Your Inbox Could Be Your Biggest Cyber Risk. Here’s How to Stay Protected.

Email is the heartbeat of business communication. According to a recent survey by ZeroBounce, 93% of employees use email every day, and 35% spend between two to five hours managing their inbox.

Whether we’re responding to customer inquiries, confirming vendor details, or sending out updates, email has become a critical lifeline for how businesses run.

But with that convenience comes a major risk.

As email use continues to dominate the workday, it also becomes one of the biggest gateways for cyberattacks, like phishing, malware, social engineering, and business email compromise. And with the cyber insurance market expected to grow from $17.77 billion in 2024 to $21.67 billion in 2025, insurers are tightening their policies and adding more exclusions, making it even more important for businesses to take proactive security steps.

Arthur Armstrong, partner at Reed Smith’s insurance recovery group, warns:

“Policy forms are continuously evolving to address new and different cyber risks. Unfortunately, this has led to more exclusions and sublimits that negatively affect cyber coverage overall.”

So, how can small business owners keep up?

5 Cybersecurity Tactics to Help Mitigate Email-Based Risk

1. Train Your Team to Spot Phishing Attempts

With more than 60% of employees preferring email as their main form of workplace communication, attackers know this is the easiest way to infiltrate. Regular training should include:

• How to recognize suspicious links and attachments
• Warning signs of impersonation or urgency scams
• What to do when a suspicious email is received

Pro tip: Include real-world phishing simulation tests to keep employees sharp.

2. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Even if an attacker gets a password, MFA acts as a critical second layer of defense. Apply MFA for:

• Email logins
• Remote work tools
• File-sharing platforms

This simple step dramatically reduces the risk of a successful breach.

3. Keep It Short and Relevant

According to ZeroBounce, 67% of respondents prefer short emails, and 46% open brand emails only if they’re always relevant. Long, bloated messages are not only ignored—they can also disguise malicious links. Train your team to:

• Write clear, concise emails
• Avoid inserting unnecessary links or attachments
• Use proper signatures to establish authenticity

The more professional and minimal your internal and external emails look, the easier it is to spot imposters.

4. Segment Email Usage Across Addresses

The survey found that 86% of users have at least three email addresses, and your team should too. Encourage employees to:

• Use one email for work
• Another for personal communications
• A third for subscriptions, discounts, or promotional offers

This reduces the chances of a phishing attempt slipping through via a non-work-related source.

5. Review and Update Cyber Insurance Coverage Annually

With insurers adjusting coverage and increasing exclusions, small business owners should:

• Work closely with a cyber-savvy insurance broker
• Understand what’s excluded (especially social engineering scams)
• Ensure policy limits are aligned with your company’s data volume and cyber risk exposure

As Arthur Armstrong suggests, the key is to ensure “appropriate coverage with respect to scope and available policy limits.”

Bonus Tip: Don’t Rely on Outdated Policies or Tools

Today’s email risks look nothing like the ones from just five years ago. If your last cybersecurity update was pre-2020, you’re overdue. Reassess your tools, policies, and training frequency, and make it part of your risk management culture.

The Bottom Line

Email is here to stay, but so are cyber threats. By tightening your practices and treating cybersecurity as a daily business function, not a one-time IT fix, you can significantly reduce risk, increase employee confidence, and even position your business more favorably for insurance underwriting.

Every click matters. Partner with our team to evaluate your email vulnerabilities, improve cyber controls, and review coverage designed for today’s risks.