How to Secure Corporate Email Against Phishing Attacks

Today, more than 90% of cyberattacks begin with an email. No matter how strong an organization’s network firewalls or antivirus software, the weakest link attackers see is the human — the employees themselves.

Phishing is a type of cyberattack in which criminals impersonate a trusted institution (a bank, a courier, a government body, or even your company’s CEO) to deceive users, steal their passwords, or trick them into installing malicious software.

Phishing Types and BEC (Business Email Compromise)

Phishing attacks are broadly divided into two categories: “mass campaigns” and “targeted attacks (Spear Phishing)”.

For companies in particular, the biggest threat is BEC (Business Email Compromise). The attacker, typically by impersonating or hijacking the email of a senior executive (e.g., the CEO), instructs the accounting department to make an urgent payment or wire transfer. This is one of the most lucrative cybercrime methods, causing billions of dollars in losses.

How to Spot a Phishing Email

There are several critical clues to recognizing a malicious email:

1. Sense of Urgency and Panic: Emails that scream urgency and pressure you into immediate action — “Your account will be suspended, click immediately,” “Invoice unpaid” — are always suspicious.
2. Inconsistencies in the Sender Address: The sender name might say “Ulakmail Support,” but the email address could be something misleading or unrelated like <destek.ulakmail@gmail.com> or <info@ulakmai1.com> (with a 1 in place of an L).
3. Suspicious Links: Hover (without clicking) over the buttons or links in the email and check where the URL actually points. If the visible text doesn’t match the underlying link, it’s a trap.
4. Unexpected Attachments: Suspicious attachments — .zip, .exe, macro-enabled .doc/.xls files, or files named “Urgent Invoice” — should never be opened.

4 Steps to Protect Your Company From Phishing Attacks

1. Make Your Email Infrastructure Transparent (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

You must prevent your own company domain from being impersonated and used to send mail to you or your customers. By fully configuring your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, you can stop spoofing carried out via your own domain.

2. Analyze the Source of Incoming Emails

When your technical team or relevant staff encounter a suspicious email, they should read the hidden header sections of the message. Use our Email Header Analysis tool to see the originating server IP, the spam score, and the hops the message passed through.

3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA / 2FA)

Even if your employees fall for a phishing trap and hand their passwords to attackers, a second verification step (SMS or authenticator app) largely prevents unauthorized access to email accounts.

4. Employee Awareness Training

Technological controls only protect you up to a point. It is essential that company employees are put through regular cybersecurity and phishing training and are shown in practice how to recognize spoofed emails. We even recommend that companies create a “security culture” by periodically sending fake phishing emails (Phishing Simulations) to their own employees.

You can secure your communication with an email service that has hardened business security and advanced spam and virus filters. Reach out to our support team for more information about your infrastructure needs.