8 Security Questions To Ask Secure Email Providers

Email phishing attacks and ransomware remain common, costing companies millions of dollars and hours each year. Without the assistance of secure email providers, businesses are vulnerable.

Abundant solutions offer email safety, but not all can meet your company’s needs. You need to know the right questions to ask to determine if a provider is right for you. Learn eight questions to ask your email provider or a prospective vendor to evaluate its security.

Key Takeaways:

• Email security requires having servers in appropriate locations and access to end-to-end encryption.
• Secure email providers have to ensure security on mobile devices and offer two-factor authentication.
• Top providers offer support as a standard part of their package and provide access to secure archiving.
• A secure email provider helps its clients monitor security with user-friendly platforms and has strong policies to prevent data loss.

1. Where Are the Best Server Locations for Secure Email Providers?

Privacy laws and data security are concerns for most companies. If you haven’t considered these factors yet, now is the time. Various countries collect intelligence data from servers within their borders, and those nations may share this information with other entities. While this may not pose a security concern for citizens of their respective countries, it can be a conflict when you have clients around the world.

The most secure email providers can keep messages out of the hands of public institutions with data centers that sit in countries with strict privacy laws, such as Switzerland or Sweden. Other countries require that the data of their citizens do not leave the country or have restrictions on their location. You can ensure compliance with such regulations when your email provider maintains data centers worldwide.

2. How Do You Handle Encryption?

End-to-end encryption is a must for truly secure email providers. Only a recipient with the proper authentication can read the emails. Recipients receive a notification when an unauthorized user tries to send an email on your behalf, allowing them to reject a suspicious message.

Video Embed: Intermedia Email Encryption

Encryption should also be available with other productivity features. For example, your email may connect to a calendar or online storage. Can you access secure cloud storage for data that keeps out prying eyes? Find out how a vendor ensures security when connecting a server to other apps.

3. Do You Offer Two-Factor Authentication?

Most companies must deal with an ever-changing workforce as an organization expands and as team members change positions or move on. Protecting credentials can be a constant struggle.

Two-factor authentication from secure email providers requires users to have more than a password to access an account. When a user attempts to log in, they have to verify their access with a one-time code that the system sends to another device or a notification on an app. The extra step of 2FA offers a valuable layer of protection.

4. What Is the Mobile Usability of the Service?

Without a good user experience, employees will delay adopting your email system and stick to less secure messaging. A key factor for usability is access to a mobile device. The best secure email providers allow users access to their email from their mobile devices without worries about compromising security. Such a feature is crucial for team members who need to be in the field to handle their assignments.

5. Is There Any Extra Cost for Full-Time Support?

When you pay a subscription fee to have top-notch security, support should be part of the package. Some security providers offer support as an add-on or restrict the number of calls you can make. Verify that you have complete 24/7 support.

6. Do You Offer Email Archiving?

Your data should be safe, but you should also have easy access to the information inside. Nearly every company must archive for legal, business, or compliance reasons. Vital communications occur through the email platform that may affect contracts, human resources issues, or crucial information for discovery during legal cases.

Top secure email providers offer archiving so that responsible parties can quickly search emails to find pertinent information and maintain compliance. Determine if you have access to the hundreds of different file types that can come inside emails and their attachments.

7. Do You Have User-Friendly Platform Customization?

Policies vary for different organizations. Legal, medical, and financial industries all have essential concerns, but the particular needs of their compliance vary. Check for secure email providers that offer a user-friendly control panel for adjustments.

Administrators should be able to modify, add, or delete user settings, mailboxes, distribution lists, contacts, disk space, and domain names. You should be able to manage other services that connect to email as well, such as instant messaging and video calling.

8. How Do You Handle Data Loss Protection?

New threats arise constantly, and missteps can occur. Data loss protection tools from secure email providers can alert a company as to whether any data is at risk of theft or loss. Your system should detect suspicious activity and flag or block activity such as phishing or malware.

Unfortunately, no company is immune from an upset employee or contractor launching a malicious attack or seeking to steal data. An accidental loss could also happen internally through human error. Data loss protection protocols can fight this threat.

Remember to talk to your provider about determining false positives and false negatives. You don’t want dangers to slip through, but you also shouldn’t be wasting time by blocking messages that are not a threat. If critical messages are going to spam, you sacrifice productivity and could look disorganized to clients and partners.

Where Can You Get More Information About Secure Email Providers?

Email security requires more than finding a company that promises good service. You need a reliable provider that offers all the necessary features and superior customer service. Contact Intermedia, a leader among secure email providers, for an easy-to-use solution.