Characteristics of Best Email Security Solutions

Many enterprises are suffering from a growing number of severe cyberattacks, where the majority of them – over 90% – originate from a malicious email and actually could have been prevented by a next-gen advanced email security solution with the right features and necessary level of protection. 

As a CISO or security leader, you are probably asking yourself, what are the characteristics of the top-notch email security solutions in the market? What should you look for, when evaluating an email security solution?

Related content: Read our guide to email security issues and solutions.

Dynamic scanning of 100% of content

Many of the email security solutions are built to just statically scan content (simple AV) or use CDR (Content Disarm & Reconstruction technology). AV technology is dependent on what is already known while the latter tampers files and changes them.

Dynamic scanning is the process of actually detonating files & URLs inside an isolated environment in order to detect malicious code execution.

Dynamic scanning of files and URLs can take a long while – actually up to 20 minutes – with sandboxing technology and thus many solutions do not scan 100% the content because it takes too many resources and would hinder business processes.

Best email security solutions can dynamically scan 100% of content in just seconds so that you are ensured highest protection at the speed of your business.

Tal Zamir
CTO, Perception Point

Tal Zamir is a 20-year software industry leader with a track record of solving urgent business challenges by reimagining how technology works.

TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

1. Utilize Machine Learning for Adaptive Defense
   Look for email security solutions that leverage machine learning (ML) to dynamically learn and adapt to new threats in real time. Unlike static rules-based systems, ML models can analyze vast datasets to identify patterns and detect anomalies that may indicate sophisticated threats, even those that have never been seen before.
2. Automated Threat Hunting and Incident Response
   Choose solutions that not only detect threats but also have automated threat hunting capabilities. The best solutions can autonomously investigate suspicious activities, correlate events, and provide actionable insights or even execute predefined incident response playbooks without human intervention.
3. Image Recognition Engine
   Opt for email security solutions that go beyond traditional phishing detection by incorporating advanced image recognition algorithms to validate if any URL is a legitimate site.

Recursive Unpacking

Recursive unpacking is the ability to find threats underlying any nesting level inside the content. This is a key capability in protecting against evasion attempts – without that, an attack can go undetected, when the attacker buries a threat deep inside the content. 

Speed and Scale

A common problem with incumbent security solutions is managing scale at the required speed. Legacy solutions have indeed migrated to the cloud but are not designed for scaling. When workloads grow, they are forced to be selective on what they scan – which increases the risk for the infiltration of malicious content, and this is exactly what attackers are waiting to exploit. A security solution should be able to complete a scan in seconds, not minutes, in order to support ongoing business communication needs. 

Engine Optimization 

Advanced threat protection solutions require engine optimization, which should be performed continuously, as they are constantly exposed to and need to efficiently protect organizations from new types of threats. If not optimized, security performance degrades over time, which is a common problem amongst organizations. 

Engine optimization is a combination of the email security solution’s agility – the ability to define new rules and policies on the go, together with a skilled cybersecurity workforce that is able to identify the threats and perform these optimizations on an ongoing basis to continuously deliver high detection rates and low false positives. 

Related content: Read our guide to email security best practices.

Easy to use, intuitive solution 

Many email security solutions suffer two problems at the same time. On one hand, these are complex systems, with complicated playbooks that are hard to operate, and require a lot of training. But also, a lot of the SEG (Secured Email Gateway) solutions come with little to no support, so when push comes to shove, there is no one to talk to for assistance.

Security decision makers should look for simple, easy to operate security solutions that don’t require long manuals or hours of waiting for support on the line. 

Download SE Labs report for an independent source for evaluation of email security solutions

Interested to learn more? Want to hear about Perception Point’s email security solution? Contact us today.

About Perception Point

Perception Point is a Prevention-as-a-Service company for the fastest and most accurate next-generation detection and response to any content-borne attack across email and all cloud collaboration channels, including cloud storage, cloud apps, and APIs for proprietary applications. The solution’s natively integrated incident response service acts as a force multiplier to the SOC team, reducing management overhead, improving user experience and delivering continuous insights; providing proven best protection for all organizations.

Deployed in minutes, with no change to the enterprise’s infrastructure, the patented, cloud-native and easy-to-use service replaces cumbersome legacy systems to prevent phishing, BEC, spam, malware, Zero-days, ATO, and other advanced attacks well before they reach end-users. Fortune 500 enterprises and organizations across the globe are preventing content-borne attacks across their email and cloud collaboration channels with Perception Point.

To learn more about Perception Point, visit our website, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.