The growth of email use continues even as other methods of interpersonal communication, such as instant messaging, social networking, and chat are seeing strong adoption. This year the total number of business and consumer emails sent and received per day will reach 269 billion, and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% over the next four years, reaching 319.6 billion by the end of 2021. The number of worldwide email users in 2017 will top 3.7 billion, and by the end of 2021, that number will be over 4.1 billion. That means approximately half of the planet population uses email.
The average number of successful email borne malware attacks is growing, even as anti-malware solutions become increasingly comprehensive and effective against the latest malware threats. The most common types of malware attacks are blended attacks, which may combine two or more methods of delivery, such as email and Web access, to spread malware to an organization’s internal network. Blended attacks often begin through email, or involve the use email in some way, for instance an email itself may not contain any malware, but instead it might provide a link to a website that contains malware.
SPAM email is frequently used as a method to deliver virus and malware. In spite of businesses ongoing security equipment investments, there is no 100% guarantee of protection from SPAM and the potentially harmful payload that many such email carry. In addition to having a SPAM filter, AV/Malware protection at the gateway, server and desktop, and web filtering at the gateway, DCR strongly recommends all businesses educate their end users on Email Best Practices. Below is a suggested list of items to consider including in your Email Best Practices.
Email Best Practices
- Use only company email to communicate with co-workers, providers, vendors, etc.
- Don’t access personal email accounts at work.
- Don’t open email attachments unless you know what they are and who they are from.
- Don’t open, forward or reply to spam or suspicious email; delete them.
- Be aware of sure signs of scam email.
- Not addressed to you by name
- Asks for personal or financial information
- Asks your for password
- Asks you to forward it to lots of other people
- Don’t click on website addresses in email unless you know what you are opening.
- Don’t cut and paste a link from questionable message into your Web browser.
- Don’t reply to email or pop-up messages that ask for personal or financial information.
*Statistics provided by The Radicati Group, Inc.