Let s Not Go There...

Let's Not Go There...

Michelle learned that the hard way when her mail was (most likely) read right from under her nose. Other deadly threats are costing corporations billions of dollars in lost revenue every year. Such threats that include worms, Trojan horses, denial of service, Web page defacements, and so on. Electronic mail is one of the largest and least-publicized security risks to business today.

To protect the privacy of her correspondence, here's what Michelle should have done.

Use Encryption!

Today's encryption packages are fairly easy to install and maintain and virtually transparent to the user. Unfortunately, too many people remember the old cumbersome packages and are unaware of today's simpler options.

If your company's email system isn't yet using encryption, add it now. If you're not sure which encryption product to use or if you're confused about the export regulations, hire a security consultant for advice.

Encourage Your Company to Encrypt

Using encryption is kind of like putting an electronic surveillance sticker on your door. If you're the only person on your block with said sticker, potential thieves will start to wonder what you have that's worth that extra protection. If every person on your block displays said sticker, it's harder to tell where the good stuff really is.

When everyone starts to encrypt, it will be difficult for anyone who's watching to tell what's interesting and what's not. This is what we should all be working toward.

Add Encryption to Your Security Budget

In the past, some CIOs actually forbade their employees to encrypt inhouse email. If your company still has one of those outdated policies in effect, kill it now! Then develop new policies and add encryption to your managers' goals.

Watch for Other Email Hazards

Sad to say, having other people read your mail is not the only risk you face as an electronic user. Electronic users are also subjected to spam, virus scares, real viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and so on. Appropriate software tools can prevent some of these problems. For example, even though spam continues to increase, only 21 percent of e-mail users employ spam-filtering software (Opt-In News, May 2002).

Seventy-six billion spam emails will be sent world-wide in 2003 (eMarketer, 2002). With numbers like that, software must be in place to combat the problem. If spam filtering has not been deployed, executives need to consider adding spam filtering software or a spam-filtering service to their security budget.

Although spam may be merely annoying, malicious code is destructive and meant to cause harm. Malicious code outbreaks have already cost $13.2 billion in 2001. A corporation needs to have layers of defense in place to protect against these vicious attacks. That means protection at every entry point. Servers, desktops, and other devices must also be protected (for example, virus protection, firewall, intrusion detection, and intrusion prevention). Malicious code attacks will become more sophisticated and costly. Protecting against them is a most important priority for every corporation.