Businesses often leverage email as a primary form of communication. If this is true for your business, you must have a robust security solution to ensure the safety of information transmitted between you and your customers.
The right hosting provider can often provide these security measures. Here are some ways email hosting providers keep your inbox safe.
Spam Filtering
One of the primary ways reputable email hosting providers keep your inbox safe is through spam filtering. A reliable email hosting provider will likely implement advanced spam filtering techniques to ensure unwanted emails are deleted before they reach the users’ inboxes.
For instance, the hosting provider may implement blacklists and whitelists, a process automatically segregating spam messages from legit emails. They can also execute content filtering and header analysis, wherein the content or header of email messages is analyzed accordingly.
All these spam filtering techniques are designed to safeguard and categorize the emails reaching the users’ inboxes.
Encryption
Another technique often implemented by email hosting providers is encryption. Encryption protects sensitive information transmitted over a communication network, such as emails.
Some providers leverage transport layer security, or TLS, for this purpose. Even if the email falls into the wrong hands, they won’t be able to access it easily.
Encrypted emails must be decrypted or decoded before somebody can access the information. This adds a layer of security to the information transmitted over the network, ensuring it is safe from prying eyes.
Authentication Mechanism
Several email hosting providers enforce stringent authentication mechanisms to safeguard email information. There are various types of authentication mechanisms, such as the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and the DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).
Still, all these have one goal: verifying the authenticity of the senders. This will prevent domain impersonation or pretending to be a legitimate sender for the email to push through.
This will also help protect against phishing attacks while enhancing overall email deliverability.
Data Loss Prevention
Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions also prevent the unauthorized transmission of confidential information via email. This solution encompasses various strategies to protect sensitive data, such as content analysis and pattern matching.
In content analysis, outgoing email messages are scrutinized to filter sensitive information such as credit card numbers. Specific formats or keywords associated with sensitive data are flagged in pattern matching.
Some DLP solutions also incorporate file analysis and data classification, wherein the email attachments are inspected and categorized based on predefined policies. Ultimately, DLP solutions protect sensitive information and help ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
Malware Scanning
With a reputable email hosting subscription, you can expect that outgoing and incoming email attachments are meticulously scanned for malware, viruses, and other malicious content.
From there, flagged content is blocked or quarantined, ensuring it doesn’t reach the users’ inboxes. Sometimes, signature detection is part of malware scanning.
In this method, the email attachments are compared to a database of signatures wherein a match indicates that the attachment may contain a known malware variant.
Advanced scanning solutions even implement sandboxing techniques or analyze the contents in controlled environments to observe their behavior. From there, potential threats can be identified without risking the network’s security.
Regular Updates
Reputable email hosting providers also perform regular updates to ensure their security patches can keep up with the latest threats they must address. Remember that cyber-attacks are constantly evolving, and hackers and those with malicious intentions are getting increasingly sophisticated with their means.
Hence, regular updates are necessary to combat these and ensure the safety of the users’ inboxes.
User Training
Finally, email hosting providers also provide ample documentation and training materials to ensure that their users know the cyberattacks they need to be vigilant against.
These help everyday users recognize the attacks and employ proper measures accordingly. Some even host free webinars for users who want to know more about the latest in the cybersecurity space and the measures they can take to protect their sites and emails.
Users must take advantage of these pieces of documentation and participate in training to enhance their knowledge about ways to keep their inboxes safe.
Tips for Choosing the Right Email Hosting Provider
To choose the right email hosting provider that will keep your inbox safe, you need to consider several factors.
First, look into the security features they offer. Make sure that these will foster your goals when it comes to your email communications.
If you frequently send attachments with sensitive information, you will need stringent security measures in place. On the other hand, standard security features are sufficient if you use your email primarily for marketing or disseminating promos and discounts.
Next, you should also consider the reliability and uptime of the email hosting provider. This means looking into their infrastructure setup, checking whether they have redundant systems, and inquiring about their data centers.
Any disruption in their services will significantly affect your communication channel. You should also consider their attachment and storage limits.
If you often send emails with large file attachments, you need to look for a hosting provider that can cater to the size of the files you need to send. Some impose a limit on the file size attachment, which means that these may not be able to cater to your needs.
Finally, you should also consider the hosting provider’s scalability and flexibility. As your business grows, you will likely send more emails.
Your hosting provider should be able to keep up with the demands of your growing brand. They should also be able to offer flexible plans and pricing options that will then cater to your needs.
Conclusion
Email hosting providers work toward safeguarding your inbox from various malicious attacks. Aside from spam filtering, they often implement measures such as encryption and authentication mechanisms.
They also deploy data loss prevention solutions, malware scanning methods, and regular updates. The best thing about reputable email hosting providers is that they also take the time to train their users regarding the necessary security features to keep inboxes safe.
For this reason, take the time to ensure that you are subscribed to a hosting plan offered by a reliable provider who will help you succeed in your efforts.