ProServeIT
By ProServeIT on March 28, 2017

Your Email Security System is Running, Now What?

 

Your email security system is up, users’ email is being protected, and your data seems secure. The main part of your project is done. But, like any well-oiled system, it has to be kept in tip-top shape otherwise it will begin to break down, leaving holes in the system you just spent time and money building up.

Maintaining your email security system is going to involve three crucial aspects:

  1. Educating the end users about the new email security system.
  2. Ensuring the system itself remains up to date and continues to protect your users’ email data from breaches or hacking.
  3. Continuing to manage the relationship with the partner who set up the system for you.

1. Security education for different end-user groups

End users are the biggest security risk. Most email based attacks require human failure to be completely successful. An email security system will stop most emails, but not all. User failure is the final step needed for an email attack to be successful.

It is strongly recommended to raise the overall awareness and vigilance among employees about cyber security. Make security a part of the corporate culture.

When it comes to email defence training, one size definitely does not fit all. Executive will need specific information about their use of the system while end users will need a different approach.

Specific focus for specific end-user groups

  • Executives – Training executives will emphasis buy-in to the system, the benefits of what the system will do or prevent (emphasizing the financial and productivity benefits) and a basic primer on what executives might need to do to set up their computers.
  • HR and Legal – These two types of end users are concerned with privacy policies and what information can be released and to whom.
  • Regular Users – Determine if any other specific groups have similar concerns and group them together. This will reduce the number of training sessions that are needed but will still cover materials that these users need.
  • IT Admins and Help Desk – These are the users who will support the network so they will need highly specialized training. Consider sending your IT staff to administrator training for the new platform. You may also consider developing or procuring content for the help desk knowledge base system to support both temporary migration issues and long-term, end-user inquiries.

Make Sure Employees Know Their Own Responsibilities

It needs to be known that by clicking on something, they could be personally responsible for an intrusion. It must not be an overbearing notion, but make sure the employees are aware that digital threats are looked at by their access points and assessed as security to the organization.

It is recommended that you identify individuals that are most likely to be targeted. This is mostly based on their network and data access. These individuals are at a heightened risk and are accountable for securing their information as well as possible.

2. Ensure the email security system itself remains up to date

Define and Document

To have your email security remain as vigilant as it is now, define all repeatable, auditable and concrete business processes associated with the system and document the steps to complete individual maintenance procedures.

Working Toward the Same Goals

Managers can more objectively gauge performance. Employees know exactly what is expected of them and have the tools and resources to perform their jobs successfully.

System Improvements

Until the current procedures are properly assessed, improvement will be difficult. Once Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are established, it becomes more apparent how these processes can be improved to affect overall quality, streamline tasks, and increase employee performance.

Preventing Mistakes

Preventing mistakes is a tangible outcome of the first two items. If users and administrators have defined and approved standards and procedures to follow, it is less likely they will do the wrong thing or fail to do something that could end up being an open door for malicious software into your network.

Partner Management

Managing your relationship with your partner falls into two categories: Ensuring the partner is managing your Email Defence Systems and managing the business relationship between you and the partner.

If your partner is directly managing your email security solution (under a managed services arrangement), you’ll want to ensure that your partner is managing the solution as agreed to in your contract, performing its obligations such as malware scanning, responding and repairing issues within the agreed upon SLA, etc.

Whether or not your partner is actually maintaining your solution, there are a number of business-related issues that you need to keep tabs on.

  • Manage your partner contract throughout its lifecycle.
  • Maintain an effective relationship with the partner.
  • Manage partner risk to protect your business from negative effects that might occur on the partner’s side.

3. Maintaining a good relationship with your partner

Establishing and maintaining an effective collaboration with your partner through mutual trust, strategic alignment, and close integration of processes is important to maintaining your email security system.

5 Key Responsibilities for Effective Partner Relationship

  • Agree on who owns specific services and tasks within managing your email security and how accountability will be measured.
  • Specify a formal communications and review process for the management as regular intervals.
  • Evaluate the relationship at regular intervals and agree on any needed improvements.
  • Ensure that any improvements agree to are actually carried out.
  • Establish a dispute process between you and the partner and follow the process exactly.

Let us help you maintain your email security system

Managing your new email security system involves both the solution and partner. Our team of experts have worked with many organizations to help them manage their email/data security solutions. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and how we can help you! Fill out the form below or send us an email at Cloud@ProServeIT.com.

Published by ProServeIT March 28, 2017
ProServeIT