Email correspondence is second nature in today's digital world because of all the inherent advantages it affords. The foremost among them - it provides a dated written record which can be easily located and reviewed whenever required; it can be sent in mid of the night and the recipient can go through it once she/he feels comfortable to check the mailbox. The most exciting things about e-mailing is that it can be accessed from anywhere in the world on a host of different devices. It is an integral part of our daily life. But what happens when someone hacks your email account?

Cyber Attacks that Shocked the Businesses
Recently, two big Indian conglomerates were forced to pay $5 million each in order to prevent hackers from disclosing information. In one case, the email system of a company got compromised, while in the other case, hackers were able to get remote access inside the company's IT system to steal the sensitive information. They kept reading and even downloading every correspondence between the employees and valued clients. The companies were asked to either pay $5 million or they must be ready to face the grim consequences.

In another most discussed case, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) lost Rs. 197 crore after cyber criminals duplicated the public sector firm's official e-mail address with minor changes and used it to convince a Saudi Arabia-based client to transfer payments in their bank account. These days, hacking is not restricted only to the corporates, it is a big threat for VVIPs too. A few months back, the email account of finance ministry spokesperson had been hacked by someone purportedly in the United Kingdom.

A Global Concern Which Need to Be Resolved Smartly
According to a public service announcement released by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), between October 1, 2013, and December 1, 2014, there have been nearly 1200 people in the U.S. and a little over 900 in other parts of the world who have become the victim of this malpractice.