Interscale Content Hub – The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) makes a pretty bold statement about email and cyber threats in its “ASD Cyber Threat Report 2022-2023.”
The report says that the three main cybercrime types for businesses are email compromise, business email compromise (BEC) fraud and online banking fraud.
Yes, two of the three are email-related threats.
That’s why email security gateway is more crucial than ever in keeping your company’s sensitive information safe.
What is a Security Gateway?
The “ASD’s ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report, July 2021 to June 2022,” shows how important security gateways are in today’s interconnected world, where cyber threats are becoming more and more sophisticated.
A security gateway, particularly an email security gateway (ESG), acts as a kind of barrier between you and the internet, monitoring and filtering email traffic to make sure only safe emails reach you.
ESGs are designed to spot and block all kinds of email threats, like spam, phishing, malware and data leaks. This stops cyberattacks that could harm sensitive information or disrupt business operations.
The latest ESGs use cutting-edge tech, like machine learning and threat intelligence, to spot and stop complex email threats.
They can be set up through DNS MX records or API integration, which gives you more flexibility and makes sure you get comprehensive email protection.
For example, Cisco’s Secure Email Gateway looks at email patterns and uses machine learning to filter out spam and malware – it blocks over 99% of them.
Why should we focus on ESG? The ACSC report reveals a staggering statistic: over 76,000 cybercrime reports were received in the 2021-2022 financial year.
Among these numerous attacks, email is one of the primary attack vectors.
The Trend Micro “EMAIL SECURITY,” guideline further emphasises the severity of the problem, stating that a whopping 78% of ransomware attacks use email as their entry point.
Just to let you know, you might find it helpful to read “Email Security Best Practices: 9 Safety Rules To Stay Safe.”
How Email Security Gateways Work?
The gateway acts as an inbound SMTP gateway, which basically means it intercepts emails before they reach your mail server.
This puts the ESG in a great position to stop a ton of spam, phishing attempts, and malware from ever reaching your employees’ inboxes.
The filtering process is pretty sophisticated. It uses a combination of signature-based detection, machine learning, and heuristic analysis to identify malicious content.
The ESG isn’t just skimming the surface, it’s going deep, checking email headers, content, attachments and even embedded URLs.
As an example, the Fortra Secure Email Gateway has a Deep Content Inspection Engine that can analyse email content down to 50 levels, so it can spot even the most cleverly disguised threats.
Then, we also need to consider how content filtering acts as another essential part of ESG.
The Trend Micro Email Security solution, as you can see in the guideline, lets you search mailboxes and collaboration services for sensitive data with integrated DLP capabilities.
This helps you assess your risk exposure and put controls in place to protect this information.
Modern ESGs also have Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) features to fight back against the increasingly sophisticated tactics of cybercriminals.
The Cisco Secure Email Gateway privacy data sheet shows features like Outbreak Filters and Advanced Malware Protection, which use global threat intelligence to spot and block new threats.
The Barracuda Essentials for Email Security solution, which was mentioned in the ACSC report, goes even further with real-time scanning and sandboxing of attachments.
This basically means potentially harmful files are tested in a safe environment to see what they do before they’re sent to the recipient.
And we can’t forget about the integration capabilities of modern ESGs. Being able to link up with platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace through APIs means you can keep an eye on things and protect your emails even after they’ve been sent.
This is especially vital in the face of multi-stage attacks, where criminals may first compromise an employee’s device or credentials and then launch internal phishing campaigns.
Features of Email Security Gateways
The latest ESGs are packed with lots of features to help combat the ever-changing email threat landscape.
These features are more advanced than just spam filtering and virus scanning.
They use some pretty advanced tech, like pre-execution machine learning, which Trend Micro has highlighted.
This accurately identifies unknown malware without slowing down email delivery.
Cisco lists several key features, including anti-spam, anti-virus, outbreak filters and advanced malware protection.
It also has data loss prevention (DLP) features to stop sensitive data being sent by email, and encryption to keep emails safe while they’re being sent.
Other useful features include sandboxing, which detonates suspicious attachments in a safe environment to analyse their behaviour, and content filtering, which blocks emails with inappropriate content or specific keywords.
The Fortra datasheet also mentions document and image sanitisation, which gets rid of metadata, change history, and other potentially sensitive info from files.
Benefits of Using an Email Security Gateway
The ACSC report highlights the value of ESGs in reducing the risk of cyberattacks.
The report says that the average cost of dealing with cybercrime is now over $39,000 for small businesses, $88,000 for medium businesses, and over $62,000 for large businesses.
Can you see the importance of ESGs?
What’s more, the ESGs not only protect your organisation from external threats but also help prevent internal data leaks.
The Trend Micro document makes a strong case for detecting and stopping attacks that are already happening within your organisation, such as those originating from compromised employee accounts.
ESGs can also help you stick to data protection rules like the Privacy Act 1988 by stopping sensitive data from being sent out without permission.
On top of that, ESGs can help boost productivity by filtering out spam and malicious emails, freeing up employees’ time and resources.
They also make sure your emails don’t get marked as spam, so they reach the right people.
If you’d like to learn more, we’d love for you to read “DMARC Email Security: Definition, How It Works, & Benefits of Implementing.“
Best Email Security Gateway in 2024
Finding the best email security gateway for your company means taking a close look at what you need, your budget, and the current threats out there.
There are lots of options on the market, each with their own pluses and minuses.
The Cisco Secure Email Gateway is a great choice for advanced threat protection and comprehensive threat intelligence. It easily works with existing network security setups, giving you a strong defense against email threats.
Another top choice is Barracuda Email Protection, which has real-time attachment scanning and sandboxing capabilities.
It’s a great way to protect against lots of different types of threats, including ransomware and zero-day attacks.
Mimecast Email Security is another solid choice. It uses multi-layered detection engines and sophisticated analytics to stop malware, spam, and targeted attacks.
It’s cloud-based, so it’s flexible and scalable, and it integrates seamlessly into existing email systems, so there’s no disruption.
Fortinet FortiMail is well-known for its high success rate in identifying and blocking spam, which is a constant nuisance that hampers productivity and poses security risks.
It also has some pretty advanced features, like outbreak protection and impersonation detection, which help keep your organisation safe from phishing scams and social engineering attacks.
Trend Micro Email Security, powered by XGen™ security, offers a mix of different ways to defend against threats.
It uses machine learning to spot and deal with new cyber threats, so your business can stay one step ahead.
How to Deploy Email Security With Other Cybersecurity Measures?
So, ESG is not just about picking a product; it’s about understanding your company’s specific weaknesses and matching them with the right solution.
As you see, there are so many ESG options out there, with different ways of setting them up and different features, that it can be hard to know where to start.
That’s why, we should realise how your email security isn’t something you can tackle on its own.
And more importantly; your email security is part of a bigger picture when it comes to cybersecurity.
That’s why we take a holistic approach, making sure your email security gateway works hand-in-hand with your other security measures.
That’s why, we work closely with you to figure out what your company needs and then put together a custom email security solution that fits your goals and budget.
That’s why, Interscale here to give your company the knowledge and tools it needs to fight the ever-present threat of cyberattacks.
That’s why, with all that sugar coating, we’d like you to research the background of our company.
As a starter, kindly visit our Interscale IT Email Security and Protection Services page to see how we can help you beef up your email defences.
Or, if you are ready for a coffee and croissants, let’s grab a one-on-one meeting.
We’d love to chat about your email security concerns and show you how Interscale can be your go-to for fighting cybercrime.
We’d appreciate the chance to sit down with you and talk through your email security concerns.
In Closing
The world of cyber threats is always changing, and the techniques used by attackers are becoming slicker and more complex.
An email security gateway is a vital tool for keeping your data safe. ESGs scans emails for threats and protects your most sensitive information.
Interscale’s email security and protection service is a great addition to your holistic email security gateway.
With Interscale, you’re not just reducing risks. You’re also making sure your business keeps going strong in the digital age.
