Setting Up a Spam Defense

E-mail security is a big concern for small businesses. An estimated 45 percent of all e-mail is defined as spam, costing business $20 billion a year in lost productivity and technology expenses, according to the Radicati Group, a market research firm.

Spam and viruses are also the top security breaches for small and medium sized businesses, with over 80 percent falling victim, reports the Yankee Group.

To help make small businesses more productive and to protect from e-mail born threats, innovator Vipul Ved Prakash, who created the world's first collaborative spam filtration network, offers these tips:

1. Educate employees. Make sure they know to avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal financial information. Legitimate companies will not ask for this information via e-mail. Also, as Web site and e-mail sender addresses are frequently faked, users should log directly onto the Web site address in your browser or call the company by phone. A phishing e-mail may open a near replica of a bank Web site and send a message that asks the individual to "confirm financial information." Employees should look for signs a site is secure, such as a Web site that begins "https:" (the "s" stands for "secure").

Cloudmarks offers a solution called SafetyBar for Internet Explorer with enhanced data analysis capabilities designed to stop phishing attacks, fraud and identity theft online. Using this technology a consumer or corporate user will automatically be alerted when linking to a page if it is "good," "safe" or "unknown" based on real-time feedback from the Cloudmark community of spam fighters, which consists over a million in 153 countries.

2. Be aware of "phishing," a high-tech scam that uses spam, pop-up messages or counterfeit Web sites to deceive users into disclosing credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords or other sensitive information. Some three percent of those targeted by phishers reveal personal information; according to a study by the research firm Gartner. You may get an e-mail that you need to "update" or "validate" account information. These attempts can often be recognized through grammatical errors and language not suitable for business communications.

3. Protect your business. Phishing can put business owners at risk for online fraud, identity theft and outright robbery and threaten future operations by causing users to lose trust in e-mail. Authentication on your Web site removes phishers' profit motives. If they can't abuse stolen passwords and identity information they'll stop stealing them. Use digital signatures on outbound mail and provide signature verification at the gateway or e-mail client.

4. Look for an e-mail-filtering solution that lets users sort their own junk, in case there's a particular mailing they want. Also, have a way users can report spam to your ISP or the Feds at FTC.gov. Consider solutions such as Cloudmark Exchange Edition, or Cloudmark SafetyBar, which automatically protect users from e-mail crime before it happens with "block fraud" and "block spam" buttons. Decide how you feel about employees using your business systems for personal use. Internal spam, such as forwarded jokes, can be one of a company's biggest spam problems.

5. Choose the e-mail security for your size company. Typically small businesses don't have dedicated IT resources and often can't afford the upfront investment in technology. Look for solutions that are easy to use and specifically designed with small businesses in mind such as those from Cloudmark proven to stop over 98 percent of spam and fraud with zero false positives. This can increase productivity by avoiding the annoyance of unwanted e-mails and protect your company from e-mail security breaches.

Spam and phishing can be big problems for small businesses. Fortunately, there are solutions.