In My World

TechNewsWorld.com published an article on “Ten Steps to E-Mail Security”.

Take Ten Steps to Safety

1. Formulate a messaging policy that is communicated regularly to all staff members and enforced throughout your company. The policy should clearly state proper uses of e-mail within your organization, as well as privacy Latest News about privacy and security requirements. Include the policy in employee handbooks and on a human resources intranet. Newly hired employees should read and sign the policy upon joining the company. Review the policy at least quarterly and closely monitor new compliance regulations.
2. Organize e-mail training seminars to emphasize the security and privacy risks associated with messaging. Clearly define terms such as phishing, spam, spim (spam over instant messaging) and social engineering.
3. Enforce the e-mail policy through monitoring, system checks and other random inspections. Be sure the policy states that such steps will be taken from time to time.
4. Tell employees to be wary of unsolicited e-mail attachments, even from people they know. Many viruses can “spoof” the return address, making it look like the message came from someone else.
5. Save and scan any attachments before opening them.
6. Turn off the option to automatically download attachments.
7. Investigate an open, flexible, standards-based secure messaging system. Ideally, the security software should work with your existing e-mail platforms, such as Exchange or Outlook.
8. Insist that your security system offers baseline functionality such as strong end-to-end encryption Latest News about encryption, mutual authentication, robust auditing features, enterprise control and intuitive management capabilities.
9. Be sure the security software requires little or no user training. The system should offer “point-and-click” sending of secure messages with no need for users to reconfigure their PCs or download complex software files.
10. Ensure that secure messaging is part of your company’s annual IT budget. According to Richard Clarke, former cyber security advisor to the President, companies now spend 8 percent to 10 percent of their IT budgets on security. Naturally, a portion of that figure should go to secure messaging.