You may think that sending an email is much more secure than writing a letter. After all, the receiver needs to sign in with their password to receive it. But, in fact, there are a number of security flaws when it comes to sending sensitive information this way.

Here are a few common threats to your secure mail and how Maytech’s experts would recommend you remedy this.


1. Lurking Malware

Between 2% and 4% of emails contain a virus, meaning around 6 million email viruses are sent every day (eWeek). This can have catastrophic repercussions for a business, depending on the exact type of malware hidden inside.

Should you, a staff member or colleague, be one of the unlucky few who opens such an email, ransomware could be released, encrypting and holding your own company data hostage until a demanded fee is paid.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that your basic anti-virus protection would eradicate this problem, but the truth is that many off-the-shelf solutions are simply not prepared for the most sophisticated capabilities of the strongest malware viruses on the net.

2. Superior Spear Phishing

The SANS Institute reports that 95% of data breaches start with a spear phishing attack. This misleading tactic that makes an email appear as if it is from a known sender, masquerades the criminal hacker prised to steal your personal and financial information once on your PC.

Again, you may assume that anti-spam or anti-virus solutions would detect this, however, as these phishing emails are made to look legitimate and are only sent to a small number of contacts, they often confuse the filters.

3. Size Related Failures

Most email service providers will cap the size of files you may attach to a message. On average, this is around 10MB. However, some will not warn you when an attachment is too large and subsequently fails to send. Further to this, sending large documents can cause mail server problems.

4. Easy Interception

Emails are easily intercepted and the information can be exposed to the public. This can be even easier if the content is not encrypted. As a result, the exchange of confidential data via email should be avoided.

5. Compliance Conflictions

Whether it is for the transfer of financial data or medical details, many industries have strict protocols and regulations for the security of held information. Therefore, a simple mistake could not only expose data, but breach imposed requirements.

6. Absent Authentication

One key should not open every door. Authentication can provide a double layer of protection, which alongside restricted access to authorised data, will ensure that only the correct person reads the message and does not see more than they should.

7. Helpless Human Error

We all make mistakes, but sometimes an accident can have massive ramifications. A lack of staff awareness, expertise and diligence is one of the largest risks to secure mail.

A Smart, Intuitive, Turn-Key Solution

Whether it is malware of phishing scams, there are numerous pressures on email and its safety. Our cloud-based secure communications platform could be your solution to secure file transfer via email.

Share sensitive data via email in an easy, convenient and secure way with Quatrix Outlook Plug-In. It easily integrates with existing email environments

To get started with Quatrix Outlook Plug-In, you need to have Quatrix®  account. We are currently offering a 14-Day Free Trial, so you can test-drive Quatrix to see how it fulfils your requirements.

Read more:

How To Avoid Email Security Breaches