Five Steps for Setting Up a Small-Business Spam Defense

Spammers are getting smarter in the ways they try to con your business. It's time to do some homework so you can outsmart them and protect your company from attack

E-mail security has become a critical concern for small businesses, as they're bombarded daily with constant spam, virus and fraud attacks. Unsolicited e-mails, more commonly known as spam, is now the single largest nuisance for internet users. An estimated 45 percent of all e-mail is defined as spam, costing business worldwide $20 billion a year in lost productivity and technology expenses, according to the Radicati Group, a market research firm in Palo Alto, California.

The need to eliminate spam and fraud is critical: Spam and viruses rank as the top two security breaches for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—according to the Yankee Group, more than 80 percent of SMBs have fallen victim to security breaches, leading to major losses in business productivity.

Following are five critical tips which will help you create a more productive workplace that is better protected against spam and phishing attacks—even if you have minimal or no IT staff.

1. Make sure your employees are aware of "phishing" attacks. For small-business owners, now is the time to educate your employees on how to spot a phishing attack—they're on the rise and they're dangerous.

Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam, pop-up messages or counterfeit websites to deceive users into disclosing credit card numbers, bank account information, social security numbers, passwords or other sensitive information. (According to a study released in last year by research firm Gartner, some 3 percent of those targeted by phishers reveal personal information.) The message may pop up while you're online or take the form of an e-mail notification that says you need to "update" or "validate" your individual or company account information. You may be able to recognize these attempts through grammatical errors and general language that is improper for corporation-to-customer communications.