The rise of remote work during the pandemic has only increased businesses’ dependence on email services. With convenient, single-subscription services, businesses can conveniently and affordably bring together communication and collaboration built around an effective email service. However, the use of email carries unique security challenges that business leaders must be aware of when sharing and receiving important or sensitive information.

In the first half of 2021, 75% of all cyber threats detected by HP Wolf Security were delivered by email, making it the most popular method of attack for hackers. Phishing has also become increasingly accessible for cybercriminals with the rise of cloud-based hosting infrastructure.

Here are some key trends SMBs must take note of to ensure that they can continue to communicate over email safely and securely. 

Microsoft Excel is a tool that many businesses use to collect and organise large amounts of business information. Microsoft Excel still supports the Excel 4.0 macro language despite newer versions using the modern and more powerful Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripting language.

This allows cybercriminals to hide and deliver malware payloads without the end user realising it. The easiest way for hackers to do this is to attach .xlsm or .xlsb files that most employees are familiar with and embed the malware in the file using the old macro language. 

Botnet attacks have been a security challenge that business leaders have struggled to solve independently. The Emotet botnet operation, in particular, went silent for a period of time but came back with new capabilities in the second half of 2020, with the ability to eavesdrop on email conversations and copy original email texts to make compromised email chains look legitimate.

These capabilities have made botnet operations a major threat for SMBs who have transitioned to a remote or hybrid work model and rely on email communication for daily operations.

While these cyberattacks continue to evolve and threaten business security in new ways, email is still a convenient and reliable way to communicate with team members, management, and business partners. With Singtel Email Protect, business leaders can protect important data, maintain privacy, and keep themselves safe from malware, phishing, spam, and email compromise.

With the SME Start Digital Grant applied businesses can protect every point of attack by deploying advanced email security coupled with modern ransomware protection with Singtel’s cybersecurity essentials.