Email Security Best Practices

Email remains the single most common way businesses get compromised — not because email is uniquely vulnerable technically, but because it’s the entry point attackers can reach directly, at scale, without needing to breach anything else first. A handful of consistent practices meaningfully reduce that exposure.

Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication

This is the single highest-impact step available. A compromised password alone should never be enough to access an email account — MFA should be enforced for every user, without exception, across every email account in the business.

Train the Team to Recognise Phishing

Technical controls catch a great deal, but a well-crafted phishing email will occasionally reach an inbox regardless. Practical, periodic training — covering what suspicious links, spoofed sender addresses, and urgent-sounding requests actually look like — remains one of the most effective defences, because it addresses the scenario where the email does get through.

Use Strong, Unique Passwords (With a Password Manager)

Reused or weak passwords remain a common entry point, particularly when a password compromised on an unrelated service gets reused for business email. A password manager makes strong, unique passwords for every account practically manageable, rather than relying on individual memory.

Enable Spam and Phishing Filtering

Modern email platforms (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace) include increasingly sophisticated filtering, but it needs to be properly configured — and periodically reviewed — to catch the widest reasonable range of malicious email without over-filtering legitimate correspondence.

Set Up Domain Authentication Properly

Technical records — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC — help prevent your own domain from being spoofed by attackers impersonating your business, and improve legitimate email deliverability. These are worth configuring correctly even though they’re invisible to end users.

Review Account Access Regularly

Former employees, contractors whose engagement has ended, or accounts granted temporary access that was never revoked all represent accumulated risk if access reviews aren’t a regular, deliberate practice.

Have a Clear Incident Process

If an account is compromised despite these precautions, having a defined, rehearsed process — revoke access immediately, reset credentials, review what the account accessed — limits the damage considerably compared to figuring it out in the moment.

Why Consistency Matters More Than Any Single Measure

None of these practices individually guarantees security. Together, applied consistently across every account rather than selectively, they meaningfully raise the cost and difficulty of compromising your business through email — which is usually enough to make an attacker move on to an easier target.

Where BFF-IT Fits In

If you’re not confident these practices are consistently applied across your business today, that’s worth a proper review. Get in touch with BFF-IT to assess where your email security actually stands.