theft and unauthorised access to personal information. By ensuring the integrity of communication, mitigating insider threats, and preventing data loss, email security fosters a resilient and secure digital environment for all users.

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Why use Sharp's Complete Email Security Services for Microsoft 365?

It’s simply not safe to only use anti-virus software in today’s landscape. As commercial technology evolves, so too do the threats associated with using it and it’s imperative that businesses adopt a multi-layered approach to security to keep pace with changing threats. With Sharp’s email security services, you can focus on growing your business, safe in the knowledge that your critical systems are safe and secure.

Threats commonly encompass malicious attachments and suspicious links, posing substantial risks to SMEs. Attackers are continually evolving their methods, further employing sophisticated methodologies, automation, and phishing tactics to ingeniously infiltrate networks.

Over the years, businesses have leveraged anti-spam technology to mitigate the influx of unwanted spam emails, a practice that remains prevalent today. Microsoft 365 includes as standard, includes basic anti-spam features, establishing a foundational defence for users.

To elevate email security within Microsoft 365, our Complete Email Security Services offer enhanced protection against unwanted or harmful emails. This solution identifies threats that conventional email security systems might overlook. By seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365, it proficiently identifies both internal and external attacks using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect indicators of malicious intent and deceit within every email.

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What do Sharp's Complete Email Security Services offer?

Benefits of Email Security Services

Data Protection

Email protection measures, such as encryption and access controls, ensure that sensitive business data remains confidential and is protected from unauthorised access or data breaches.

Prevention of Cyber Attacks

Robust email security services can identify and block phishing attempts, malware-laden attachments, and other cyber threats, minimising the risk of successful attacks on the organisation's network and systems.

Business Continuity

Email is a mission-critical tool for most organisations. By implementing email security, businesses can avoid disruptions caused by email-related cyber incidents and maintain seamless communication and operations.

GDPR Compliance

Many industries are subject to specific data protection and privacy regulations. Email protection helps businesses meet these compliance requirements, reducing the risk of legal consequences and financial penalties.

Cost Savings

Investing in robust email protection can save businesses money in the long run by reducing the likelihood of costly cyber incidents, data breaches, and associated recovery expenses.

Secure File Sharing

Some email security serices offer secure file sharing capabilities, enabling employees to share sensitive documents internally or with clients in a protected and encrypted manner.

How to implement Email Security best practice

Follow our simple 3 step guide to creating robust email security

Assess your data protection needs

Complying with GDPR regulations requires safeguarding sensitive data, such as personal information or payment card from unauthorised access. An effective solution should detect and remove unauthorised sensitive data from incoming and outgoing emails, as well as automatically encrypt authorised data, ensuring protection if sensitive information is mistakenly sent or received.

Recognise Cyber Threats:

The ideal email security services should block malware, spyware, ransomware, phishing emails, unwanted data acquisition, and unnecessary file types from reaching recipients' inboxes.

Establish an effective email security policy

Implement an enterprise email security solution that is easy to deploy, monitor, and manage, supporting and enforcing policies without overwhelming the IT department. Utilise streamlined features, such as handling all threats from a single interface, empowering employees to boost efficiency and freeing up IT teams for other essential projects.

Address Zero-Hour Vulnerabilities

While anti-malware solutions are effective against known threats, new viruses can exploit security loopholes. Choose an email security service capable of filtering, analysing, and sanitising message content and attachments to thwart emerging threats effectively.

Monitor Traffic Behaviour and Performance

For effective email security enforcement, visibility into email activity and comprehensive reporting are vital. Email security services with detailed audit trails enable IT teams to investigate potential breaches.

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Security Awareness Training

Phishing and social engineering cyber-attacks are where malicious actors attempt to deceive individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials, personal data, or financial details, by posing as a trustworthy entity via email, instant messaging, or other communication channels.

It’s widely recognised that your team can be your strongest defence and your greatest weakness against cyber security threats, particularly when it comes to phishing. The most effective way to combat phishing is through simulation, helping you to identify weak points. This proactive, sustained and repeated approach allows organisations to educate their teams about the risks associated with phishing attacks and understand how to recognise and respond to them effectively.

By following these guidelines, IT teams can bolster email security, safeguard sensitive data, and defend against ever evolving email cyber threats.

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Additional Cyber Security Services

Email security services and email encryption are just two ways you can protect your business data against criminal activity. However, at Sharp, we encourage a multi-layered approach, backed by around-the-clock 24/7 IT Support with security measures that include:

Firewalls - Safeguard critical business systems on all your PCs, laptops and servers with comprehensive network Firewall and Firewall as a Service solutions. Protect against cyber threats, including hackers, malware, and viruses. Sharp’s solutions meet GDPR standards and proactively monitor suspicious behavior. Suspicious behaviour is flagged and acted on immediately with firmware updates carried out automatically when required.

Endpoint Security - Flexible working is now the norm for many organisations. Employees use a variety of devices to carry out their duties from their home or public areas. Cyber security protection should extend to all of your IT assets, not just those that reside at your HQ. With our Endpoint Security you can rest assured that your endpoints are monitored and secure 24/7, no matter where your teams are using them from.

Backup and Disaster Recovery is an essential failsafe for protecting your business against unforeseen events. Whether due to technical glitches, human errors, cyber attacks, or natural disasters, having a robust BDR plan ensures business continuity. Sharp offers comprehensive solutions, including cloud backup systems and local storage to keep your data secure and minimise downtime.