More Use Of Email Alternatives

The rise of phishing campaigns and email cyberattacks has more solution providers looking at email alternatives.

Bob Venero, CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech Enterprise, No. 96 on the CRN SP 500, said the rise of email attacks has prompted Future Tech to use in some cases an encrypted mobile communications alternative to email called Silent Circle. That service provides unlimited encrypted voice, video, messaging, sharing and conference calling. The Silent Circle encryption allows a text to be automatically deleted once it is read.

“I have moved 30 percent of my communications with executive leaders to Silent Circle,” he said. “The threat vector on email is huge. It is where all of the attacks start. The bad actors get in through email, someone clicks on it and now they are into your IT environment. I can’t control what Office 365 does or what other platforms do so I have to do something Internally to minimize my risk especially when it comes to high-level executive communications.”

The phishing attack is just another sign of the threat vector from cloud services, according to Venero. “We have always preached about the challenges of cloud services and the risks they pose to corporations and individuals,” he said. “That is not going to change. It is only going to get worse and worse.”

Dynamic Consulting’s Luehr said he expects to see a rise in more businesses resorting to videoconferencing and phone calls to verify a person’s identity. “I think phone calls are going to have a resurgence,” he said. “If email can’t be trusted: what can be trusted? Video calls and audio conversations.”