In today’s changing business environment, 70% of organizations believe their security risk has increased significantly. The idea of data breaches being more a question of “when” rather than “if” has become mainstream. That being said, there are a number of ways for enterprises to mitigate the security risks that they could be exposed to.

1. Educate your employees

The main cause of security failure within an organization is often employees, as they are responsible for handling and sending sensitive data. Educating employees on the risks that they could be exposed to through training programs is a common strategy that organizations adopt in order to try and mitigate some of these risks.

While they can be beneficial, one issue with training programs is the dangerous assumption that once training is completed, all employees retain information equally well. This is an unrealistic expectation, as even the most advanced training programs have gaps that do not account for human error.

Having technology that can prevent security issues before they happen – while educating your employees in real time – is potentially a more nuanced and intelligent solution for your enterprise. With Tessian’s Guardian and Defender filters, users are shown a pop-up if an inbound email looks suspicious. The pop up explains why the email could represent a threat, leaving the employee to make the final decision on which action to take, with the benefit of having all the salient information to hand. tEmployees are educated as to the threats they face, while the industry-leading technology prevents threatening emails from causing damage to your organization.

2. Be proactive

Of course, data loss over email becomes becomes much more difficult to handle once it’s already happened. Having a plan in place for what to do in the event that an employee does leak data over email is important, and having a strategy for preventing the leak from occurring in the first place is even better. Invest in technologies and platforms that will enable your organization to better understand how your employees communicate with each other, and people outside the organization.

3. Get the basics right

Getting the basics right is a critical step, as it will allow you to build an information security infrastructure on a great foundation. Best security practices include utilizing encryption, being careful when using a corporate email account from public and or a shared computer, and not opening emails from unknown sources.

That being said, don’t let these steps lull you into a false sense of security. Research suggests that 30% of cybersecurity incidents are caused by current employees

Confidence comes hand in hand with the capability of your security stack. If you’re still using legacy security software, the extent to which your organization can guard itself against internal and external attacks is already inherently limited.

With this in mind, it is no surprise that confident IT security professionals are more than twice as likely to think that C-suite involvement in email security strategy as “very appropriate” and 1.4x more likely to actually obtain that engagement.

Therefore, why wait until something goes wrong to implement much-needed change?

Arm’s, CISO Tim Fitzgerald wanted to perfect the firm’s email security basics and find a platform that would complement the security culture that he wanted to create. Tessian helps thousands of Arm employees get the basics right on email while ensuring that their systems remain secure. (Read the case study.)

4. Don’t forget about mobile devices

Email communication has become more mobile. Using email on the go and on various devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones) greatly increases the potential for mistakes. A data breach caused by a misdirected email could very easily occur on your daily commute by accidentally picking the wrong recipient from a “helpful” autocomplete list. Many email DLP platforms can only ensure protection on desktop computers, or only for Microsoft email environments. It’s important that you find a way to secure your email network, regardless of how employees might be accessing it.

It’s more difficult than ever for security leaders to feel like they’re on top of everything. Fortunately, Tessian’s solutions help organizations get the basics right, while stopping even the most sophisticated outbound and inbound email threats. To learn more about Tessian, contact us here.