What Is Mobile Email Management (MEM)?

Email has traditionally served as the main means through which employees communicate with one another, stay informed about the company’s latest updates, and interact with consumers. But when it comes to corporate email on mobile devices, IT professionals usually deal with some serious threats.

The ability to view corporate emails on personal/company devices is convenient and increases productivity, but it also presents numerous challenges, including:

• securing email access across different devices, Operating Systems, and email clients;
• safeguarding confidential corporate data from malicious applications;
• preventing unauthorized, lost, or stolen devices from gaining access to the company’s email;
• limiting and securing email access over vulnerable networks.

In addition, employees who send work emails to personal accounts or other email addresses run the risk of significant security breaches. The good news is that such issues can be addressed with the use of Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Mobile Email Management (MEM).

Nowadays, organizations can no longer do without Mobile Email Management (MEM) if their purpose is to protect corporate email systems against sophisticated cyberattacks.

Mobile Email Management Defined

Mobile Email Management (MEM), which is part of MDM (Mobile Device Management), enables IT professionals to manage mobile devices accessing emails, avoid data loss, implement rigorous compliance guidelines and encrypt confidential corporate data.

Mobile Email Management Characteristics

MEM provides numerous features to control and secure email on both personal and company devices while also ensuring compliance with organizational security standards. Among these features are:

Employee corporate email account setup

For both internal and external communication, corporate email accounts are vital. Creating separate IDs for each employee can be cumbersome and take a lot of time. MEM software makes it possible to create bulk email IDs by choosing an email policy for a person or a group of employees.

Dynamic variables make bulk creation easier by automatically collecting email addresses linked with devices during the onboarding process. Email clients can be pre-configured in devices even before they boot. In addition, it is possible to set up a default email account and pre-configure email signatures.

Securing email attachments

Email attachments are a crucial part of company communication and may include, among others, excel files and confidential documents. Once downloaded, these files can be shared, accessed by unsafe programs, or stored on a third-party cloud server. Attachments are secured by MEM software both during transmission and after download. A built-in document viewer guarantees secure file opening and saving. Sandbox technology forbids copying, pasting, or file sharing to other machines or the cloud. The software can have embedded additional corporate documents viewing applications, however unauthorized third-party apps are not allowed to access enterprise attachments.

Email restrictions configuration

HTML is frequently used to attach links or pictures, and because downloaded files could include malicious programs or concealed viruses, it poses a security risk to the entire network. MEM is able to block all HTML formats and only show plain text.

Other significant security concerns include the forwarding of email messages and their storage on third-party cloud servers. Even after leaving a company, former employees could still have access to and forward corporate emails to a third party. Sensitive or confidential information can be leaked to the competition, which might use it improperly or gain an advantage. Mobile Email Management solutions stop emails from being forwarded and give control over syncing of emails to third-party servers. Additionally, among others, MEM enables systems administrators to set up access to email from non-email accounts and push notifications.

Securing communication channel

Typically email protocols like POP or IMAP for getting back data involve translating to plain text and expose sensitive information to surveillance and security breaches. Mobile Email Management encrypts data end-to-end and protects communication channels using SSL/TLS certificates. Advanced layers of protection are added with S/MIME. Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) is a technology that is frequently used by businesses to improve email security. It offers encryption, which protects the content of email messages from unauthorized access.

Securing access to exchange services

In the corporate environment, exchange servers are commonly used to handle and secure emails. Exchange offers active sync of calendar, email, and contacts. As a result, exchange services are a tempting target for intruders who are constantly looking to benefit from the use of confidential corporate data. Conventional firewall configurations and other protection software for access control are insufficient for nowadays sophisticated challenges, it is required control of the Exchange server at the device level. With the help of Mobile Email Management (MEM), only authorized devices are allowed access to Exchange services.

Remote centralized management

MEM, which we already know is a component of MDM, offers a centralized administrative interface with an installed client-server that transmits Over The Air (OTA) instructions to user servers installed on endpoint devices. Security policies can be configured and deployed in order to meet organizational compliance requirements. Security certificates can be integrated or revoked. Users can be prevented from removing or changing corporate information by using comprehensive security policies.

Integrates well with other platforms

Mobile Email Management integrates with already-installed email services on devices to access company email. Other supported OSs include Windows, iOS, and Android. Exchange on-premises or Office 365 are also supported. Post-enrolled devices are authorized with OTA setup via the MDM dashboard.

Conclusion

Nowadays, Mobile Email Management is critical to maintaining user productivity. Employees expect constant access to email on all their devices, from anywhere they are. For this type of access, organizations need top-notch Mobile Email Management software that can guarantee email protection, provide quick search options, and maintain access even during outages and disasters.

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Antonia Din

PR & Video Content Manager

As a Senior Content Writer and Video Content Creator specializing in cybersecurity, I leverage digital media to unravel and clarify complex cybersecurity concepts and emerging trends. With my extensive knowledge in the field, I create content that engages a diverse audience, from cybersecurity novices to experienced experts. My approach is to create a nexus of understanding, taking technical security topics and transforming them into accessible, relatable knowledge for anyone interested in strengthening their security posture.