Introduction – Email Service Provider
New unified communication applications can now be integrated with cloud-based solutions for efficient and effective business processes. Email service providers (ESPs) are taking advantage of the wide adoption of cloud infrastructures to help clients resolve operational cost issues, business disruption, employee productivity, scalability, and IT support complexities. At the same time, ESPs have to continually implement cloud security solutions that can secure clients’ email systems in the face of new cloud infrastructure security.
Cloud-based email service provider security threats
Email infrastructure systems deal with a number of security threats. The most common are:
- Sender impersonations and credential phishers
- Spam, virus and ransomware payload attachments
- DNS exploitation
- Insider threats and internal employee data leakage
Cyber attackers are using several ways to access user mailboxes and accounts. In 2018, repeated brute forcing, spoofed emails, embedded malicious attachments, and the use of social engineering were identified as the most common methods attackers use. It is in light of these threats that cloud infrastructure Malaysia providers are implementing new cloud email security measures to ensure that their clients’ business communications and users are secure.
Cloud-based Email Infrastructure Security Measures
1. Standard email protocols
There are certain industry standard formats for email messaging and message transmission. These protocols have SSUTSL (Secure Sockets Layer/ Transport Layer Security) versions which allow for encryption and protection of message bodies as well as mailbox passwords. Reliable cloud infrastructure Malaysia providers like Microsoft 365 observe industry standards and best practices when building and deploying cloud email systems.
2. Malware and Spam Protection
Since malware and spam are major threats when operating a cloud email system, an email service vendor should be able to correlate email message traffic across many organizations and get data on malware and spam floods. This helps to detect threats early and with greater accuracy. As cloud-based email-as-a-service continues to grow in popularity, analytics are becoming an integral part of email threat detection and response measures.
3. Integration with Data Asset Protection Systems
While email messaging is convenient for data sharing within an organization and with partners, this convenience does not come without security risks related to the spread of confidential information. In 2019, email service providers are keen to enable the integration of data protection tools that reduce the risk of data leakage or unauthorized transfer of sensitive data
Specifying records retention policy and methods of completely removing digital copies from email messages as desired is also important. This is critical for email service providers that use multi-tenant models where the re-use of storage may lead to data leakage events.
4. Integration into the organization’s identity management systems
The security of an email system can be maximized by first securing individual security components such as identity and access management. Email infrastructure providers thus need to provide ways of integrating the email system into the identity management systems of clients’ organization.
Migration of email to the cloud is great for business efficiency and scalability. However, all the benefits of using cloud email infrastructure can be reversed if related cloud security risks are not properly addressed.
Enfrasys has almost a decade of experience in implementing cutting edge cloud security solutions. If you need any cloud solution Malaysia, the highly motivated cloud security team at Enfrasys will help your business adopt the right email infrastructure for the security of your business communication. Enfrasys also provides other types of cloud products and services in partnership with Microsoft Malaysia. Contact them today and be sure of increased business productivity, mobility, profitability, and growth.