Secure Email Gateways and Integrated Cloud Email Security Solutions

Filtering incoming email and the affects on mailflow

What are Secure Email Gateways?

A secure email gateway (SEG) is a software or hardware solution that filters incoming and outgoing email messages to protect users and organizations from malicious emails, spam, phishing, and other email-borne threats. SEGs typically perform functions such as antivirus scanning, spam detection, content filtering, encryption, data loss prevention, and policy enforcement.

What are Integrated Cloud Email Security Solutions?

An integrated cloud email security (ICES) solution is a cloud-based service that provides comprehensive email security features, such as SEGs, but also integrates with other cloud applications and platforms, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Salesforce. ICES solutions offer advantages such as scalability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of deployment and management.

How do SEGs, ICES and DMARC work together?

SEGs, ICES and DMARC work together to provide a comprehensive email security framework that protects both the sender and the recipient from email spoofing and phishing. SEGs & ICES act as the first line of defense that filters out malicious emails before they reach the recipient's inbox. DMARC acts as the second line of defense that verifies the sender's identity and prevents impersonation. By combining these two solutions, email users and organizations can achieve the following benefits:

• Reduce the risk of email fraud and data breaches
• Improve the deliverability and reputation of legitimate emails
• Enhance the trust and confidence of email recipients
• Comply with email security standards and regulations
• Gain visibility and control over email security performance and issues

While DMARC can protect your own environment as well as external environments, SEGs & ICES are primarily designed to protect your perimeter and environment.

Why are they important?

Email security is important because email is one of the most common and effective attack vectors for cybercriminals. According to a report by Verizon, 94% of malware was delivered by email in 2019, and phishing was involved in 22% of data breaches. Email security solutions can help prevent, detect, and respond to these threats, as well as comply with regulatory and industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS.

How do SEGs work?

SEGs work by intercepting email traffic before it reaches the end-user or the email server. SEGs can be deployed as on-premises appliances, virtual machines, or cloud-based services. SEGs use various techniques and technologies to analyze and filter email messages, such as:

• Sender reputation: SEGs check the reputation of the sender's IP address or domain name against blacklists or whitelists of known malicious or trusted sources.
• Signature-based detection: SEGs compare the email message and its attachments to a database of known malware signatures or hashes.
• Heuristic-based detection: SEGs use rules and algorithms to identify suspicious or anomalous behavior or patterns in the email message or its attachments.
• Sandboxing: SEGs execute the email message or its attachments in a isolated and controlled environment to observe their behavior and potential impact.
• Machine learning: SEGs use artificial intelligence and data analysis to learn from previous email messages and improve their detection and prevention capabilities.

How do ICES solutions work?

ICES solutions work by leveraging the cloud infrastructure and integration capabilities to provide email security features, such as SEGs, but also additional benefits, such as:

• Cloud-native protection: ICES solutions are designed and optimized for the cloud environment, which means they can scale up or down as needed, adapt to changing threats, and offer consistent performance and availability.
• Cloud-to-cloud integration: ICES solutions can integrate with other cloud applications and platforms, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Salesforce, to provide seamless and unified email security across the cloud ecosystem.
• Cloud-based management: ICES solutions can be easily deployed and managed from a single web-based console, which reduces the complexity and cost of email security administration and maintenance.

What are their limitations?

SEGs and ICES solutions are not perfect and have some limitations, such as:

• False positives and false negatives: SEGs and ICES solutions may sometimes fail to detect or block malicious emails, or mistakenly block or quarantine legitimate emails, which can affect the user experience and productivity.
• Human error and social engineering: SEGs and ICES solutions cannot prevent users from clicking on malicious links or attachments, or falling for phishing or spoofing scams, which can compromise their credentials or data.
• Advanced and targeted attacks: SEGs and ICES solutions may not be able to cope with sophisticated and customized attacks, such as zero-day exploits, ransomware, or business email compromise, which can bypass their detection and prevention mechanisms.

Therefore, SEGs and ICES solutions should be complemented by other email security best practices, such as user education and awareness, multi-factor authentication, backup and recovery, and incident response.

Need Help?