Staying connected with your customers is essential for your business's success. Email continues to be a potent tool in business communication, with an estimated 80% of users checking their inboxes daily.
The convenience and versatility of email are unparalleled. However, despite its widespread use, with around 3.4 million emails sent every second, email is not always the safest way to communicate.
As a business, you often exchange sensitive information through emails that could be detrimental if accessed by unauthorised parties.
This includes data such as full names, addresses, phone numbers, and bank details of your customers.
Criminals with access to this data can exploit it for malicious purposes, such as:
For organisations that manage large volumes of data, maintaining customer trust is crucial.
A significant 33% of UK businesses that experience data breaches lose customers as a result. Therefore, securing emails against threats is imperative.
Emails were originally developed as a file-sharing system at MIT in the 60s. They were not designed with the robust security features needed for today’s usage.
This makes them vulnerable to cybercriminal activities such as:
Phishing: Attackers trick users into clicking on dangerous links, leading to harmful websites or downloading malware.
Interception: Threat actors position themselves between you and the data source, gathering personal information like usernames and passwords.
Impersonation: By mimicking legitimate companies, cybercriminals persuade individuals to share sensitive data.
Besides these threats, human error is also a major factor. Businesses are 61% more likely to send sensitive data to the wrong recipient than to fall victim to phishing.
Several strategies can help businesses secure their emails and safeguard customers' information from cyber threats.
Encryption allows you to disguise the contents of your emails and attachments.
The process uses ‘keys’ to lock your data, preventing unauthorised access.
End-to-end encryption offers the strongest defence, securing emails from sender to recipient.
Explore email encryption in more detail.
Authentication, such as multi-factor checks, is increasingly common.
Email authentication ensures recipients prove their identity, using methods like:
SMS: A code sent via text.
Q&A: A personal question only they can answer.
Biometrics: Face or fingerprint recognition.
We’ve all sent an email to the wrong person.
Revoke tools block access after the fact.
Outlook has a basic recall option, but it’s limited. Mailock offers a full revoke feature that works instantly across providers.
The best protection combines all these methods.
Our Mailock solution includes:
How Many Emails Does the Average Person Receive Per Day?, Earthweb, 2024
People Sent 74 Trillion Emails Last Year, Earthweb, 2024
What Do Hackers Do With Stolen Information?, Experian, 2023
UK B2B Research Summary, RedSeal, 2019
History of Email, The Guardian, 2016
Sabrina McClune, 18.06.24
Sam Kendall, 16.06.25