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Security Basics

Email and document security threats to small businesses continue to shift with the evolution of the internet and digital technology. Increasingly sophisticated techniques are being used by those seeking to defraud email communication and steal information. The best defense you have is to arm yourself with current information, as well as understand the need for email encryption on the outbound end (email anti-theft control) and the inbound end (spam and virus filters).

Familiarize yourself with these fundamentals and knowledge of email encryption necessity and stay on top of current security issues by visiting our Security in the News page and by reading recent articles by the security experts.


	In 2006, email was the number one mechanism (73.9%) by which fraud took place. Total dollar amount that was lost due to fraud was $198.44 million. IC3 "Internet Crime Report" The number one computer security issue that respondents expected to be the most prevalent in the next two years was data security. CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey Credit card fraud was the most common form of reported identity theft, followed by phone or utilities fraud, bank fraud, and employment fraud. FTC “Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data” January 2006 Computer-related crimes costs U.S. businesses a staggering $5.2 billion a year. 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey Report 68 % of U.S. employees have sent or received email via their work email account that could place their company at risk. 2005 Harris Interactive Poll Losses for the 313 respondents in the 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime Report: - Unauthorized access to information cost $10,617,000 in damages. - Laptop security breaches cost $6,642,660 in damages. - Theft of proprietary information cost $6,034,000 in damages. - Insider abuse of net access or email cost $1,849,810 in losses. 63% of respondents to a new data security study said they don't believe they can prevent such breaches. 2006 ComputerWorld Survey, Based on Ponemon Institute/Port Authority Tech Survey The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that identity theft struck nearly 10 million Americans in 2003, with an estimated total annual cost of $5 billion to consumers and $48 billion to businesses. Identity theft remains the #1 concern among consumers contacting the FTC. Fraud through access of personal identifying information is high on this list. Internet-related complaints accounted for 46% of all reported fraud complaints, with monetary losses of over $335 million and a median loss of $345. Identity theft is common on college campuses. The most recent breach on April 4, 2007, affected 46,000 individuals at UC San Francisco. A hacker had been bypassing the security of a campus server, accessing information for over 2 years. 38% of all complaints made to the FTC was related to identity fraud in 2005. Phishing is a form of online identity theft that employs both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumers' personal identity data and financial account credentials. Social-engineering schemes use 'spoofed' emails to lead consumers to counterfeit web sites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as account usernames and passwords. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond. Today, email phishing scams are one of the most problematic security challenges because they are visually deceptive and hard to detect. The email authentication of eCipher provides an effective means of verifying a legitimate sender. eCipher users are authenticated during registration, ensuring that email secured with eCipher is from who it says it is from. eCipher lends verification and traceability, so you can know for certain that the protected message is legitimate. You can always trust email sent with eCipher. Common misleading emails that are actually phishing attempts: PayPal, eBay, CitiBank, Chase Bank, lottery winning announcements, financial aid requests, healthcare services.