Emails are one of the formal communication methods that every one of us uses today to communicate with others.
Some emails are informative, some are for approvals, while others are just for keeping your personal and PC security at stake.
Nowadays, email is widely trusted for fast and cost-effective communication, but this boon has a few loopholes too.
Malware suspiciously enters your machines while you access infected emails and may corrupt some critical documents and applications, resulting in partial or complete data loss.
Below is a summary of some of the most common email security threats:
Viruses
Viruses are one of the most common email security threats to which most corporations, organizations, and individual users are fighting at present.
They are specially designed in a way to attract Internet users. They are generally found in personal notes, jokes, or online marketing and promotional documents, files, and attachments.
Viruses often require initiation from the recipient’s side to disseminate infection and spread in the system. Still, some others may get launched automatically, where no user action is required.
A virus can spread itself globally within a few hours and may bring down the entire communication system, disturb the performance of global networks and decay essential documents when activated.
Spam
Also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email, spam not only occupies generous space in your mailbox but also acts as a carrier of viruses, spyware, and malware in an innocent and eye-pleasing appearance.
According to various corporate communication studies, around 15 to 20 percent of all corporate email does not carry valuable information and can be considered spam.
While keeping this estimate in mind, a company gets around 2.1 billion spam email messages yearly if it has 1000 employees.
Spam mail not only hampers productivity but also results in system slowdowns and hanging issues due to mail carrying heavy data.
Additionally, these emails turn out to be extremely dangerous if you Click or Download the file attached.
Opening malicious emails can facilitate malware spreading and damaging your data, software, or hardware to an irreparable extent.
Phishing Scams
Phishing schemes or scams aim at obtaining personal and sensitive data from innocent users and then using the same for unique benefits by hackers or identity thieves.
The main motive of these scams is to commit identity theft or financial fraud by attempting to invite recipients to surrender their personal information.
Details such as an address, social security number (SSN), email passwords, location, phone numbers, bank account numbers, or even IPIN are successfully gathered by identity thieves by promising a grand lottery prize, which is nothing but a trap.
Phishing schemes are not limited to individuals but also target smaller business groups to obtain their corporate credit card numbers, login IDs, and passwords.
By gathering all such information, hackers quickly access the company’s CRM and financial systems and may steal money from their accounts.
Spyware
Have you ever thought about what you will do if an outsider constantly checks your machine, starting from a mouse click to an Enter? If not, then think twice.
Spyware, as the name suggests, is spying malware that captures all the activities of your PC, collects them, and sends them out to another person.
An efficient spyware program is designed in a way that it can record every single keystroke and every action that takes place on your PC. Hence, the chances remain very high that the program can give confidential details, various strategies, bank account details, and personal information to the hackers to keep PC and identity security at stake.
Always pay extra attention to judging an email smartly, as it can safeguard you from various system and personal security risks.
Conclusion
Above mentioned are some of the common categories of email threats used by hackers to trace down your personal and crucial information. Additionally, you are recommended to adopt the following habits to avoid such risks:
Never open a hyperlink in a suspected email. Contact the mentioned organization in the alleged email via telephone or paper mail.
Never reply to suspicious emails with your personal information, such as date of birth, location, bank account numbers, and passwords.
Keep track of small changes in your financial statements. Change your passwords often and log out of public computers immediately after use. Keep your passwords strong and secret.
