There are a number of dangers facing businesses today. From natural disasters and fraud to the unexpected disruptions brought about by a global pandemic, there are more than enough things to keep your clients awake at night. Cybersecurity is quickly moving to the top of the list and is one major concern that MSPs can address with the right people, skills and tools.
As many organizations have come to learn the hard way, email systems are the hardest to protect with so many variables and an ever-changing number of unknowns. As one of the most accepted forms of communication for business, millions of messages with scores of attachments, website links and other information move fairly freely through the internet each day.
The email rules and processes for most companies are not very restrictive. Unfortunately, many organizations have few if any controls in place relating to the information their people send and receive. Those oversights, in turn, essentially allow cybercriminals to launch unrelenting attacks on those businesses.
MSPs must have firm control over all email gateways under their management today. The only way to properly protect your clients, as well as their employees, customers and partners, is to make their systems “Unphishable.”
Implement Strong and User-Friendly Defenses
One of the most difficult challenges for MSPs regarding cybersecurity is getting everyone, including internal team members, decision-makers at client sites and all end-users, to follow the same script. Shortcuts and excuses typically spell failure.
The word “compromises” often comes into play when discussing cybersecurity. However, as any experienced MSP knows, any of those potential tradeoffs should never affect the defensibility of your clients' networks and data, especially when there are so many solution options available today.
While WFH and hybrid workplaces increase the difficulty level for MSPs trying to build strong and user-friendly defenses, those environments are not going away, even after the pandemic restrictions wane. The benefits, including convenience and cost savings from transforming the traditional office mindset, will be too good for some companies to pass up. Of course, as every tech professional knows, those businesses should be reinvesting some of that money in cybersecurity.
Organizations need to protect their people no matter where they may work. The trick is to strike a delicate balance between cost, usability, and defensive strength to ensure those measures will not compromise employee productivity or the company’s security. One of the best methods for meeting those complex and sometimes conflicting goals is to boost email-related protections.
Preventing outsiders from using this route of entry to attack your clients will not only reduce their risk level significantly but eliminate the substantial costs and headaches associated with remediation. Ensuring those who rely on your support are unphishable should be a top priority for every MSP.
Leverage the Ultimate Email Security Tools
The best way to prevent crime is to make it incredibly hard for attackers to achieve their objectives. In cybersecurity, one of the most effective ways to protect information is to control email entry and exit points with filtering and with strong encryption methodologies to protect all data in transit (and storage). With those measures and awareness training in place, that trifecta of cybersecurity helps ensure that your end-users can remain unphishable no matter where they may be and what equipment they might be using to complete their work.
Encryption is the cornerstone. MSP can rest a lot easier when their clients are 100% committed to encoding their email and extending those technologies to recipients. Of course, you must ensure each system is easy to use and incredibly secure, like our Bracket™ email encryption solution. This application not only protects data in motion for your clients and those they communicate with, but the process is so simple on both ends, meaning senders and recipients will use it regularly (not just for sharing sensitive information).
With so many end-users working from home or moving back and forth in a hybrid environment, providing them with secure and easy-to-use solutions just makes sense. Fewer hassles for your clients mean less headaches for you and your team members. Bracket gives MSPs the power to make that happen easily.
Double-Down on the Defenses
Of course, the best way to ensure your clients are unphishable is to layer the cybersecurity protections. Blocking potential threats from entering your clients' email systems should be standard. Filtering applications can quarantine messages containing potentially harmful and policy-violating content and give administrators a chance to review suspect emails before they have a chance to inflict any damage. In conjunction with awareness training, this critical safeguard provides a formidable layer of defense for end-users, regardless of their workplace environment or what device they may be using.
Archiving and storage are just as crucial. Managing and preserving email data ensures your clients can meet key business continuity and compliance requirements. By archiving your clients' emails, contacts and other information, you can rest easy knowing that valuable data is properly stored and readily available if (and when) ever needed.
Whether that business experiences a serious ransomware attack or natural disaster or gets hit with a lawsuit or regulatory audit, all its email records will be intact and accessible to admins and others with the proper authorization. Protecting that business information is not only prudent but, in many cases, may be mandatory for legal and regulatory reasons. In today’s high-risk environment, archiving and storage capabilities provide an extra layer of protection to MSPs and the organizations that rely on your expertise and support.
Are Your Clients Unphishable?
The things your clients value most are often the hardest to protect. Implementing a cybersecurity strategy that keeps business data secure and accessible, even amidst a pandemic and the transition to alternate work environments, is a worthwhile objective and something every organization should strive to achieve.
Do you have the expertise and tools to make your clients unphishable? Mailprotector can help.
With a strong portfolio of security solutions to protect the main communications method for most businesses, our team knows what it takes to keep email systems safe. No matter the situation or location, we can help your MSP deliver the protection your clients need and deserve in such uncertain times.
Author Matt Scully is channel chief at Mailprotector. Read more guest blogs from Mailprotector here.
