How do we stop the flood of spam and phishing emails?

Email is the front door for most attacks on small businesses, and the volume of phishing has exploded now that attackers use AI to write convincing messages. Defense is layered because no single layer is perfect: a modern filtering service in front of your mailboxes catches the bulk; correctly configured DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) make your own domain hard to spoof — protecting your customers from emails pretending to be you; MFA limits the damage when someone's password does get phished; and brief, recurring staff training handles what technology misses.

Two specifics worth checking today: first, whether your domain's DMARC record exists and is enforced (many Asheville businesses have none, meaning anyone can send email as them); second, whether your team knows exactly what to do when they suspect a phish — report it, not just delete it, so the filter learns and IT can check whether colleagues got the same message.

If your inbox is drowning or staff keep getting near-missed by fakes, that's a configuration problem your IT provider can fix in days, not a fact of life.