Malicious Email Attachments

The dangers of malicious email attachments

Malicious email attachments are an increasingly dangerous threat to corporate security. Disguised as documents, voicemails, e-faxes or PDFs, malicious email attachments are designed to launch an attack on the victim's computer when the attachment is opened. Malicious email attachments may be designed to install viruses on a computer, set up ransomware attacks, launch advanced persistent threats, or set up attacks on another organization.

Protecting against malicious email attachments requires advanced threat protection over and above the standard security measures designed to protect email systems. Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection with Attachment Protect provides a highly effective defense against malicious email attacks.

Stop malicious email attachments with Mimecast

Mimecast provides cloud-based services designed to simplify email risk management, heighten email security and improve cyber resilience. Built on a massively scalable cloud platform, Mimecast's fully integrated subscription service enables organizations to reduce the cost and complexity of protecting email and making it safe and available for business.

Mimecast's email security services include tools for virus, malware and spam protection as well as secure messaging, insider threat detection and sending large file attachments. Mimecast Targeted Threat Protection suite steps up the security measures to defend against malicious email attachments, impersonation fraud and malicious URLs. Mimecast's end-user empowerment services provide training and tools that can help employees better spot malicious email attachments, dangerous URLs or an insider threat.

Additionally, Mimecast offers email continuity services that can ensure access to email during cyber attacks or outages caused by natural disasters, technical failure and human error. Mimecast's multipurpose archiving features enable email to be stored and replicated in the cloud to provide off-site storage that make sure email is always available, providing protection from loss and corruption and making it easy to recover deleted items.

Protection blocks malicious email attachments

To protect against malicious email attachments, Mimecast scans all email and every click on any user device to identify potentially dangerous attachments. When an attachment is deemed suspicious, one of two things can happen:

• Malicious email attachments may be sandboxed and the content from emails delivered to users without attachments.
• Malicious email attachments may be instantly converted to a safe format, neutralizing any malicious code, and sent on to the user for preview.

Administrators may combine sandboxing with instant previewing for the best mix of safety, performance and functionality.

Learn more about defending against malicious email attachments with Mimecast and about tools to create an insider threat program.