Choosing an email security solution to protect your business can be difficult. Here we offer advice on some of the capabilities that your future email security solution should have to ensure you are well protected against the barrage of threats that target the email systems of businesses every day.
The most important bit of advice is not to delay upgrading your email security defenses. Cyberattacks on businesses have been soaring and cybercriminals are developing ever more sophisticated techniques for attacking businesses. An advanced email security solution will not protect you against all cyber threats, but it will ensure the most common route into business networks is blocked.
When choosing an email security solution, there are several factors to consider. Businesses choosing an email security solution should consider the level of protection provided, how effective the solution is at blocking sophisticated threats and new malware variants, the cost of the solution, and how easy the solution is to implement, use, and maintain. To help you with choosing an email security solution, let us consider each of those factors.
Protection
When it comes to protecting your business against email-based attacks you need to have layered defenses. When choosing an email security solution, look for a product that provides multiple layers of protection that is capable of blocking spam, phishing, malware, business email compromise, email impersonation, and social engineering attacks. Key features to look for to ensure you are protected include:
- Spam – Greylisting, SURBL, and URIBL filtering
- Phishing – Machine learning/AI-based detection
- Malware – Behavioral detection mechanisms
- Email Impersonation – SPF, DKIM, & DMARC
- Business Email Compromise – Outbound email scanning
- Insider threats – Data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities
- Flexibility – A one-size-fits-all approach is best avoided – Flexible filtering controls are needed to apply controls relative to risk
Sophisticated Threat Detection
Phishing attacks have increased in sophistication as well as volume, but detecting sophisticated phishing threats can be a challenge. The common signatures of spam that email security solutions look for are not always present, meaning those emails often get delivered to inboxes where they can attract a click. Advanced anti-phishing defenses include scanning and following links in emails, time-of-click protection against malicious hyperlinks, and machine learning capabilities for detecting novel phishing threats. All of these advanced features are provided in the SpamTitan suite of products, with SpamTitan Plus offering the fastest detection of phishing URLs and industry-leading protection.
Zero-Day Malware and Phishing Attacks
Malware protection is provided by antivirus engines, which are great at detecting known malware threats; however, antivirus engines use signature-based detection methods, and can only detect malware threats when they have the signature of a malware variant in their definition lists. Cyber actors often modify their malware to evade these detection mechanisms, which is why behavior-based detection is required. SpamTitan includes sandboxing for this reason. When a suspicious file attachment passes an initial inspection using two AV engines, it is sent to the sandbox for in-depth analysis of its behavior.
Cost
Cost may not be the main factor when choosing a cybersecurity solution, but it is an important consideration for many businesses. Whatever you spend, it will represent great value in terms of the threats that are blocked, but there are cost savings to be had and those savings can be considerable. A difference in price of $3.42 per user per month is a major saving – SpamTitan Cloud v. Mimecast – when multiplied by 250 users. That’s a difference of over $10,000 per year. That money could be invested in another cybersecurity solution to give you even better protection from the full range of cyber threats.
The cost of a solution does not necessarily translate into quality. Mimecast’s email security solution is a great product, but in terms of protection, ease of set up, ease of use, and customer support, it is no better than SpamTitan which is available at a fraction of the cost.
Ease of Implementation, Use, and Maintenance
Setting up a new email security solution can be a headache and it can take time to get it working properly. You should choose a solution that can be implemented into your IT infrastructure with ease, and it helps to use a vendor that can give you support when you need it – without having to pay extra. Advanced support is often only provided as an add-on. Ease of use should not be underestimated. If a product is difficult to use or is overly complicated, there will be a significant time commitment and it will be a constant source of frustration for users. Instead, opt for a solution that scores highly for usability on independent user reviews. SpamTitan for instance is consistently rated highly on independent review sites such as G2 and Expert Insights for ease of setup and use (and for performance!).
Email security solutions can largely be set and forget solutions for very small businesses, but there will be maintenance requirements to ensure you stay protected. Without maintenance, gaps will appear in your defenses that can be exploited. One option to strongly consider is to opt for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Cloud email security solutions cut down on the maintenance, and less time spent means a cost saving. The service provider will keep the solution updated, will take care of the hardware maintenance, and will patch any vulnerabilities.
SpamTitan from TitanHQ
The SpamTitan suite of products from TitanHQ offers flexibility, cost-effective email security, and a solution for businesses of all sizes and risk profiles. SpamTitan is most commonly delivered as a cloud-based SaaS solution (SpamTitan Cloud) but can be provided as a virtual appliance for use on-premises (SpamTitan Gateway), and there is SpamTitan Plus which offers industry-leading protection against phishing attacks.
SpamTitan is a multiple award-winning email security solution that is loved by SMBs and MSPs that serve the MSP market. The product is often praised for ease of set up, ease of use, flexibility, customer support, and flexible pricing. SpamTitan gives you enterprise-level threat protection at an affordable price and should certainly be on your shortlist when choosing an email security solution.
Why not give SpamTitan a try by taking advantage of the free trial and test it out within your own environment or give the TitanHQ team a call if you have any questions or want a product demonstration.
