8 Security Risks Of Shared Email Accounts
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Last Updated: 7 min read
Shared email accounts are those that are accessed and used by multiple people, typically within the same family or organization. They can seem convenient as they enable multiple people to manage workload and ensure that emails do not go unanswered. However, using a shared email poses multiple safety risks and it leaves all users and organizations vulnerable.
Key Takeaways
- Shared email accounts can lead to weak password protection, increasing vulnerability to hacking attempts.
- Accountability is compromised when multiple users access a shared email address, making it difficult to trace actions taken within the account.
- Deliberate attacks from current or former employees can occur if access control is not maintained properly.
- Data retention issues arise when sensitive information can be accessed even after emails have been deleted by a user.
- Compliance with industry-specific regulations is often impossible with shared email accounts due to their inherent security risks.
The Importance Of Email Security
Email security is an important part of any business’s security. Hundreds of thousands of people fall victim to phishing attacks every year, causing considerable data loss and untold financial and reputational damage. Monitoring employees and ensuring they follow best practices can shore up digital defenses. Implementing email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM helps protect against phishing and spoofing attacks by verifying the legitimacy of email senders and reducing the risk of unauthorized use of your domain.
One way to do this is through the use of legitimate spy software. According to tech writer Noah Edis’s Flexispy review, for example, the software can be used to monitor company devices to ensure best practices are being followed and to improve accountability. There are legal requirements in some regions demanding that employers inform their employees about any monitoring measures or tools – e.g., the GDPR in the EU – but that’s not the case on a global scale.
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What Are Shared Email Addresses?
A shared email address is a single email address, using a single email account, that has multiple users. All users log into the account with the same login credentials. Shared emails might be used in homes, by families, and even in businesses. They are commonly used by customer service departments, for example, where multiple employees are responsible for answering emails sent to a single address.
Because all team members use the same login details and access the same emails, and because team members move departments or even leave the company, it can mean that dozens or more people end up with access to the account. This leaves the business open to attack from within while also increasing the risk of external attack.
8 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Shared Email Addresses
Shared email addresses are convenient and can be useful in some instances, but they pose certain security risks. Here are some common reasons why you should avoid using them:
1. Weak Passwords
Secure passwords should consist of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. They shouldn’t include strings of characters that are sequences, well-known words and phrases, or anything that is easily guessed. 8 in 10 business hacking breaches are achieved because of the use of weak or stolen passwords, which makes choosing and using secure passwords an integral part of data security.
Shared email accounts tend to have easy passwords. Multiple users need access to the account, and it’s easier for the admin to assign a simple password. Many users also use the same passwords for multiple different accounts, so if they have been given a password to access their email, there is a chance they will reuse that password elsewhere. To reduce risks, always use strong, unique passwords for each account and ensure they comply with best security practices.
2. Accountability
If multiple people have access to an email account using the same username and password, it makes it virtually impossible to determine who has done what. If there is a deliberate data breach and sensitive emails get shared, it is very difficult to tell who shared that information when using shared email accounts. From a business point of view, it also makes it difficult to determine who has sent or responded to messages from an email account.
A lack of accountability is not about meting out punishment. If there is a security breach or risk, employees and email users need to be trained on best practices. To do this, you need to identify who needs training or you could alienate those users that comply with best practices. Another element of accountability is determining who is responsible for responding to which emails. Team members will need to check every email to ensure it has received a timely response.
3. Deliberate Attack
Emails, even those from customers, can contain highly sensitive data: information you don’t want competitors or external parties getting hold of. With shared email accounts, it can prove difficult to keep track of who exactly has access to the account. As well as current employees that need access, employees leave organizations. Not all data breaches and attacks come from outside the company. Many are instigated by employees or former employees.
It is unlikely that an email password will be changed every time there’s an internal shuffle or an employee leaves. Even though most companies immediately restrict other forms of access when an employee quits. This leaves the company open to deliberate attacks from existing or disgruntled former employees.
4. Data Retention
In most cases, employees use email software like Outlook to access shared email. The software is installed on their computer and allows individuals full access to the account. They can receive and send emails, download attachments, and perform administrative functions on the account.
Even if a user deletes a sensitive email, if the content of the email is in another user’s email software, or they have downloaded attached files, that data still exists. This can be problematic with sensitive business data. It can also pose a security risk with phishing emails and suspect files. One user might recognize a scam and delete the email, but if that email has already been opened or downloaded, it still poses a risk to the whole company.
5. Non-Compliance
Some industries, like healthcare, have strict data protection and communication policies, including email security requirements. Organizations within that industry must follow these policies, or they could potentially be hit with punitive measures. In the most severe cases, companies could have their licenses to operate rescinded.
Most data compliance policies require that users have separate email accounts because this helps ensure data integrity, makes external attacks more difficult, and protects individuals’ data.
6. Increased Complexity
Sharing email login credentials can seem like the simplest solution. Everybody who needs access is given the same username and password, and all users can respond to emails. However, if a business wants to ensure good data security, it actually increases complexity in a lot of ways.
Every user needs to be given login details. When a user leaves a department, and especially if one leaves the company, those details should be changed. This means submitting new login details to all team members. Inevitably, somebody will forget the new details. And, if there is a data breach or another security issue, it will take IT a lot of digging to find the cause of the breach and shore up defenses against future attacks. And, while some users might need administrative access to be able to make changes to the email account itself, other users will not, which means attempting to create user access restrictions on a shared account.
7. Additional Social Engineering Risks
Social engineering is one of the most commonly used tactics to gain access to email accounts and other mission-critical data. Phishing is one form of social engineering, convincing an email recipient to click a link and enter username and password details on a spoof site. However, other social engineering tactics also exist, and the more users that have access to a shared account, the more potential entry points there are for hackers using these tactics.
The most effective way to plug these holes is to have separate accounts with separate login credentials for all users. At the very least, email forwarding might help plug some security holes.
8. Access Restriction
Not all team members need the same level of account access and different team members might need to access specific emails. With shared email accounts this isn’t possible. Everybody with access to the account will be able to see and even respond to every email. Similarly, some users will need to be able to access and amend account details while others will only need email access.
This can be achieved by giving some users email software and giving other users access to the account itself, but it becomes even more complicated, and once a user has the username and password for an account, they can still gain online access to potentially make changes.
Summing Up
Shared emails seem convenient because they only have a single username and password. These are shared between users, and everybody can access and respond to emails in the account. However, shared emails pose a greater security risk and can actually increase the level of complexity for businesses that take data security seriously.
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Domain & Email Security Expert at PowerDMARC
Ahona is the Marketing Manager at PowerDMARC, with 5+ years of experience in writing about cybersecurity topics, specializing in domain and email security. Ahona holds a post-graduation degree in Journalism and Communications, solidifying her career in the security sector since 2019.
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