Email Security Gap Analysis: An Essential Practice for Protecting Your Organization

1.Introduction

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations increasingly rely on their email security infrastructure, like secure gateway solutions, to safeguard them from myriad cyber threats. If these email security solutions fail to block the email threats, the attacks get through the inboxes and pose significant risks to the companies. The belief that existing security measures are robust enough to ward off these threats is pervasive 90 % of US businesses think that their existing security gateway, e.g., Microsoft, is strong enough to protect them from email attacks.

However, this belief can often lead to dangerous complacency, with the critical practice of regular effectiveness testing being frequently overlooked due to perceived complexities and resource constraints. This neglect can leave potential vulnerabilities unaddressed, creating a chink in the armor that cybercriminals are all too eager to exploit. This is where the Keepnet Labs Email Threat Simulator (ETS) comes into play. This user-friendly tool is specifically designed for conducting an Email Security Gap Analysis, testing existing email security products like secure gateways, making it an indispensable asset in the fight against cyber threats.

The ETS is an essential addition to the existing email secure gateway solutions that empower organizations to secure their email communications proactively. It allows organizations to move beyond the traditional reactive approach to cyber threats and adopt a proactive strategy that identifies and addresses email vulnerabilities or misconfigurations before they can be exploited. This article will discuss the essential practices for protecting your inboxes using an email security gap analysis tool.

2.Significance of Email Security Gap Analysis

An Email Security Gap Analysis constitutes a crucial aspect of a company's security strategy. It's not merely an isolated task but a persistent process that must be woven into the organization's cybersecurity ethos. The gap analysis furnishes a comparative evaluation between your prevailing security practices and the best practices embraced by the industry. It reflects your organization's security position, mirroring its strong points and areas for improvement.

By identifying discrepancies between your existing procedures and the industry's gold standard, a gap analysis reveals potential vulnerabilities and risks within your current system. These weak spots could range from antiquated security software and hardware and lack of staff cognizance about phishing threats to more intricate issues like the nonexistence of a thorough incident response blueprint. Each of these vulnerabilities signifies a potential breach point for cyber threats, and the gap analysis brings them into focus.

However, the gap analysis extends beyond just recognizing vulnerabilities. It also offers valuable insights and suggestions on bridging these gaps. It lays out a blueprint for enhancing your organization's email security, illustrating the actions required to update obsolete systems, educate employees, or formulate an incident response plan.

Fundamentally, an Email Security Gap Analysis is an essential procedure that ensures your organization remains a step ahead of potential cyber threats. It tips the scales from cyber criminals in favor of organizations, enabling them to predict threats and implement preventive tactics rather than merely reacting to breaches post occurrence.

In the backdrop of escalating cyber threats, an Email Security Gap Analysis has evolved from being a mere option to a necessity for organizations. Armed with tools like the Keepnet Labs Email Threat Simulator, executing a gap analysis has transitioned from a complicated undertaking to a manageable and indispensable practice. By pinpointing and addressing possible vulnerabilities, organizations can considerably fortify their email security, shield their crucial data, and ascertain that their digital communications remain secure.

3.Using Customizable Attack Simulations

Performing attack simulations on a customizable schedule and with newly discovered attack vectors is integral. This approach offers a continuously updated set of results and valuable advice on additional technological investments needed. This method also ensures that existing email security solutions are robust enough to provide ample protection.

Integrating with industry-leading Indicators of Compromise (IOC) and Exploitation Frameworks, as well as manual sources, is critical to maintaining an up-to-date assortment of attack types. Such integration helps rigorously test email infrastructure's resilience against varied attack strategies.

Creating an attack simulation that sends over 500 known and contemporary attack vectors, including ransomware, browser exploits, malicious code, and attachments, and file format exploits, to the test mailbox is vital. Such testing is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of security gateways, like Microsoft's, in their response to these threats.

A thorough security gap analysis goes beyond just identifying security gaps. It is a potent tool providing an in-depth overview of your organization's Email Security Maturity Assessment. This process offers a clear understanding of your current email security measures and evolves with your organization, reflecting alterations in your security strategies, threat landscapes, and business objectives.

The gap analysis provides crucial insights into existing vulnerabilities and gives a detailed account of areas lacking email security measures. However, these insights should not be perceived as alarm signals, but rather as stimuli for improvement. They help establish an Email Security Baseline, a yardstick to measure security measures' effectiveness and track improvement efforts' progress.

This baseline becomes the foundation for an effective Email Security Framework, a comprehensive plan that details strategies, policies, and procedures to enhance email security. This framework is not a generic solution but a customized plan considering your organization's needs, resources, and risk tolerance.

Ingraining this framework into your business planning is a strategic step, guaranteeing that your organization remains safeguarded while striving towards its objectives. It ensures alignment between security measures and business goals, making security an integral part of your business strategy, rather than an add-on.

4.Exploring the Keepnet Labs Email Threat Simulator (ETS)

Are your existing email security products adequately shielding your organization against emerging attack vectors? Is there a reliable way to evaluate whether your email security technologies are actually doing their job?

Organizations continually face cyber threats from diverse attack vectors such as spam, phishing, Spear Phishing, Ransomware, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), and other malicious activities. Regular email security vulnerability tests are thus vital to pinpoint weak areas and ensure consistent protection. Failure to assess the open assets on your email service and identify vulnerabilities leaves a window open for cybercriminals to infiltrate your system seamlessly.

Email-based attacks, which account for over 90% of successful data breaches, cost businesses a staggering $3 trillion per year. This trend necessitates substantial investments in technological defenses like firewalls and anti-spam measures. Keepnet Labs' Email Threat Simulator (ETS) module regularly evaluates your technological environment, identifying and rectifying vulnerabilities, and providing remediation services.

The Keepnet Labs Email Threat Simulator (ETS) is an invaluable tool in performing an email security gap analysis. It is a cutting-edge solution that combines advanced technology with user-friendly features, making the complex task of conducting a gap analysis simple and manageable.

Email Bombing

One of the key features of the ETS is its 'Email Bombing' test. This test involves sending hundreds of emails within minutes to test your security walls and measures against various types of malware. This simulated attack mimics the tactics used by cybercriminals, providing a realistic assessment of your email security measures.

The email bombing test is not just about testing the strength of your security walls but also about understanding their weaknesses. It identifies the types of malware that your security measures fail to detect, providing insights into the areas where your security measures need to be strengthened.

A security gap analysis, backed by products like the Keepnet Labs Email Threat Simulator, is a critical component of an effective email security strategy. It provides a clear understanding of your security posture, identifies vulnerabilities, and provides a roadmap for improvement. By incorporating this analysis into your business planning, you can ensure that your organization remains protected against evolving cyber threats while pursuing its business objectives.

Sync with Indicators of Compromise (IOC) and Exploitation Frameworks

ETS is synced with industry-leading Indicators of Compromise (IOC) and Exploitation Frameworks, and it also incorporates manual sources to constantly keep up-to-date with various attack types. By utilizing simulation logic, ETS generates an attack that sends over 240 known and current attack vector types—including ransomware, browser exploits, malicious code, attachments, and file format exploits—to a test mailbox to assess their status.

Keepnet Labs' ETS performs real-world testing for cybersecurity risks, going beyond mere traffic monitoring between the server and client, which is insufficient for Antispam, Antivirus, & Email services.

Report, Remediation:

The ETS stands out for its reporting feature, which offers a detailed overview of security gaps in your email services. This report is not just a list of vulnerabilities but a comprehensive analysis that provides insights into the nature of these vulnerabilities, their potential impact, and the steps needed to address them.

The report interface encapsulates all the details of the simulation results. Successful attacks are reported as 'failed' and necessitate immediate action. Keepnet Labs' ETS supplies a list of remediation tasks required to eliminate vulnerability, and help you to update the Firewall, Anti-Spam, and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). The ETS persists in generating attack simulations according to a customizable schedule and upon the discovery of new attack vectors, ensuring a steady flow of up-to-date results and providing practical advice on supplementary technological investments.

What Sets Keepnet Labs' ETS Apart?

• It is simple to configure and does not require any installation or complex server-side setup.
• Unlike typical vulnerability scanning services, ETS tests for missing or incorrect configuration options.
• Keepnet Labs' ETS delivers 'real-world' testing instead of merely testing active network devices by routing traffic, which is insufficient.
• ETS reports intrusions via domain squatting and integrates cyber intelligence services.
• It sends malicious samples to the test inbox, such as Ransomware, File Format Expoits, Browser Exploits, Spam, Phishing, Spear Phishing, Ransomware, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).

Ready to Experience the Power of Keepnet Labs' Email Threat Simulator? Try it for free! See how we help you to secure your organization's email infrastructure, like secure gateway, against the latest threats with our comprehensive real-world testing. Don't miss this chance to enhance your cybersecurity strategy. Start your free trial now and take the first step towards superior email security!"

Are you interested in viewing a virtual demonstration of our ETS? Please watch our video provided below: