The Benefits Of Cloud Email Security By Murali URS, Country Manager - India, Barracuda Networks

The Benefits Of Cloud Email Security

Murali URS, Country Manager - India, Barracuda Networks | Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 13:47 IST

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It has almost been a year since the entire world is battling against the coronavirus pandemic. Home and offices across the globe merged into a nebulous mass for millions of people. Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a radical transformation in the business landscape. Businesses, over the past few months, in an attempt to adjust to the threat of COVID-19, had started adapting to the ‘new normal'.

To abide by the social distancing norm and preventing human to human transmission of the virus, the majority of the companies shifted from an office workforce to a remote workforce. The work environment has transformed into a more digital setting. While most companies are already experienced with the processes involved in remote working and the security vulnerabilities attached to it, the widespread rollout of a remote workforce to contain the spread of COVID-19 challenged even the most prepared organisations. It is primarily because a majority of the cybercriminals have sensed an opportunity amid the pandemic, and are launching a spate of attacks manipulating people's fear and uncertainty. The malicious attackers can target endpoints that might be less protected than the usual corporate desktops. In a recent report by researchers of Barracuda Networks, 66 percent of respondents from Indian organisations said that they had already experienceda major security scare since the remote working transition, whereas 67% of employees reported an increase in email phishing attacks since they shifted to 100% remote working. The pandemic has opened up an opportunity for scammers to craft enticing phishing attacks that basically includes spamming, malware, brand impersonation, and business data exfiltration.

"Cloud email security ensures enhanced security of sensitive data within an organisation without requiring the firm to making additional infrastructure investments"

In such a scenario, adopting a secure and encrypted email network is the only solution that the organisations can use to protect the confidential data relevant to their respective businesses. Securing emails is one of the primary necessities for business organisations to keep sensitive information from getting unauthorized access. Unsecured email communications can pose a significant threat both for individuals and SMEs and thus integrating a highly secure cloud email security system is the best solution.

Benefits of Cloud Email Security
Cloud email security solutions are the most cost effective way to help organisations reduce spam levels and mitigate the threats arising from phishing, malware and ransomware. A cloud email security not only helps in optimising the email protection for Office 365 users but offers additional benefits to the firms as well. Currently, there are around 225 million Office 365 users. A recent report of April 2020 released by the company states that Microsoft adds nearly 3.5 million Office 365 users per month.

Here are some of the benefits offered by cloud email security:

·Faster deployment: SaaS solutions are quick when talking about receiving continuous software and security updates and offer a zero downtime. For an enterprise grade email security solutions, it is a two-step process that takes less than an hour. The process starts with contacting the vendor's support team for raising the deployment request to transfer the configuration from onpremise Email Security Gateway to a cloud solution. The additional benefits are received at the time of updating the software. A cloud email security system receives immediate updates, which are available without any downtime and no lapse in security.

· Re-focusing IT-Resources: IT resources in an organisation are often scarce and stretched especially in case of small and medium enterprises where there is a lack of dedicated IT security staff. Cloud email security offers the advantage of low maintenance and no hardware, freeing up time for the IT staff. Furthermore, it is easier to offer customisation with accurate management making sure that the organisation remains in control of the security requirement. Cloud email security allows an organisation to deploy its IT staff to more strategic tasks like security forensics and threat analysis while protecting their email environment.

·No Hidden Charges: Organisations need not invest in infrastructure or maintain a budget as there is nothing to maintain or download. The cost structure of a cloud email security is often predictable and transparent, which in turn leaves the organisation aware of what and how much is to be paid every month. This is highly beneficial for small-medium businesses who often lack extra funds to invest in expensive hardware.

·Scalable Solutions: Workforce today sends and receives millions of emails. The number of emails indeed increased during the times of pandemic as majority of the workforce is operating remotely. Most organisations have more individual users and hence need to adopt automated and marketing technologies for sending emails on their behalf. All such messages need to be processed through an email security solution. As the business grows, the need to scale the email security also increases. Hence, the email security system integrated should be easily scalable, making it stress-free and faster for the organisation to add new users.

·Access to Advanced Email Security: A cloud email security offers access to advanced security features along with an extra level of protection. It improves compliance making it easier for firms to meet government and regulatory requirements regarding how the sensitive data should be stored and used. Cloud email security also offers advanced threat protection and defense against zero day attacks with its additional layers of security against malware and unknown threats.

·Streamlining Traffic Flow: Pushing your inbound and outbound SMTP traffic down to an on-premise security solution makes no sense if you have migrated or are planning to migrate to a cloud hosted email provider. Keeping emails in the cloud reduces potential latency and unnecessary strain on the network firewall.

Final Note
Even when the world recovers from the pandemic, majority of the organisations will continue to support the remote working culture. As the trend is in favor of remote working, email security becomes of primary importance for firms. Cloud email security ensures enhanced security of sensitive data within an organisation without requiring the firm to making additional infrastructure investments. Moreover, it is easily scalable and grows with the organisation.

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