Articles about Email

Despite decades of technological advancement, email remains the predominant attack vector for cybercriminals, with estimates suggesting that 80-90 percent of cyberattacks originate through email channels. While the cybersecurity industry has made significant strides in other areas, many businesses continue to rely on outdated email security measures that leave them vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated threats. This protection gap demands immediate attention from IT leaders.

Traditional secure email gateways (SEGs) like Mimecast and Proofpoint have served as the backbone of organizational email security for years. Similar to how traditional firewalls operate at network perimeters, these gateways excel at blocking known threats through signature-based detection and basic filtering rules. However, just as modern network security has evolved beyond simple perimeter defenses, email security requires a more sophisticated approach.

Continue reading →

New research reveals the top five industries most frequently targeted by specifically tailored phishing attacks using either the recipient's name, email address, phone number, or company name.

The study from Cofense using data drawn from the Cofense Intelligence product between Q3 2023 to Q3 2024 shows, unsurprisingly, that finance tops the list, accounting for 15.5 percent of all credential phishing emails where the product redacted information from the subject in order to safeguard the recipient.

Continue reading →

New data from Cofense shows one malicious email bypassing customers' Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) every 45 seconds -- up from every 57 seconds in 2023.

The report also highlights the rapid rise in Remote Access Trojans (RATs) and the evolution of credential phishing techniques that exploit trusted platforms. Remcos RAT emerged as the predominant malware, using methods to bypass SEGs with ease.

Continue reading →

According to a new report, 80 percent of registered web domains that resemble a Global 2000 brand do not actually belong to that brand.

The report from enterprise-class domain registrar CSC shows that of the homoglyph (look-alike fake) domains owned by third parties other than the Global 2000 brand owners, 42 percent have MX records (email exchange records) compared with 40 percent in 2023. These MX records can be used to send phishing emails or to intercept email.

Continue reading →

A new report from Abnormal Security reveals a rise in targeted email compromise attacks on the healthcare sector.

Vendor email compromise (VEC) attacks on the sector have consistently trended upward, recording a 60 percent increase between August 2023 and August 2024. The sector's reliance on long-term vendor relationships is being exploited through VEC, where cybercriminals impersonate trusted vendors to bypass traditional email security and trick employees.

Continue reading →

New research from email security company IRONSCALES finds near-ubiquitous concern surrounding the security implications of deepfakes while only 42 percent of respondents feel very confident about their organization’s ability to defend against deepfake-enabled attacks.

Based on a survey of over 200 IT processionals the report finds 94 percent have some level of concern surrounding deepfakes, and 74 percent say they are 'very concerned.'

Continue reading →

The “summary cards” feature of Gmail is not new; it is Google’s way of helping to make your emails easier to manage, consolidating information about, for instance, purchases you’ve made. Now things are being updated with live updates and “action buttons”.

Across four categories -- purchases, events, bills and travel -- summary cards provide at-a-glance information at the top of your emails. The new actions buttons make it possible to quickly add entries to Google Calendar or Google Tasks so you don’t forget important events, but there is much more to the update, including a Happening Soon section.

Continue reading →

It is estimated that people make 35,000 decisions every day -- or, to break that number down, one decision every two seconds. That’s not to say that each decision has a big impact, most are small and often instinctive, like taking a sip of coffee, turning the work laptop on, and clicking a hyperlink in an email.

In fact, it is that instinctive use of email that can lead to cyberattacks and data breaches. Email is the backbone of business communication. Despite remote and hybrid work driving the adoption of messaging apps and video conferencing, four out of five employees say email is their preferred way to communicate.

Continue reading →

A new survey of IT and security leaders working within critical infrastructure industries reveals that 80 percent of organizations experienced an email-related security breach over the past year, and 63.3 percent of respondents say their email security approach needs to be improved.

The report from infrastructure protection company OPSWAT based on a study by Osterman Research finds that despite advancements in cybersecurity, 48 percent of organizations lack confidence in their existing email security defenses, leaving them vulnerable to potentially devastating cyberattacks.

Continue reading →

Because email is the primary source of initial entry in many breaches, many organizations pay for sophisticated, third-party email filtering solutions on top of the protections afforded by Microsoft 365. This is a wise investment; having layers of protection by different vendors helps eliminate blind spots found in any one vendor solution and provides complexity that can foil attack attempts.

Yet, few know that threat actors can easily bypass these third-party filtering products by directing emails to onmicrosoft.com domains that are an inherent part of the Microsoft 365 configuration.

Continue reading →

Although it dates back to the very early days of the internet, email remains a vital communications channel for businesses. But it also continues to present security challenges.

A new report from Abnormal Security reveals a 350 percent year-on-year growth in file-sharing phishing attacks, while business email compromise attacks (BEC) have grown over 50 percent from the second half of 2023 to the first half of 2024.

Continue reading →

Phishing remains a significant threat to organizations. A new report from Darktrace shows 17.8 million phishing emails detected across its customer fleet between December 21, 2023, and July 5, 2024. Alarmingly, 62 percent of these emails successfully bypassed DMARC checks.

Cybercriminals are embracing more sophisticated tactics, techniques and procedures designed to evade traditional security parameters.

Continue reading →

Almost half (49 percent) of all detected spam emails are attributed to business email compromise (BEC) scams, with the CEO, followed by HR and IT, being the most common targets according to a new report.

The research from VIPRE Security Group puts a more sinister complexion on this trend, revealing that a full 40 percent of the BEC emails uncovered were AI-generated, and in some instances, AI likely created the entire message.

Continue reading →

Of course all companies are vulnerable to email threats, but analysis by Barracuda of targeted email attacks over the past year, reveals that organizations are vulnerable in different ways, according to their size.

Lateral phishing -- where attacks are sent to mailboxes across the organization from an already compromised internal account -- makes up just under half (42 percent) of targeted email threats against organizations with 2,000 employees or more, but just two percent of attacks against companies with up to 100 employees.

Continue reading →

New email rules from major providers mean that businesses need to adopt the DMARC standard in order to ensure that their emails get delivered.

But while the new rules have received a good deal of publicity there hasn't been much attention paid to those not running their own mail server and relying on a third-party mail services.

Continue reading →