Email malware is malicious software delivered through email via infected attachments, malicious links, or embedded code that infects a device or network when a recipient opens a file, clicks a link, or previews a message in a vulnerable email client. Verizon DBIR consistently identifies email as the primary malware delivery channel. Symantec reports one in…
CEO fraud is a social engineering attack where cybercriminals impersonate a company’s CEO or senior executive via email to manipulate finance staff into transferring funds or sharing sensitive data. No malware is used and no links need to be clicked. The FBI IC3 reported over $2.9 billion in business email compromise and CEO fraud losses…
Spear phishing is a highly targeted phishing attack directed at a specific individual using personal information gathered through research to make the email convincingly relevant. Unlike mass phishing sent to millions of identical recipients, every spear phishing email is individually crafted for its target. Understanding spear phishing vs phishing is essential: spear phishing represents a…
Phishing arrives by email, vishing by voice call, and smishing by text message. All three use social engineering to steal credentials, money, or sensitive information. Phishing scales to millions of targets simultaneously. Vishing exploits real-time voice pressure, increasingly through AI-generated voices in 2026. Smishing reaches employees on personal devices where corporate security tools cannot intervene….
Email spoofing is the practice of sending email with a forged sender address to make it appear to come from a trusted source. The SMTP protocol was designed without any sender verification mechanism, making spoofing technically straightforward. Attackers use it for phishing, BEC fraud, vendor impersonation, and brand abuse. The FBI IC3 recorded over $2.9…
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are the three email authentication standards that verify a sending domain is who it claims to be. SPF authorizes sending IP addresses. DKIM cryptographically signs outgoing messages. DMARC enforces policy and protects the visible From address users see. All three work together. None is sufficient alone. If your organization keeps receiving…
Setting up email security for Office 365 is not automatic. Microsoft 365 includes Exchange Online Protection across all plans, but critical protections are disabled at setup: DKIM signing inactive, DMARC not configured, legacy authentication enabled, and audit logging off on some plan types. The baseline is functional against commodity threats. It is insufficient against advanced…
An email security appliance is a physical hardware device installed in your data centre that filters all email on-premise before it reaches your mail server. Cloud-based email security delivers the same filtering through vendor-hosted infrastructure with no hardware required. The right choice depends on your organization’s size, data residency requirements, IT capacity, and the true…
A secure email gateway is a security layer that sits between the public internet and your organization’s mail server, filtering all inbound and outbound email before it reaches any inbox or leaves the network. It scans incoming messages for phishing, malware, spam, and spoofed senders. It scans outgoing messages for DLP violations and policy breaches….
Email security architecture is the complete layered system that protects your organization’s email, from the DNS records that authenticate sending domains through gateway filtering, encryption, and into the user inbox. It is not a single product. It is a sequence of interdependent controls, and a gap at any one layer creates a path that attackers…