Email is a vital communication tool for modern businesses; however, it also poses significant security risks given the vast amount of inbound and outbound email communication.  

Email security threats are on the rise and becoming more sophisticated. Cybercriminals are now deploying AI to create highly personalized social engineering attacks, deepfakes, and other advanced tactics. These methods make it harder for both automated systems and human users to detect and mitigate threats. Making it even more necessary to ensure email systems are secure.

Conducting an email security audit is essential to ensuring the integrity of your email systems, protecting sensitive data, and maintaining the trust of your clients and partners. Conducting an audit helps identify vulnerabilities, enabling organizations to enhance their defenses against cyber threats. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of email security audits, including their importance and how to perform one effectively to safeguard your business.

An email security audit is a comprehensive review of an organization's email systems to identify vulnerabilities that could compromise network security.

An email security audit typically involves:

• Evaluating security policies and protocols
• Ensuring encryption standards are in place
• Identifying outdated or weak security measures

Why is an email security audit important?

• Protects your business from cyber threats like phishing and malware
• Prevents unauthorized access to sensitive information
• Helps avoid data breaches and reputational damage

Who needs an email security audit?

• Any organization that handles sensitive data
• Companies aiming to protect your business and comply with industry standards
• Businesses looking to maintain a secure network environment

The type of email security audit your organization needs will depend on your specific audit goals. Whether you're looking for a comprehensive review or a targeted audit of certain areas, it’s essential to identify the key risks to your email systems.

Common types of email security audits

1. Continuous monitoring

This audit focuses on ongoing surveillance of your email environment. It helps identify potential threats in real-time, allowing for swift action to prevent security breaches.

2. Email security policies and procedures

This audit examines the effectiveness of your organization’s email security policies, ensuring they align with best practices. It reviews procedures like email filtering, access control, and password management.

3. Compliance audit

A compliance audit ensures that your email systems meet industry regulations and standards, such as GDPR or HIPAA, protecting you from potential legal and financial penalties.

4. Encryption audit

Encryption protocols are critical for safeguarding sensitive data. This audit checks whether your emails are properly encrypted during transmission and storage.

5. Secure email gateways

This audit assesses the effectiveness of your email gateway in preventing spam, phishing, and malware from reaching your inboxes.

6. Two-factor authentication (2FA)

Auditing your 2FA setup ensures that additional layers of security are in place for accessing your email accounts.

7. Employee training and awareness

This audit evaluates the effectiveness of your training programs on secure email usage, identifying areas where employees might need further guidance.

8. Password policies

An audit of password strength and management practices helps reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

Comprehensive vs. partial audit

Comprehensive audit: Ideal for businesses facing frequent cyber threats or managing sensitive data, this audit covers all aspects of email security.

Partial audit: Suitable for organizations needing to focus on specific areas, such as encryption or compliance, based on known vulnerabilities.  

Conducting an email security audit provides businesses with numerous advantages that go beyond just identifying weaknesses. Here are several key reasons why these audits are essential:

1. Identify vulnerabilities

An email security audit helps pinpoint weaknesses in your email systems, such as outdated encryption methods, poor password practices, or unprotected email servers. By identifying these issues early, businesses can prevent unauthorized access and reduce the likelihood of a data breach.

2. Improve compliance and meet regulations

For organizations that need to comply with industry standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS, an email security audit report ensures all security measures are up to date. Failing to meet these regulations can result in penalties or legal challenges, so regular audits help keep businesses compliant.

3. Enhance employee training on email safety

A security audit doesn’t just focus on systems—it also reviews human factors. By identifying gaps in employee knowledge, businesses can improve training programs, ensuring staff are better prepared to recognize phishing attempts and avoid other email-based threats.

4. Improve efficiency in email use

Audits can highlight inefficiencies within your email systems, such as slow or insecure email routing. By addressing these issues, businesses can streamline email usage, making communication faster and more secure.

5. Strengthen overall security measures

After conducting an email server security audit, businesses can take the gathered data to enhance their existing security protocols. This could involve updating encryption standards, improving spam filters, or enforcing stricter access controls.

6. Prevent future data breaches

The ultimate goal of any audit is to prevent cyber incidents, such as a data breach. With a clearer understanding of system vulnerabilities, companies can proactively implement stronger safeguards to better protect their sensitive information. Regular audits are key to maintaining robust defenses.

It’s recommended to conduct an email security audit at least once a year to stay ahead of emerging threats. However, some cybersecurity professionals suggest performing audits every 3-6 months, especially for organizations that handle sensitive data or are at higher risk of cyber-attacks. Regular audits ensure your email systems are secure and compliant with regulations, helping to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. If it’s been a while since your last audit, now is the perfect time to schedule one to protect your business and maintain robust security measures.

Conducting an email security audit requires a systematic approach to ensure all aspects of your email system are thoroughly reviewed. Follow this email security audit checklist to guide your audit process:

1. Prepare for the audit

• Review current email security policies and systems.
• Identify high-priority areas such as encryption, email access, and potential unauthorized access points.
• Set clear goals for what you aim to achieve, such as improving compliance or identifying vulnerabilities.

2. Set audit goals

• Define the scope: Will it be a full email server security audit or a targeted audit (e.g., encryption, compliance)?
• Determine key benchmarks for success, like meeting regulatory standards or reducing the risk of data breaches.

3. Conduct the audit

• Review email gateways, filters, and encryption protocols.
• Check email authentication measures like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Evaluate password policies, 2-factor authentication, and access control settings.

4. Analyze the data

• Review audit findings for any vulnerabilities or compliance gaps.
• Assess the effectiveness of security policies and training programs.

5. Improve security measures

• Use the audit results to enhance security policies, strengthen encryption, and improve employee training.
• Implement stronger controls and address any identified risks immediately to protect your business.

By following this email security audit checklist, you can ensure your systems are safeguarded and compliant with best practices.

Darktrace has developed a fundamentally different approach to email security, one that doesn’t learn what’s dangerous from historical data but forms an in-depth understanding of each organization and its users.

Darktrace / EMAIL focuses on individuals - how each person uses their inbox and what constitutes “normal” for each user - in order to detect what’s not normal. Our AI technology builds profiles for every email user, including their relationships, tone and sentiment, content and link sharing patterns, and thousands of other signals.

Because Darktrace understands the human behind email communications rather than knowledge of past attacks, it can stop the most sophisticated and evolving email security risks like generative AI attacks, BEC, account takeover, supply chain attacks, data loss, and ransomware.  

To learn more about Darktrace / EMAIL read our Solution Brief.