2024 was a year of increasing email security risks for businesses. Email is the number one attack vector for cybercriminals, and phishing attacks remain the top threat to email users.
The 2024 Mimecast State of Email & Collaboration Security Report found that among IT leadership:
- 80% are concerned about new email-based threats posed by AI
- 41% of organizations experienced more email-based threats in 2024
- 56% worry their organizations' cyber defenses cannot keep pace with new threats.
But do perceived threats match up with actual threats?
Are organizations even using the right tools and mindset when it comes to email security?
In this blog, you'll learn the answers to these questions—along with 5 data-driven pieces of advice for protecting your organization from threats.
5 Business Email Security Tips
1. Anticipate Human Error
Spam filters are certainly not enough to protect your company from all the different types of email risks. In many cases, email attacks result from human error. An individual decides to follow a malicious link, which in turn releases information to the wrong person or results in data loss.
While training is important, it is also wise to use security technologies with policy-based administration to prevent errors in cases that fit risk profiles. Examples of technical safeguards that may prevent your employees from inadvertently releasing sensitive information include:
- No auto-fill of email addresses on external domains
- Automatic encryption of sensitive messages
- Pop-up warnings
- Auto-forwarding of flagged messages
- Filtering (or Sandbox) Email Attachments
For additional insight, we recommend reading Learn & Avoid Social Engineering Scams in 2025
2. Create an Information Retention Policy
Information retention requirements regarding email can vary. Your organization's specific requirements will most likely include federal, state, and potentially industry-based requirements. Ultimately, your information retention policy will vary significantly, and we recommend developing the specifics with the help of qualified legal counsel.
While it may be wise to exceed PCI requirements for information security, it's also important to examine your information retention policy against factors like cost management, increased efficiency, and regulatory controls. In an ISACA presentation, security consultant James Baird advised organizations to balance legal requirements of information retention with disposal of legacy information "as soon as possible to reduce risk."
3. Train Everyone—Especially Walking Targets
Any time your employees receive a suspicious email request, train them to perform basic verification activities on the following aspects:
- Domain name
- Website address
- Sender's name
Minor typos in the name or sending domain of an individual associated with your organization may be a sign of whaling, phishing, or another form of attack. An individual within an organization may be a "walking target" to cybercrime collectives based on his/her organizational role.
Criminals may target individuals with access to sensitive employee data, protected customer information, cardholder data, or finances.
Related Read: 5 Essential Cybersecurity Tips for Employees
4. Stand Ready for the Future
Since Q4 2022, there has been a 1,265% rise in phishing emails thanks to AI-generated content, and it won't stop there. In 2024, the FBI warned that in addition to traditional phishing tactics, malicious actors are utilizing AI-powered voice and video cloning techniques to impersonate trusted individuals.
What you can do to prepare:
- Stay Vigilant: Be aware of suspicious or urgent messages that request immediate action or personal information. Operate on a verify, then trust basis when clicking links and responding to emails and texts.
- Practice Strong Password Hygiene: Avoid using the same password twice. Use long, complicated passwords (23+ characters including capitals, numbers, special symbols, etc.)
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): MFA adds a critical layer of protection that requires both your password and a secondary confirmation via authentication codes, security keys, etc.
5. Use File Integrity Monitoring
Chances are high that your organization may be subject to ransomware, phishing, or a whaling attempt within the next year. While you can provide employees with training, knowledge, and testing, there's no guarantee a malicious link will not be clicked at some point.
File integrity monitoring enables security admins to understand when negative changes are being made to critical system files that can indicate unauthorized access to the company's network. With a sophisticated solution for enterprise security like CimTrak, you can stand prepared for increasingly sophisticated attacks involving impersonation, smarter ransomware, and advanced phishing.
CimTrak Enables Fast Response to Email Security Threats
CimTrak is the only FIM solution that allows security administrators to reverse negative changes in real time, allowing you to retain your compliance and data integrity even if you're faced with an advanced ransomware threat.
Facing increasingly sophisticated email threats in the year to come, IT security leaders should take a broad approach to protection. By focusing on training, awareness, compliance, and smarter technology, businesses of all sizes can achieve effective protection.
