BUSINESS CRIME & PROTECTION
Get to grips with email security
By RICHARD SMITH, Managing Director, Basic Business Systems
Richard Smith of Basic Business Systems
‘If an email contains a zip file or attachments that have not been requested, be very cautious as they may contain a virus’
In the business world, the majority of communication is done by email, making it hard for people to keep on top of their burgeoning inboxes. It’s easy to fall into the habit of ignoring email management,
of failing to check the origination of an email before clicking on it or considering whether it should be opened. Knowing what to look for and how to identify fake or
phishing emails would, however, keep IT systems safer. There are some very simple ways to identify rogue emails. Any messages demanding the recipient to take ‘urgent’
action can usually, and should, be ignored. A common trick of email scammers is to try to trick the
target into clicking a link by suggesting that if they don’t take action immediately, they could receive some sort of penalty. The penalty comes if they’re silly enough to click the link. These emails should be deleted as quickly as possible, even
if the name of the sender is recognised. If an email contains a zip file or attachments that have not
been requested, be very cautious as they may contain a virus. Word and Excel documents which need macros enabling
are also a huge red flag. Don’t open such emails, delete them. An email claiming to be from a reputable company, but
which is uncharacteristically littered with spelling and grammatical errors is almost certainly from a questionable
source and definitely not the company from which it purports to originate. If the email offers something that seems to be too good to
be true, it probably is. Scammers will often try to trap targets into supplying
personal information to enter competitions they make seem that the recipient has already won. There is no prize, only loss once the hacker has access to the target’s systems. Make sure all staff know how to spot a potentially
dangerous email and that they know not to open them. If a dangerous email or link is opened and an encryption
virus attacks, the only real solution is to restore data and systems from a recent back-up. A vital component of a good backup schedule is to periodically test the back-ups to confirm they are working. Finally, as a victim, make sure you report it to
www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud
FEATURE
business network June 2016 39
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