There’s one form of digital communication that is relied on more than any other when it comes to cybercrime.
In fact, it’s thought that around 92% of malware is still delivered by email. And it’s not hard to see why; think about your own inbox and how often you have to clear out that spam folder.
We all receive thousands of phishing emails every day, and while some are incredibly obvious, others are becoming more sophisticated – and nasty – by the day.
However, there’s one type of email hack which is sneakier than most, and it’s something which really can go under the radar for even the most clued-up IT people.
Thankfully, there’s a solution.
Email forwarding: a hidden threat
Email forwarding enables cybercriminals to get their mitts on someone’s email account and use it to their own advantage – even after direct access has been removed.
It relies on a feature called ‘auto forwarding’. After gaining access to the victim’s email account, the cybercriminal will set up an automated forward for all – or specific – emails to a different address.
This enables them to use that email address to have payments re-routed to different bank accounts, and gain access to confidential information such as login details and bank account numbers.
The worst thing is that they can still do this, even if the breach is detected and direct access to the email account is removed with two-factor authentication.
The beauty of 365 Protect
As you might expect, there’s a great solution for dealing with malicious email auto-forwarding attacks, and the team at Compex IT have spent many hours getting under its skin.
We use 365 Protect to ensure that our clients’ email accounts are monitored for suspicious activity. You’ll be glad to hear that this doesn’t monitor the emails themselves, though, so it is entirely non-evasive in that regard.
Using industry-leading automation and artificial intelligence (AI), 365 Protect takes a comprehensive approach to cutting off any potential attacks before they can get into your email account. It’s silent, runs in the background and, when provided by Compex IT, has a team behind it with your best interests in mind.
Location monitoring
One of the most concerning things about any form of cybercrime is that it can take place at any time, and be administered from anywhere in the world.
This is particularly the case with email attacks. Most of them are undertaken by people in countries far from your own, making the tracking of their activity rather challenging. Certainly, if they’re successful with their attempts to steal your data or money, retrieving it is practically impossible.
This is what makes 365 Protect so useful. It features location monitoring, which enables the Compex IT team to identify when people are opening your emails from unusual locations.
It means you can stay one step ahead of the hackers. Your systems know where they are as soon as they start trying to access your email account, and that means their attempts to ruin the party can be prevented immediately.
Ultimate peace of mind: alerts
Beyond location tracking, 365 Protect provides alerts for other events which could signal an imminent email forwarding attack.
There are two alerts which we rely on daily to ensure our customers’ email accounts are safe.
The first is auto forwarding. If the feature is added, switched on, or re-configured, 365 Protect sounds an alarm. Secondly, if a new administrator account is added, similar warning bells begin chiming.
These events could, of course, be entirely innocent, but it’s always better to err on the side of caution with cybercrime, and knowing that you have AI-powered software doing the monitoring for you should provide ultimate peace of mind.
If you’d like to talk to us about email forwarding attacks and how to get one step ahead of the cybercriminal, just get in touch with the Compex IT team, today.