It’s crucial that organizations using Office 365 find and implement a strong, multi-layered email security solution for their users to tackle advanced threats and enhance security. Office 365 has quickly become one of the most popular cloud-based platforms, making it a prime target for attackers looking for an easy way to compromise email data. In the cloud, email has remained the number one threat vector, with attacks like phishing attacks, spam and ransomware becoming major issues for many businesses.
In this guide, we’ll take you through the top email security solutions for use with Office 365. This article will cover many different kinds of email security technologies that can be used in isolation, or combined with other tools. These solution include Secure Email Gateways, which filter malicious messages before they enter users’ inboxes, Phishing Protection platforms that automatically remove phishing emails, and email encryption solutions that secure email communications.
We’ll cover the key features of these solutions, what makes them perfect to secure emails with Office 365, and what types of customers they are most suitable for.
Abnormal Security is a cloud-native email security platform that leverages behavioral AI to safeguard against various inbound threats, including business email compromise, spear phishing, and malware, as well as internal account takeovers. As a Microsoft Preferred Solution, it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365, enhancing security without necessitating changes to MX records or disabling Microsoft’s native security features.
Why We Picked Abnormal Security: We appreciate Abnormal’s use of behavioral AI to establish user communication baselines and analyze emails for over 45,000 indicators of compromise. Its native integration with Microsoft 365 allows for rapid deployment and unified management.
Abnormal Security Best Features: Key features include protection against inbound threats like business email compromise and spear phishing, as well as detection of internal account takeovers. It uses behavioral AI to analyze emails, rewrite URLs in suspicious messages, and insert warning banners. The platform also scans internal communications for malicious activity, automatically logs out compromised accounts, and triggers Microsoft 365 password resets. Integrations include a native API with Microsoft 365.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Abnormal Security directly.
Who it’s for: Abnormal Security is ideal for organizations using Microsoft 365 who seek robust email security with easy deployment and management. It is particularly beneficial for businesses focused on protecting against sophisticated email threats.
IRONSCALES offers robust protection against phishing, credential theft, and business email compromise for Office 365 users. As a fully cloud-based solution, it operates at the mailbox level to identify and mitigate suspicious email activity.
Why We Picked IRONSCALES: We like its seamless integration with Office 365 and its effective phishing detection and prevention, which outperforms Microsoft Defender for O365 (ATP) according to Expert Insights tests.
IRONSCALES Best Features: Key features include phishing detection and prevention, protection against malicious links and attachments, business email compromise prevention, and security awareness training tools. It uses multiple anti-virus engines and machine learning technologies combined with human threat intelligence to identify and remove malicious emails. IRONSCALES integrates directly with Office 365 via Graph API, requiring no reconfigurations or new mail flow rules, and also offers protection for Microsoft Teams.
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Pricing: For pricing details, visit the IRONSCALES website directly.
Who it’s for: IRONSCALES is ideal for businesses using Office 365 seeking a specialized, easy-to-deploy solution to protect against phishing and business email compromise.
Trustifi is an email security solution that protects organizations from inbound threats like spear phishing, malware, and account takeovers, while also encrypting outbound emails to secure sensitive data at rest, in storage, and in transit. It integrates natively with Office 365 and offers customizable protection settings to help businesses secure their inboxes and comply with data protection standards.
Why We Picked Trustifi: We appreciate Trustifi’s comprehensive approach to email security, combining robust inbound threat protection with strong outbound encryption capabilities.
Trustifi Key Features: Trustifi’s InboundShield scans all inbound emails, ranking them by threat level and type, and quarantines or removes malicious emails according to admin-configured policies. It also features blacklisting and whitelisting to prevent repeat attacks and reduce false positives. OutboundShield applies AES 256-bit encryption to outbound emails, ensuring compliance with standards like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and FINRA. The Office 365 plug-in allows easy encryption without leaving the inbox, and recipients can access encrypted emails through the Trustifi web portal. Additional security options include two-factor authentication for encrypted email access.
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Pricing: For pricing details, visit Trustifi directly.
Best suited for: Trustifi is an intuitive solution for organizations of any size using Office 365, seeking to protect against inbound email threats and encrypt sensitive outbound communications.
ESET Cloud Office Security is a robust cybersecurity solution designed to enhance the security of Microsoft Office 365 applications. It provides comprehensive protection against spam, malware, ransomware, and targeted attacks like phishing and spear-phishing across Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
Why We Picked ESET Cloud Office Security: We appreciate its holistic approach to Office 365 security, offering strong anti-malware and virus scanning across all Microsoft applications. Its ability to customize threat protection policies at various levels adds significant value.
ESET Cloud Office Security Best Features: Key features include anti-malware for Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint, scanning for malicious URLs and attachments, automatic quarantine or deletion of harmful content, customizable threat protection policies, and detailed reporting and logging. It integrates seamlessly with Office 365 for quick deployment.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit ESET’s website directly.
Who it’s for: ESET Cloud Office Security is ideal for organizations seeking a comprehensive security solution for their Microsoft Office 365 environment, enhancing protection beyond email to include Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
TitanHQ Email Security is a robust email security solution that offers comprehensive protection against advanced threats such as CEO impersonation, phishing, malware, and ransomware. It can be deployed as a cloud-based or on-premise solution, providing effective safeguards for Office 365 email accounts with features like inbound email filtering, data loss protection, and encryption.
Why We Picked TitanHQ Email Security: We like the solution’s multi-layered threat protection and its seamless integration with Office 365, ensuring robust security and ease of deployment.
TitanHQ Email Security Best Features: Key features include multi-layered threat protection, inbound and outbound email security, CEO impersonation protection, phishing and ransomware defenses, link analysis, attachment sandboxing, zero-day attack protection, mail spooling, spoofing protection, SPF/DKIM/DMARC checking, data loss prevention, email encryption, and Office 365 backups. It integrates seamlessly with Office 365.
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Pricing: TitanHQ Email Security is available from $1.08 USD/user/month (based on 250 users).
Who it’s for: TitanHQ Email Security is ideal for SMBs, enterprises, and MSPs seeking a powerful, easy-to-manage email security solution that integrates seamlessly with Office 365.
Material Security offers a robust, cloud-based solution that enhances email security, data governance, and posture management for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace users. It provides advanced protection against email threats, secures sensitive data, and prevents account takeovers.
Why We Picked Material Security: We appreciate Material Security’s comprehensive approach to email security with its multi-layered detection and response capabilities. It excels in protecting against phishing and business email compromise while securing sensitive information in real-time.
Material Security Best Features: Key features include phishing detection using machine learning and human reporting, protection against business email compromise, real-time scanning for sensitive links, and historical mailbox data security. It also offers data governance, multi-factor authentication enforcement, and detailed admin console insights. Material Security integrates with SIEM, SOAR, authentication tools, and awareness training solutions.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Material Security directly.
Who it’s for: Material Security is ideal for organizations using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace seeking a comprehensive email security solution that protects against advanced threats and secures sensitive data. It suits businesses of all sizes needing robust email security and governance.
Avanan is a cloud-based email and application security solution that provides advanced protection against phishing, malware, and account compromise attacks. It integrates seamlessly with Office 365 and Google Workspace, allowing for quick deployment and operation within the email environment.
Why We Picked Avanan: We appreciate Avanan’s use of machine learning to analyze historical emails and detect user impersonation and zero-day threats. Its ability to sit behind Office 365 and train on attacks missed by Microsoft enhances its threat detection capabilities.
Avanan Best Features: Key features include real-time analysis of inbound, outbound, and internal emails, as well as connected Office 365 applications like OneDrive and Teams. It offers protection against social engineering and data loss, machine learning-based detection of account compromise indicators, and advanced threat hunting across the network. Avanan integrates with Office 365 and Google Workspace, deployable via an Office 365 app or manual configuration.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Avanan directly.
Who it’s for: Avanan is ideal for organizations of any size seeking robust threat detection and mitigation within an Office 365 email environment. It’s particularly beneficial for businesses heavily reliant on Office 365 and Google Workspace.
Cloudflare Email Security is a robust email security solution integrated within Cloudflare’s comprehensive SASE platform. It offers advanced protection against sophisticated email threats, including phishing, email compromise, and credential theft, leveraging Cloudflare’s extensive threat intelligence.
Why We Picked Cloudflare Email Security: We appreciate its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 via API, which simplifies deployment and configuration. Additionally, its end-to-end phishing triage and response capabilities provide comprehensive threat management.
Cloudflare Email Security Best Features: Key features include end-to-end phishing triage and response, insider threat detection, post-delivery email scanning, visibility into compromised accounts and domains, and brand impersonation protection. It integrates with SIEM and SOAR platforms and uses Cloudflare’s Browser Isolation for protection against malicious web links.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Cloudflare’s website directly.
Who it’s for: Cloudflare Area1 is ideal for businesses already using Cloudflare services, particularly those with Microsoft 365 environments seeking a scalable, cloud-native email security solution.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is Microsoft’s security platform designed for enterprise customers using Office 365. It provides robust protection against malicious email threats, including phishing, malicious URLs, and threats within collaboration tools.
Why We Picked Microsoft Defender for Office 365: We like its seamless integration with Office 365, requiring no additional configuration. It also offers comprehensive protection across SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Best Features: Key features include Safe Attachments for scanning email attachments, Safe Links for real-time URL verification, anti-phishing with machine learning and impersonation detection, threat protection policies, and automated investigation and response capabilities in the advanced tier. It integrates directly with Office 365, protecting SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
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Pricing: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is included in some Office 365 subscriptions like Enterprise E5, or available as an add-on.
Who it’s for: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is ideal for enterprises already using Office 365 who need a comprehensive, seamlessly integrated security solution.
Mimecast Integrated Cloud Email Security is a robust solution designed specifically for securing Microsoft 365 environments. It integrates seamlessly via an API, scanning emails directly within Microsoft 365 to protect against a variety of sophisticated email threats.
Why We Picked Mimecast Integrated Cloud Email Security: We like its ability to scan emails within Microsoft 365 without MX redirection, and its comprehensive threat detection capabilities that protect against phishing, business email compromise, and credential theft.
Mimecast Integrated Cloud Email Security Best Features: Key features include direct email scanning within Microsoft 365, protection against sophisticated email threats, internal threat detection, and remediation. It also offers mailbox-level compliant archiving, e-discovery, legal hold, Office 365 disaster recovery, email encryption, DNS filtering, and Office 365 migration tools. Integrations include seamless compatibility with Microsoft 365 and support for Mimecast’s Security Awareness Training.
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Pricing: Contact Mimecast directly for detailed pricing information.
Who it’s for: Mimecast Integrated Cloud Email Security is best suited for organizations using Microsoft 365 who need a comprehensive and integrated email security solution that enhances protection and supports compliance requirements.
Proofpoint Essentials is a cloud-based secure email gateway that safeguards small and medium-sized businesses using Office 365 from email threats. It combines email security with archiving, encryption, and data loss prevention to offer comprehensive protection against spam, malware, and phishing attacks.
Why We Picked Proofpoint Essentials: We appreciate its multi-layered email security engines and seamless integration with Office 365, ensuring robust protection without disrupting existing workflows.
Proofpoint Essentials Best Features: Key features include multi-layered email security, URL Defense (SafeLinks), anti-virus engines, email archiving, encryption, and data loss prevention. It also offers advanced BEC defense with Supernova detection, predictive URL defense, and one-click message removal. Integrations include easy deployment with Office 365, allowing for automatic scanning and quarantine of infected emails.
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Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Proofpoint’s website.
Who it’s for: Proofpoint Essentials is best suited for small to medium-sized businesses using Office 365 who need robust, easy-to-deploy email security solutions with advanced threat protection features.
Email is a very effective means of reaching to people all over the world who you may or may not know. While this is very useful, it also poses a significant risk to security. You may think that you know who you are in contact with, but how can you be sure? Some of the most common threats to your email inbox include:
Email security solutions will work in several ways to mitigate the threats facing your organization.
Email security tools for Microsoft 365 protect email accounts, content, attachments, and users against malicious activity, compromise, or both accidental or intentional leakage. There are three commonly used approaches to implementing Office 365 email security.
First is by using Microsoft’s own internal protection: Microsoft Defender for Office 365. This is a native email security service which sits on top of the default email security included with Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online Protection). Exchange Online Protection provides advanced threat protection against zero-day malware, phishing, and business email compromises by placing warning banners on email content and automatically removing harmful email messages. This protects external recipients and results in security teams being able to empower users with advanced threat detection and swift incident response.
Second is by deploying a physical or cloud-based secure email gateway. These services monitor all incoming and outbound email traffic to remove spam and malware, using rule-based controls to prevent delivery of harmful email content. This is deployed via redirecting mail exchange (MX records) to point email towards the security service for filtering before deployment.
The third kind of email security method for Microsoft 365 is a category of “integrated cloud email security” (ICES) solutions. These cloud-native email security services deploy via API connection directly into the Microsoft 365 environment, enabling them to scan internal email content in real-time to detect compromised email accounts, phishing-threats, malicious attachments and links.
The best method of Office 365 email security will depend on your specific organizational use cases and risks. SEGs are the best approach to stop malware and harmful email content, while cloud email security services can help to prevent sophisticated phishing threats that may evade the rule based controls of SEG solutions.
Joel Witts is the Content Director at Expert Insights, meaning he oversees all articles published and topics covered. He is an experienced journalist and writer, specialising in identity and access management, Zero Trust, cloud business technologies, and cybersecurity. Joel is a co-host of the Expert Insights Podcast and conducts regular interviews with leading B2B tech industry experts, including directors at Microsoft and Google. Joel holds a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from Cardiff University.
Craig MacAlpine is CEO and founder of Expert Insights. Before founding Expert Insights in August 2018, Craig spent 10 years as CEO of EPA cloud, an email security provider acquired by Ziff Davies, formerly J2Global (NASQAQ: ZD) in 2013, which has now been rebranded as VIPRE Email Security. Craig has extensive experience in the email security industry, with 20+ years of experience helping organizations to stay secure with innovative information security and cyber security solutions.