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IT Essentials — Assessing Infrastructure and Networks

Spam Filters

With the increase in cyberattacks, specifically phishing emails; how do you block emails with
malicious content from coming to our inboxes?

Mail transfer agents (MTAs) use spam filters, or mail monitors for unwanted communication. Spam
filters attempt to identify and redirect unwanted or unsolicited email. Spam filters require near
constant maintenance due to the nature of the filtering method. Frequently, false positives allow
unwanted email to arrive at a user’s mailbox, and legitimate email is sometimes redirected to a
spam or junk mail folder. Reputable spam filters have sophisticated anti-virus capabilities to limit
the threat of viruses. Mail monitors notify the user of new email and allow users to identify legitimate
and suspicious messages.

File Sharing

Sometimes, when I try to share a file with our external auditor or a regulator, I receive an access
violation message and have to call the help desk in order to send my file. Why does that happen?

The file you are trying to share was blocked because its contents violated a technical policy designed
to protect sensitive data from inappropriate exfiltration. Before the use of the internet and
networked devices, users would share files using floppy disks. With the advent of protocols such as
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) (mentioned in the Protocols
portion of the IT Network section), file sharing became easier, but not necessarily user-friendly. File
sharing allows users to share files such as books, music, photos, or anything in an electronic format,
either publicly or privately, over the internet if security controls are not in place. You can see from
the diagram provides what a typical file sharing platform looks like.

Commercial file sharing platforms, such as Dropbox, Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive, Microsoft
SharePoint, Apple iCloud, and others usually have parameters or restrictions over the type of sharing
(i.e., permissions) of files. Shared files can be created, read, updated, or deleted, depending on the
type of permissions allocated to the shared file. Organizations should be aware that many of these
tools require little or no licensing, and when it comes to data retention and destruction, an
organization may have little control over where their data is located (typically in the cloud) or how
long it is retained.

However, commercial file sharing platforms have invested resources in user and file security at each
step of the process. Security features can include two-factor authentication, user permissions, file
encryption, and in some cases, compliance with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for healthcare and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
for the financial services industry in the United States and European Securities and Market
Authorities (ESMA) in Europe.

However, organizations should be aware of any legal, regulatory, or security concerns in relation to
the use of any of these services. As such, a file share policy is recommended.

Copyright © 2020 by The Institute of Internal Auditors, Inc. All rights reserved.