With how prevalent email use is in our day-to-day lives, it’s no wonder that cyber attacks on email inboxes are a regular occurrence seen in the news. Our email inboxes, where most people perform a large amount of daily correspondence, unsurprisingly contain a lot of personal and sensitive information about its users and organizations we are affiliated with.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in almost all areas of computer science, email security is yet another area that can be greatly improved using this technology. AI excels in automating and taking over many of the tasks it would take humans too much effort and time to do.

Things like detecting which email is spam, which is an annoying marketing promo email, which is a phishing attempt to obtain your passwords and which contains malware are all things that AI has already been trained to do to protect your sensitive information and peace of mind. But newer advances in AI help us even these to a higher degree of accuracy and also protect our email data in other ways.

Why Traditional Email Security Methods Aren’t Cutting It Anymore

In the past few years, we have seen how cyber-attacks and email security breaches have become tougher to see coming and preventing. This shows that traditional and commonly used email security methods aren’t enough to fight back, so our methods to deal with these attacks must also adapt.

One reason it’s hard to fight these attacks is that attackers do not look like attackers; instead, they look like friendly and familiar emails asking for something that seems harmless but which gives away confidential information about you. These are called phishing attacks and can look very convincing to someone who is not actively aware of a security threat.

Other security threats via email, such as malware embedded into email attachments, can be difficult for a regular email filtering or security protocol to flag. Because traditional technology is not meant for such a high-stakes need for security, we must improve our defenses.

Ten AI-Powered Tech Features to Make Your Inbox More Secure

Artificial Intelligence is being adapted into the field of email management and security to improve upon basic functionalities already offered by email providers. AI technology is now being used in many ways to protect users from threats or attacks to their email; here’s how:

1. Automatic Encryption: Artificial Intelligence can be used to encrypt emails that contain sensitive information automatically. AI content analysis algorithms are used to scan the email content to detect if it contains sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit card details, and personal identification numbers. The email is automatically encrypted before sending or flagged for additional security measures if they are present.
2. Intelligent Filtering: AI-powered email security solutions can automatically filter out spam, phishing emails, and other unwanted messages. AI algorithms can be trained to recognize these sorts of emails based on their content and characteristics, such as sender, subject line, and email body. The AI can then automatically move these emails to the spam folder or delete them altogether. This helps to reduce the risk of human error and prevent employees from falling victim to phishing attacks.
3. Suspicious Activity Monitoring: One of the most widely applied uses of AI in security is in monitoring. In emailing, AI can monitor users’ email accounts for suspicious activity, such as logins from unrecognized devices or locations. If any suspicious activity is detected, the user is notified immediately, and appropriate actions can be taken to secure the email account.
4. Sentiment Analysis: Canary Mail uses AI to analyze the sentiment of an email. This can help identify if an email is hostile or threatening in nature, allowing users to take appropriate action.
5. Behavioral Analysis: AI technology can learn a user’s typical behavior and detect anomalies in their email activity. For example, if an email is sent from an unusual location or device, the AI system can detect this and flag it as suspicious. Use machine learning algorithms to detect and block email-based threats such as phishing attempts, malware, and spam. These algorithms analyze the contents of the email, the sender’s behavior, and other contextual factors in determining if an email is malicious.
6. Malware Detection: AI can detect malware attachments in emails by analyzing the file type, size, and content. If a suspicious attachment is detected, the email can be flagged and sent to a quarantine folder.
7. Authentication Checks: AI can be used to verify the authenticity of emails by analyzing sender details, header information, and the content of the email itself. This can help prevent spoofing and other email-based attacks.
8. Authority Checks: AI technology can also help ensure that only authorized users can access email accounts. For example, two-factor authentication can be implemented using AI to authenticate users based on their behavior and usage patterns.
9. Real-Time Monitoring: AI-powered email security solutions can monitor email accounts and flag suspicious activity. This enables IT teams to respond quickly to potential threats and take appropriate action to mitigate the risk.
10. Personalization: Upcoming AI technology is being worked on that can personalize email security measures based on individual users’ needs. This can help ensure that the security measures are effective and not overly restrictive, allowing for a more seamless and efficient email experience for each user according to their usage needs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, AI technology is revolutionizing email security by providing newer advances in making email secure, as well as making older methods of email security more accurate. The use of machine learning in emailing and encryption has brought us to the most secure methods of sending and storing information on the internet yet.

Using advanced threat detection, auto-encryption. behavioral analysis, content analysis, intelligent filtering, authentication and authorization, real-time monitoring, and personalization, AI-powered email security solutions are making email more secure than ever, helping individuals and businesses protect their sensitive information and avoid falling victim to cyber-attacks.