Improving The Security of Electronic Mail: Updated Guidelines Issued by NIST

Electronic mail (email) has become a widely accepted method for people to communicate with each other. Today, more than a billion people in the world use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats, an organization that collects information on Internet usage in over 230 countries. Electronic mail, a very popular Internet application, is used on a regular basis by individuals, government, and business organizations throughout the world to exchange personal and business information. Electronic mail (email) has become a widely accepted method for people to communicate with each other. Today, more than a billion people in the world use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats, an organization that collects information on Internet usage in over 230 countries. Electronic mail, a very popular Internet application, is used on a regular basis by individuals, government, and business organizations throughout the world to exchange personal and business information. The popularity and widespread use of electronic mail systems make them tempting targets for malicious attacks, and all users and organizations should be concerned about protecting the security of their systems and their email communications. Attacks on email systems have taken different approaches. Some attackers with extensive knowledge of the workings of these systems have been able to exploit their weaknesses and use the systems to distribute viruses and other malware throughout an organization. Some sophisticated attacks have used email to compromise user workstations within an organization's internal network, and to influence users to provide information to the attackers or to unknowingly extend the attacks to other systems. Flaws in systems have enabled unauthorized users to gain access to and to change information not meant to be publicly accessible, and to execute commands and install software on the organization's mail server. Denial of service (DoS) attacks can harm an organization by preventing legitimate users from accessing systems. Attackers have also penetrated email systems to disable other organizational systems and to send false messages to others from the organization. The popularity and widespread use of electronic mail systems make them tempting targets for malicious attacks, and all users and organizations should be concerned about protecting the security of their systems and their email communications. Attacks on email systems have taken different approaches. Some attackers with extensive knowledge of the workings of these systems have been able to exploit their weaknesses and use the systems to distribute viruses and other malware throughout an organization. Some sophisticated …