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Email Security: Removing the guesswork

Education establishements have less resource, struggle to find the right skills, operate with smaller budgets, yet need to stay current and compliant.

Not all email security is created equal

There's a plethora of email security solutions on the market and many SMBs choose Microsoft 365 with its world-leading suite of technologies. Once a chosen solution's in place there's an assumption it'll provide all that’s needed to keep emails and sensitive data safe. This isn’t always the case many businesses remain blissfully unaware of the potential risks they face.

Whichever you've chosen, you need to know whatever's thrown your way will be stopped in its tracks.

Recognise the biggest threat is staff, pupils and parents

Given most security breaches come as a result of the action of authorised network users it comes as no surprise that these mistakes are cited as the top threat to sensitive data. It therefore, makes even more sense to remove assumptions and guesswork from the equation and know for sure the state of your email security landscape.

Top threats to sensitive data

Source: Ponemon Institute

54

Employee mistakes

31

System or process malfunction

29

Hackers

20

Malicious insiders

.

“Digital transformation programmes are being fast-tracked as a result of the pandemic and Microsoft 365 is the most adopted technology. Businesses shouldn’t assume this necessarily gives them the right level of protection for all threats”

If it goes wrong

Cyber-crime can have a devastating effect on an education establishment's reputation. Having the right protection in place is now more essential than ever.

Whether in the public or private sector you're under the same GDPR scrutiny as any other organisation . This sudden explosion in demand for more diverse working arrangements and networking comes with its own set of challenges which include raised levels of phishing attempts aimed at parents, teachers and staff alike.

Email Security Health-check: 3 simple measures

Educate staff, students and parents. Communicate details of your email and cyber security policies to all users and provide them with access to improved security features. If they suspect something suspicious, provide guidelines on what to do, not to do.
Check your email security includes, at the very least, the following features:
1. AV scanning and advanced spam protection
2. Unique URL and document sandboxing
3. Heuristic scanning and reputation checks to protect users from advanced threats such as phishing, whaling, and infected attachments