In a society where most processes are done remotely, the security of transactions is often overlooked. Because of this, criminals prey on the company’s weak cyber-defense systems, launching attacks like phishing, spoofing, and malware to both the employees and the company’s customers. These attacks have resulted in huge financial and reputational losses, all because of one wrong click.
Emails are the favorite platform of criminals because most users do not know how to keep their email secure, and it is a gateway to all other user accounts. Common examples are the email sent by someone pretending to be a bank, asking about the user’s passwords, compromising their confidential information. Thankfully, S/MIMEs have been developed to protect user emails. S/MIMEs, or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, is a technology that allows users to digitally sign and encrypt their emails, increasing the safety of both users, sender, and recipients by keeping emails confidential and ensuring its legitimacy.
S/MIME uses public and private keys, entailing an asymmetric cryptography. The recipient’s public key can be used to encrypt the email and can only be unlocked with its own private key. With this, we are certain that the email will be kept confidential between the sender and the recipient, preventing leakage of sensitive and confidential information.
However, S/MIMEs are not limited to encrypting your emails. It also has additional security features - a digital signature feature that certifies the authenticity and legitimacy of the email. Digitally signed emails show an indicator that the sender is trusted, just like verified users on Facebook or Twitter. When you open an email in Outlook, Gmail, or Apple Mail, you should find an icon next to the sender to show it is digitally signed. This feature saves your employees from falling for phishing attacks that are highly prevalent in today’s time. As social distancing measures are enforced causing the rise of remote transactions, there has been a 350% rise in phishing attacks. Phishing exposes private information that will be used for identity theft or financial crimes, and by digitally signing your emails, attacks will significantly be avoided as it is confirmed that the email came from a reliable source.
Moreover, digitally signing emails adds a layer of protection to transactions. For example, if the email is altered in transit, the digital signature will get invalidated. By using digital signatures, there will be no ‘middleman’ that will compromise the content of emails, resulting in misinformation and cybersecurity risks.
A common concern for companies assessing the potential pros and cons of S/MIMEs are the additional steps taken before opening an email. This is perceived to be a hassle for both senders and recipients. However, this common misconception can easily be solved. S/MIMEs allows your organization to automatically encrypt and decrypt emails, maintaining the efficiency and business workflow while increasing your cyber protection.
S/MIMEs are more than just email encryption. With digital signatures allowing you to confirm the legitimacy and authenticity of the email, with the encryption it provides that assures the confidentiality of information within the business, you can be sure that you will be kept protected from cybercriminals preying on organizations. This increases the reputation of your business and minimizes the risk of incurring financial and other losses.
Enjoy this protection in the time of uncertainty. We at GlobalSign can provide you with topnotch S/MIME certificates that are highly compatible and secured. Speak with us today for more information about S/MIME certificates!
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