Cybersecurity Expert Talks DNC Hack, How To Keep Your Email Account Safe

Benzinga recently had the chance to talk to MailControl founder and CEO Paul Everton about the recent DNC email breach, practical ways to keep your email account safer and the companies that will dominate the future of cybersecurity.

MailControl provides enterprise anti-spymail solutions such as Enterprise Privacy Shield, which sits on top of an enterprise email server and disables hidden tracking codes in incoming emails.

DNC Breach

According to Everton, the recent DNC breach seems to be a typical spear phishing attack, in which an attacker gathers information about an individual in order to subsequently impersonate someone he or she trusts.

“In addition to conventional anti-spam and anti-virus layers, companies need to adopt tools that are specifically designed to detect phishing emails as well as anti-spyware tools that protect against the social engineering that precedes the actual phishing emails,” Everton told Benzinga.

He noted that the rapid rise in the number of email tracking tools coupled with falling costs has led to an explosion in spymail risk in recent years.

Related Link: Cybersecurity Consolidation May Be Heating Up

Staying Safe

Everton mentioned a number of practical strategies to keep email accounts safer, including configuring email clients to disable viewing/downloading external images and using a different password for your email account than you use for social media or banking accounts.

He also warned users never to enter personal information into a website reached via an email link.

When Benzinga asked Everton which cybersecurity companies will play an important role in the next generation of cybersecurity, he said the next stage of the cybersecurity war will likely require all hands on deck.

“Ultimately the best solution for any particular company will continue to be a combination of tools with each designed to protect a specific type of threat,” he concluded.

In that sense, he believes cybersecurity heavyweights like Symantec Corporation SYMC, Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO and International Business Machines Corp. IBM, as well as smaller startups like PhishMe, MailControl and Carbon Black, will all play important roles in tackling the next wave of cybersecurity threats.