What is an Emergency Inbox?

Emergency Inboxes Explained

During an email service outage, the Emergency Inbox automatically captures incoming messages, ensuring that critical communications are not lost. It differs from regular email inboxes as it only displays messages received during the outage period and does not show those successfully delivered before the disruption occurred. Once the primary mail server is back online, the Emergency Inbox clears as messages are retried for delivery.

How Emergency Inboxes Work

Emergency Inbox functions by spooling incoming messages during an email system outage. When the primary mail server becomes unreachable, the Emergency Inbox activates, capturing all incoming emails that would otherwise bounce back to the sender. Users can access the Emergency Inbox and send new messages or reply to received ones. When sending emails from the Emergency Inbox, messages are treated like regular outbound emails and are queued for delivery once the mail server is operational again.

Emergency Inbox usage could be during a planned maintenance window for upgrading the email server infrastructure or when unforeseen technical issues cause the primary mail server to become temporarily unreachable. In both cases, the Emergency Inbox ensures that essential communications continue without interruption.

What Role Does Emergency Inbox Play in Cybersecurity?

In cybersecurity, the Emergency Inbox plays a crucial role in safeguarding against potential data loss and business disruption resulting from email service downtime. By providing uninterrupted communication channels, it contributes to overall organizational cybersecurity posture. However, organizations must remain vigilant and implement comprehensive security measures to prevent misuse of the Emergency Inbox by threat actors.

How to Identify and Protect Against Emergency Inbox Attacks

While the Emergency Inbox is a vital tool for business continuity, it can also be exploited by malicious actors. To protect against potential Emergency Inbox attacks, organizations should implement robust email security measures, including:

• Monitoring and auditing Emergency Inbox activities for unusual patterns or unauthorized access.
• Implementing multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access to Emergency Inbox accounts.
• Regularly updating and patching email server infrastructure to minimize vulnerabilities.
• Educating employees about the risks associated with Emergency Inbox usage and promoting vigilant email security practices.

IRONSCALES Emergency Inbox Attack Prevention

IRONSCALES is an advanced email security platform that operates distinctly from traditional Secure Email Gateways (SEGs). Unlike SEGs, which process emails by rerouting them through an external filtering service, IRONSCALES uses an API-based approach that integrates directly with the organization's email system. This method offers a significant advantage in the event of disruptions. Typically, if a SEG is disrupted, email delivery can be halted, necessitating the use of an emergency inbox to maintain continuity. However, with IRONSCALES, the email flow remains uninterrupted even if the IRONSCALES platform itself experiences downtime. This resilience ensures that organizations do not need an emergency inbox, as their normal mail flow continues unaffected, providing seamless and robust protection against threats without the vulnerabilities inherent in traditional SEG architectures.

Learn more about IRONSCALES advanced anti-phishing platform here. Get a demo of IRONSCALES™ today!  https://ironscales.com/get-a-demo/