{"id":6201,"date":"2018-03-20T18:15:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T18:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/?p=6201"},"modified":"2021-08-03T13:16:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T12:16:23","slug":"email-security-trends-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/it\/blog\/email-security-trends-2018","title":{"rendered":"Email Security Trends for 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Email is the lifeblood of any business.<\/p>\n

According to Radicati\u2019s\u00a0Email Statistics Report, 2017-2021<\/a>, the number of business email accounts is expected to grow from 1 billion in 2017 to 1.1 billion by 2021, with an estimated average annual growth rate of 2%. It is not news that spam is a huge problem for businesses, with\u00a059.56%<\/a>\u00a0of email traffic worldwide consisting of spam messages, and daily\u00a0cyberattacks<\/a>\u00a0hitting users\u2019 mailboxes globally.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack is reported to have infected more than\u00a0300,000 computers across 150 countries<\/a>. Keeping safe from cyberattacks is a huge challenge for most companies. This blog looks at the growing threat from spam and the latest trends you need to be aware of.<\/p>\n

Trend 1: Spam is still a threat<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"spamthreat.jpg\"Out of 10 emails coming into your inbox, around six are likely to be spam. Be it a fake lottery win, a miracle cure for any disease, or the news of an inheritance from a so-called relative, people have adapted to junk flooding their mailboxes.<\/p>\n

While other\u00a0email threat methods<\/a>\u00a0continue to grow, spam level stays constant globally and are expected to remain the same in 2018.<\/p>\n

To prevent spam from disrupting your business, it is recommended you add a protective layer to your email service that will filter out spam messages and help ensure email continuity.<\/p>\n

Trend 2: Spear phishing continues to dominate<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"speaphishingWhile spam continues to be an issue in general, phishing and malware dominated the email security landscape in 2017, and it\u2019s likely this will continue in 2018.<\/p>\n

With an increasing number of mailboxes protected by quality anti-spam solutions<\/a>, and consumers (more susceptible than business users in general) moving a lot of communication away from email to other platforms, spam is less profitable than it once used to be.<\/p>\n

Spear phishing (where the phish is tailored carefully to target someone specific, such as your payments clerk or CFO) operates on a different model than spam. Rather than low work, high volume, and profit by convincing a tiny fraction of recipients to pay a small amount of money, it\u2019s more work, lower volume, with profit coming from convincing a significant proportion of recipients to pay potentially many thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

We expect that during 2018, the risk from spear phishing will continue to grow. Recognizing a well-made spear phish attack is challenging, both for the target and for anti-phishing solutions, and the potential reward makes this an attractive target for attackers.<\/p>\n

The most significant changes companies can make to prevent phishing are to configure the following:<\/p>\n