Email security is an extremely important part of your Cyber Security defences, but is using Microsoft’s email security product enough or do you need to buy a third-party tool?
Email is a major target for cyberattacks all over the world. Many of us use it every day for our work and personal life. Email is such an important business tool, and many couldn’t live without it. However, people can be easily tricked by a scam email from a cyber-criminal. It should be no surprise that most cyberattacks originate from email. The cyber security company, Egress released that 94% of malware is communicated via email. The cyber awareness company, Phishingbox, said that 95% of business email compromise losses were between $250 and $984,855.
We’ve got to protect our business from Phishing, Malware and many other forms of cyber attacks like impersonation attacks. So, what technology is out there to protect our business from Cybercrime?
Over 1 million businesses use Microsoft 365, so the audience for this blog should be pretty big!
With every Microsoft 365 mailbox, you can get some level of protection. With every mailbox, you get something built in called Exchange Online Protection. We at Integral IT believe this is basic email protection; and advice using advanced email security.
There are so many companies that provide advanced email security all over the world:
Even Microsoft have their own version, Defender for Office 365. So, should you be using just Microsoft’s plan or should you look into purchasing third-party protection?
This is not an easy question to solve. Everybody has their own opinion; even people who specialise in IT!
Let’s look into the 4 different factors that you should be looking into when it comes to email security products.
Cost
All third-party advanced email security products tend to be around the same cost. They usually range from £1.20 to £2.50 per User per month. With the exception of Mimecast, which has the most expensive security.
This generally means that whatever you choose to protect your email, it shouldn’t need to be cost driven, and you can choose the best one for you.
Microsoft’s Defender For Office 365 is also around the same price. However, it also comes with Microsoft Business Premium. This means that if you already have that package, then you don’t need to pay extra for advanced security through Microsoft.
Performance
W don’t have fancy statistics to tell us which is better, and any company will claim to be the best. So, when all these companies are competing – who do you trust?
No single company has the ability to filter out 100% of the nasty emails. Our advice is to pick a product from a reputable company.
You’ll need to learn how it works and how to configure it so that it provides the best protection for your business.
Integration
When you’re looking into your business and deciding what advanced cyber security to implement, you have to think of it as a whole.
This is where we recommend Microsoft’s version. If you’re going all in with Microsoft, all the products are built to integrate. This can be seen with Microsoft Defender For Office 365.
You have all of your needs met by one company.
Imagine you’ve gone all in with Microsoft; you use SharePoint, teams, outlook, etc. You then choose them for your security. They’ve then created the product and the security for the said product. But is this good or bad? We may never know as this debate has been going on for years, so that is why the next factor is essential to take note of.
The Onion
There is not one technology that covers all areas of Email security. Many different technologies go into piecing together the best protection; these are the layers of email security, just like an onion.
Cyber Awareness Training
The one thing that is even more important than email security is cyber awareness training.
This involves training all the people in your business on how to spot phishing attacks, which attachments might contain malware, and what to do if you receive an email asking for money or an invoice.
This is because if everyone in the business is cyber-awareness trained, then the email security product is almost secondary. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on email security, none can filter out 100% of the attacks, and then it is down to your staff and yourself to protect the business. This massively increases the risk to your business as 95% of cyber security breaches results from Human error.
However, you could train all of the staff within your business and not spend a penny on cybersecurity software for emails. If employees are appropriately trained, they will know how to cope with these emails.
So, if you have good email security, layer up your cyber security, and train your staff correctly, you should be secure.
