About Email Security in the Hybrid Working Era

With the future of a very large global workforce, or at least some kind of hybrid arrangement of remote work, are there implications for email security that we are missing? Oliver Patterson, Director of Product Management VIPRESecurityI believe so.

“The time frame people expect to reply to you has shrunk significantly,” says Patterson. “This puts more stress and pressure on the individual and can lead to more mistakes. [Employees] When I receive an email with a link in it, I’m not so conscious of it. In fact, they are more likely to click the link. “

A cybercriminal’s best friend is human error, and distraction makes a perfect companion. Remote work calendars mean meetings are now held in virtual rooms rather than face-to-face. Isn’t this a perfect opportunity to quickly catch up on a few emails during downtime? It’s also a perfect opportunity for attackers to fall for phishing attacks on your users.

Patterson said of education: “Even if you think these things are changing, [you] You need to add more security, and the methods and tactics people are using to get into your business are still very similar.

“The attacks may be more sophisticated, but the actual attack vectors are the same as they were 10 to 15 years ago.”

This applies to statistics. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) Phishing activity trend report (pdf) Attacks hit a record high in 2021. Attacks have tripled since early 2020, which means he has tripled since the pandemic began.

VIPRE has many solutions to this age-old problem, and the email security product side of the business falls largely under Paterson’s mandate.one such product VIPRE Safe Send, focus on unaddressed emails and prevent data leakage. “Everyone has emailed the wrong person at some point in their lives,” says Paterson. “It depends on how serious it was.”

Patterson notes one big FMCG brand where a very senior C-level executive had the same name as someone farther down in the business. Unsurprisingly, many emails were sent to the wrong place. “You try to pay close attention to people, but we now have technology solutions in place to help those elements as well,” says Paterson. “It’s also important to make sure the company is aware of it and that he has it all in one place.”

Another part of our product portfolio is EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)VIPRE’s goal is to “de-complex EDR management for small businesses and IT teams”. Part of that is understanding what the organization really wants.

The basic knowledge is there, as many organizational studies show. Read the Enterprise Security Group (ESG) research Released in October Regarding preparedness for ransomware. Respondents cite network security (43%), backup infrastructure security (40%), endpoints (39%), email (36%) and data encryption (36%) as their top defense areas . Many security vendors offer this, but how hard is it to filter out the noise?

“People understand that they need an endpoint solution and an email security solution. say. “So it gets to the heart of what they actually need as a business. That’s where VIPRE tries to make it as easy as possible for clients.

“A lot of companies are doing EDR today, but what we’ve tried to do is get it down to the raw ingredients that every business needs, and all the things that probably 99% of organizations don’t do. It may not be an add-on, you will need it,” adds Patterson.

“We are a very client- and partner-focused company, and we treat everyone as an individual business. [from customers] Some of the biggest vendors out there are just treating them as numbers. “

Paterson is Cyber ​​Security & Cloud Expo Global, December 1-2 in London, discusses the growing threat of ransomware and how the security industry is evolving with it. Having a multi-layered approach is fundamental to Patterson’s message, and his advice to businesses is on point.

“Take a closer look at these areas, threat vectors, how they enter your business, and make sure you have industry-level systems in place,” he says. “Many companies get complacent and keep updating the same thing over and over without realizing there are new or added features. Email misdelivery is massive. Most companies So, I don’t think there’s anything in place to deal with misdelivery.

“Ask, ‘Where are your business’ risk areas?’ Understand them further, then make sure you put those layers of protection in place to help with things like ransomware attacks and other factors. “

(photo courtesy sighton photo upon unsplash)

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