In the spirit of our “Top Holiday Email Related Tools”, we thought we would start another list each January as our Resolution List.  However, this list won’t be your typical list that includes “drink less soda” or “run a marathon” (all good things!), but will be more along the lines of what you can do to further protect your Email and Network Infrastructure.

Open Relay / Lock Down
In the past it wasn’t such a big deal to have your server as an open relay, but these days even having it open for a few days will more than likely invite spammers to infiltrate your network. An open relay is when an SMTP server is configured to accept anonymous connections to your servers’ IP Address or allow anonymous servers to relay off your server. If you continue to operate with your server as an Open Relay, your server will more than likely end up on a Blacklist which will cause outbound delivery issues.

To ensure that your mail server is not an Open Relay, we recommend only allowing email delivery on your public IP address for email addresses you own. If you have people outside of your network that need SMTP service, employ VPN, SMTP Authentication, or have them use a 3rd party SMTP server.

Another step that we recommended is to block outbound port 25 traffic only to your email server. To do this, simply make a rule on your firewall that stops outbound port 25 connections. Make a single exception for your email server. Lastly, we highly recommend keeping your server secure and running Anti-Virus (don’t forget to run updates!).

Web Security – Locks on the doors, but not the windows?
Now that you have secured your network by closing that pesky Open Relay, you have essentially locked all the doors into your network.  But have you left a window open?  Online threats have shifted their attention from launching attacks through email systems and have begun targeting web browsers as an often unguarded entryway into your infrastructure.

The firewall that protects your business network is configured to stop connections that originate from the Internet. However connections that originate from within your network are automatically granted access. Without this ability your employees would not be able to access any online resources outside of your network. One of the greatest security concerns on the Internet today is malware. This malicious software is often distributed via web pages and is designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s knowledge or consent. Currently 85% of dangerous web activity is attributed to malware which makes proactive Web Security a necessity for every business. The most critical role of Web Security is to prevent malicious code from being brought in to the network; however, it can also be used to control access and generate reporting on your web usage if desired.

Blacklist Protection
One of the most common security challenges for companies is keeping their organization’s email off of Blacklists. When your company gets Blacklisted it will cause major trouble for your business and it will slow down your communication with current customers, prospects and in general the outside world. Email communication is a critical and profit dependent function of any business and this type of communication interruption is both time consuming, costly and completely 100% avoidable.

If you find that your company’s IP has been Blacklisted, what can you do? Well that is where MxToolBox can help! With Email Service through MxToolBox you won’t have to worry about Blacklists. Our highly trained IT professionals will not only help you find the root cause and eliminate your current Blacklist problems, but we can proactively implement solutions to keep your system protected and secure.  

We hope that you are able to check off most of what we have covered. If you haven’t and you have further questions or need further assistance, please contact us at (866)-698-6652 or info@mxtoolbox.com and we’ll be happy to help!

Even if your company has not had its productivity hampered by any of the issues described above, now would be an ideal time to review what our Total Security Package which offers top-shelf Spam and Virus, Blacklist Protection and Web Security can do to further insulate and protect your company. With MxToolbox you can rest assured that  your company’s email and web browsing is safe and secure.   

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