8 Best Practices for Business Email Protection Against Cyberattacks

Without proper email security, your business could be at a high risk for spear phishing, ransomware, and other email attacks that may cost millions of dollars per incident. No one wants to live with the consequences of a data breach. That’s why your organization needs to consider what its strategy will be for business email protection.

In 2025, email security must be proactive and should include a comprehensive cloud email security solution. Cloud email security provides fully managed, real-time protection against email attacks that could potentially drain your organization’s resources. 

Investing in a strong email security service saves the time and money that would otherwise be spent on recovery. With that in mind, here’s how to upgrade your email security practices.

Why Business Email Protection Matters in 2025

Although an effective strategy for securing business email must be tailored to individual needs, everyone can incorporate these universal methods into their plan for business email protection. Your email security checklist should include:

Business Email Protection Fundamentals

The fundamentals still matter: encryption, attachment scanning, spam filters, and URL checks. Without them, even the most advanced platform leaves openings. A managed service makes sure those basics stay current without piling more work on IT. That foundation leads to a broader strategy.

Quick Answer: What is a business email protection strategy?

A business email protection strategy isn’t one thing — it’s policy, employee awareness, and cloud defenses working in concert. Together, they block phishing, ransomware, and business email compromise (BEC). That mix reduces exposure and helps keep email usable day to day.

Employee Email Security Training

Employee education and security awareness training are essential to effective business email protection. CIOs, administrators, and IT professionals should know the importance of corporate email security, the value of sensitive data, and the consequences of a successful phishing attack or breach. It is equally important for employees to share this understanding.

Insider breaches are mostly the result of human error or negligence, but employee training can reduce the risk of a breach. Businesses should make sure that everyone knows what to do if they accidentally click on a phishing link, as well as how to identify suspicious email addresses or sender activity before opening any email attachments. For organizations looking to strengthen this aspect, using an employee training tracking software can help monitor and improve employee progress, ensuring consistent awareness and preparedness.

Employees are the first line of defense. Regular training strengthens that protection. Mistakes are still what most attackers count on. A quick click on the wrong link, an email opened in a rush — that’s usually how breaches start. 

Business Email Protection Weaknesses

Every enterprise has email security weaknesses that attackers will look to exploit. Until you can identify these shortcomings, they remain vulnerable. 

To avoid underestimating your weaknesses, develop internal training with a cybersecurity policy template. Using a template, alongside real cybersecurity policy examples, can help standardize responses and awareness across departments.

The risk is assuming those gaps don’t matter. One missed patch or weak control can undo everything else. Checking for weak points — and fixing them before attackers do — is as critical as the tools you deploy.

Quick Answer: Why is business email protection important for enterprises?

Email is still the front door for attackers. If that door is wide open, breaches follow — lost data, regulatory trouble, and costly downtime. Business email protection matters because it closes that door before intruders can walk in.

Plan for an Email Security Breach

Even the best defenses miss. That’s why it’s not enough to hope your filters hold — you need a plan for when they don’t. If an employee account is compromised, people should already know who to notify, how to contain the damage, and what steps to take next.

Breach response works best when roles are clear. Administrators reset credentials and cut off access. IT staff isolate affected systems. Employees report quickly instead of second-guessing. Without that preparation, the first hours of an attack are wasted in confusion.

Speed is the difference between a contained incident and a major compromise. The faster you can lock accounts, recover data, and notify stakeholders, the less room attackers have to move. A practiced response plan makes that possible.

Business Email Protection Backups

Even the most advanced enterprise email solution is not completely foolproof. It is best to assume that an attack could damage critical files, and prepare by backing up these files frequently and automatically.

However, one set of backup files is not enough. Sophisticated ransomware variants may sit idle for weeks until triggered, potentially circumventing other protections on your backup. Threat actors also have new tactics that attack backups directly to prevent recovery. To fully secure your backup files, you should always:

• Supplement backups with additional copies kept in multiple locations.
• Isolate backups by placing barriers between them that will stop ransomware infections from reaching them all.
• Test backups frequently. Perform restoration exercises on a regular basis to identify any issues or vulnerabilities.

Backups only prove their worth when you can restore them under pressure. Running drills keeps recovery fast and avoids surprises during an attack.

Business Email Protection Authentication

According to Verizon, over 90% of data breaches involve phishing. To prevent phishing attacks and associated threats like email spoofing and business email compromise (BEC), businesses must implement sender authentication. This technology uses cryptographic protocols to verify where an email actually comes from, regardless of who the sender claims to be. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are the most common email security authentication standards used to verify the sender. 

• Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an open standard that specifies a method for preventing sender address forgery. 
• DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) provides an encryption key and a digital signature that verifies that an email message was not forged or altered. 
• DMARC unifies mechanisms used in SPF and DKIM, allowing domain owners to declare how they would like email from that domain to be handled if it fails an authorization test. 

Ideally, sender authentication should be implemented as part of a comprehensive cloud email security software solution. As with any aspect of security, defense in depth is key to effective protection, and sender authentication is no exception. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC do more when they’re tied into filtering and threat intelligence, not left on their own. Together, they make it harder for spoofed mail to slip past unnoticed.

Microsoft 365 Email Security

Microsoft 365 is a popular platform for every size of business, but its enterprise email system is now a bigger target for Internet thieves than ever before. Despite having built-in protections, Osterman Research reports that 40% of Microsoft 365 customers have experienced credential theft. That number makes it clear: additional protection for Microsoft 365 is necessary to block credential phishing attacks and account takeovers.

If your organization relies on Microsoft 365, you need business email protection that goes beyond its default security. Microsoft 365 email security is highly dependent upon defense in depth, and its basic features, called Exchange Online Protection (EOP), rely only on traditional filtering techniques. Unfortunately, these filters are ineffective against the targeted and sophisticated attacks businesses face today.

The answer is not replacing Microsoft’s security, but building on it. A more advanced cloud email security software solution can complement the default protections and close the gaps EOP leaves open. Pick a vendor that works with your setup, supports your team, and doesn’t slow you down.

Find the Right Email Security Partner

Partnering with an expert in the email security industry is a great way for your enterprise to get next-generation email security services at an affordable price. This includes priority support services, new revenue opportunities, and technical, marketing, and sales training and guidance. Guardian Digital’s enterprise email solution is a leader in the industry and provides a highly advantageous worldwide partner program capable of taking both your email security and your profits to the next level.

Guardian Digital EnGarde Cloud for Business Email Protection

Guardian Digital’s EnGarde Cloud Email Security delivers future-proof business email protection by adapting to the latest threats. Fully managed and centrally hosted, it blocks malicious mail before it reaches the inbox and reduces the risk of human error.

The benefits of securing your enterprise email system with EnGarde include:

• Modern, multi-layered defenses with email security features that combine to detect and combat threats in real time.
• Scalable enterprise guardian cloud-based system simplifies deployment and increases availability.
• Secure endpoint encryption and business email protection using TLS, DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
• Full-spectrum enterprise email protection tailored to modern threat landscapes.
• Zero-hour outbreak control protects against new, unknown threats.
• Multiple leading antivirus engines and spam filtration technologies.
• URL analysis and attachment scanning accurately identify malicious links and files.
• Tighter security, adaptive implementation, and elimination of vendor lock-in risk through a transparent, collaborative development approach.
• Knowledgeable and highly accessible 24/7/365 customer support service.

With EnGarde, organizations get protection that adapts in real time, scales with their needs, and keeps email usable and secure for the long term.

Business Email Protection: FAQ

These are common FAQs about business email protection:

What is the best business email protection service?

The strongest services combine sender authentication, advanced detection, and real-time quarantine. A capable provider should catch phishing attempts, isolate suspicious mail, and give IT teams the visibility and support needed to secure an enterprise environment.

How to choose a business email compromise protection provider?

Look for a provider with proven experience against phishing and BEC attacks, transparent reporting, and strong integration with existing systems. Enterprise teams should also weigh response times and the level of ongoing support, since BEC often relies on speed and persistence.

What’s the difference between business email security software and an email security gateway?

Software runs inside the mail platform and deals with threats in real time — phishing, malware, and spam that hit users directly. A gateway sits out front, between the server and the internet, scanning everything that comes in or goes out. Most enterprises end up using both, since neither covers the whole picture alone.

How can endpoint protection help prevent business email compromise?

Endpoints are where a lot of telltale signs show up. You’ll see malware, stolen login attempts, or odd activity on a device before the mail system flags it. When endpoint tools are paired with business email protection, attackers have a much harder time moving from an inbox into the rest of the network.