How spam harms your business
- Updated at March 18, 2021
- By Gatefy
- Blog, Tips & Advices
Email spam has been around since the early days of email. By definition, spam is an unwanted, useless message. It’s what we call junk mail.
Spam may contain different types of content and subject matter, such as advertisements, promotions, miraculous proposals, pornography, and a myriad of other things.
According to Gatefy’s team of email security experts, approximately 80% of the email traffic that companies receive is junk mail.
If we stop to think that, according to data from the research firm Radicati Group, it’s estimated that, by 2024, more than 360 billion emails will be sent and received per day, we’re talking about billions of spam emails being sent and received daily.
The problem with spam is that it interferes a lot in the company’s environment. First, there is an issue of productivity. Second, it’s about the security and protection of your company’s information and data.
Table of Contents
Is spam dangerous?
Despite the fact that it’s an unwanted message, there is an imprecise idea that spam is harmless.
However, if a lot of people continue to send spam, it’s because there’s a great interest behind it and an opportunity to profit from it.
In the case of companies, the question is: why should I care so much about spam and how does it affect my business?
Before we talk more about this topic, it’s important to keep in mind that any issue related to email security should be taken seriously. The reason: email remains the most used platform to hack companies and organizations.
Now, let’s go to the list of problems that spam can cause in the corporate environment.
What are the problems caused by spam in your company?
1. It affects productivity in your company
Spam is related to the loss of productivity in your company because it occupies your team with an unnecessary task. It’s true that it might not take long to open a mailbox and delete all spam.
Nonetheless, spam is a waste of time and a distraction for your employees, who could be spending energy with more productive activities.
2. It affects your business services and makes the company more vulnerable
It costs almost nothing for spammers to send millions of emails. The problem for your business is a mass attack.
If your business isn’t ready to handle a large number of messages, many of your services may be disrupted.
In addition to losing new business because the company’s communication has been hampered, a mass attack often leaves your business vulnerable to other threats and cyberattacks.
3. It contains malware, such as ransomware and spyware
Today spam is one of the most widely used vectors for the spread of threats, including malware.
Those seemingly harmless links and attachments can pose a real threat to your business, hiding ransomware, spyware, and trojans, which allow the attacker to gain access to the computer and then to the entire company’s network.
By the way, according to a Verizon report, about 94% of breaches involving malware occur through the use of malicious emails.
4. It contains phishing and spoofing threats
Spam is widely used for spoofing and phishing scams, which may also be related to malware propagation.
Phishing and spoofing are used when a cybercriminal creates a fake website to steal access credentials with the intention of hacking into your business network or gaining access to confidential information.
Imagine that the attacker may attempt to induce an employee to make a payment for an invoice that doesn’t exist or to provide the system’s access credentials.
5. It can cause legal problems
In an extreme case, depending on the type of spam, such as pornography spam, for example, your company may face legal problems due to misuse of email for illegal activity.
In addition, it may be that a cybercriminal hijacks and uses your company’s domain to spread spam, which may have implications under some specific law.
These are extreme cases, but they deserve attention.
Anti-spam and anti-phishing solution
The best way to keep your corporate email protected is to invest in email protection solutions. Here at Gatefy, we have 2 email security solutions that will help your company.
Gatefy Email Security is a solution that protects your company against different types of email threats, such as spam, phishing, ransomware, viruses, BEC (Business Email Compromise), and social engineering.
Gatefy Anti-Fraud Protection is a DMARC-based solution that protects your company’s domain. It prevents criminals from using your name and brand in spam, phishing, and BEC scams, for example. In addition, the solution also improves the delivery capacity of your emails, as in cases of email marketing, for example.
Would you like to know more? Contact us.
