The Top 10 Phishing Protection Solutions
Discover the top best phishing protection solutions to secure your organization's inboxes. Explore features such as reporting, automated analysis and awareness training.
Written by Caitlin Harris
Technical Review by Craig MacAlpine
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Fortra's Cloud Email Protection
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Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration
Phishing protection solutions are a category of cybersecurity software designed to prevent phishing attacks. Since their conception, phishing attacks have evolved to become highly complex and targeted, allowing them to evade traditional email security gateways. As a response to this, email security providers developed a new type of solution dedicated specifically to phishing prevention and the prevention of Business Email Compromise (BEC): Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) solutions.
ICES sit within each user’s inbox and use machine learning to scan inbound and outbound emails—and sometimes other internal communications—for malicious activity. If the solution finds something suspicious—such as an unusual attachment type from an unknown sender, or an unusual request from a known user—the email is either removed, quarantined, or delivered with a warning banner explaining to the recipient about the potential risks associated with the email.
Cloud email security solutions usually also include a “report phishing” plug-in that enables users to report phishing attacks directly from their inbox. The best solutions combine this functionality with phishing simulations that train users to identify and report phishing threats. Together, the combination of technological and human-centric security creates the most effective barrier against phishing attacks.
In this article, we’ll explore the best anti-phishing software solutions. Some of the providers on this list combine ICES with phishing simulations; others extend their protection beyond email to cover other communication channels, such as Slack and Teams. We’ll give you some background information on the provider and the key features of each solution, as well as the type of customer for which they are best suited.
IRONSCALES
IRONSCALES is the leading anti-phishing email security solution, offering advanced protection against threats like Business Email Compromise (BEC), VIP impersonation, and Account Takeover (ATO). Its cloud-based platform seamlessly integrates with Office 365 and Google Workspace, requiring no MX record changes for easy deployment.
Why We Picked IRONSCALES: We appreciate IRONSCALES’ post-delivery protection and its combination of artificial and human intelligence to detect and remove malicious emails in real-time.
IRONSCALES Best Features: Key features include post-delivery protection, real-time threat detection and removal, integration with Office 365 and Google Workspace, a single admin dashboard, end-user reporting capabilities, and gamified phishing awareness training. The platform’s virtual security analyst, Themis, automatically detects and removes threats from all impacted inboxes.
What’s great:
- Effective post-delivery protection against advanced phishing threats
- Real-time detection and removal of malicious emails
- Easy deployment with no MX record changes required
- End-user reporting with customizable warning banners
- Gamified phishing awareness training
What to consider:
- Best suited for cloud-based email systems, in particular M365
Pricing: For pricing details, visit IRONSCALES directly.
Who it’s for: IRONSCALES is ideal for organizations seeking automated, comprehensive protection against phishing attacks, with a focus on ease of deployment and user engagement.
IRONSCALES
Abnormal Security is a cloud-native, API-based email security platform that offers enterprise-grade protection against sophisticated phishing, supply chain fraud, and social engineering attacks. It uses behavioral AI to analyze over 45,000 signals and establish a baseline of known good behaviors, ensuring robust email protection, detection, and response.
Why We Picked Abnormal Security: We like its use of behavioral AI to compute a thorough understanding of enterprise interactions, enabling effective detection of anomalies. Its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 via API ensures no disruption to mail flow, making it an excellent choice for businesses already using this platform.
Abnormal Security Best Features: Key features include protection against phishing, supply chain fraud, and social engineering attacks, one-click deployment, automated SOC operations, and integration with existing SIEM, SOAR, and XDR tools. It leverages email and non-email data, including identity, calendar, event logs, and collaboration tools, to enhance security.
What’s great:
- Uses behavioral AI to understand and baseline enterprise behaviors
- Seamless integration with Microsoft 365 via API
- Simplifies email security stack with one-click deployment
- Boosts employee productivity by streamlining the email experience
- Integrates with existing SIEM, SOAR, and XDR tools
What to consider:
- Primarily designed for cloud-based environments
Pricing: Contact Abnormal Security directly for pricing information.
Who it’s for: Abnormal Security is best suited for organizations using Microsoft 365 who seek enhanced protection against business email compromise and phishing, with easy deployment and integration.
Material Security is a comprehensive detection and response solution for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, designed to enhance phishing protection, data governance, and posture management. It automates the detection and remediation of phishing attacks, safeguarding data in files and mailboxes while preventing account takeovers.
Why We Picked Material Security: We like Material’s AI-based detection engines that block phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC) threats often missed by Microsoft and Google. Its real-time email scanning identifies and secures sensitive information and links, enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for access.
Material Security Best Features: Key features include AI-based phishing and BEC detection, real-time email content scanning, automatic removal of malicious emails, customizable rules for blocking phishing keywords, and comprehensive inbox security. Integrations include SIEM, SOAR, authentication, and awareness training solutions, with deployment via API in under 30 minutes without MX record changes.
What’s great:
- Effective AI-based phishing and BEC detection
- Real-time scanning and securing of sensitive email content
- Automatic remediation of phishing threats
- Comprehensive visibility and management within the admin console
- Quick and easy deployment across all or selected users
What to consider:
- Best suited for protecting email content against phishing
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Material Security directly.
Who it’s for: Material Security is ideal for organizations using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 seeking robust phishing protection and inbox security, suitable for teams of all sizes.
Fortra's Cloud Email Protection
Fortra’s Cloud Email Protection is a robust email security solution that leverages predictive AI and machine learning to combat sophisticated phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. It integrates seamlessly with major email platforms like Microsoft 365, Exchange, and Google Workspace, enhancing security across various environments.
Why We Picked Fortra’s Cloud Email Protection: We appreciate its use of predictive AI and machine learning for detecting impersonation and social engineering threats. Additionally, its integration with Fortra’s Global Inbox Threat Intel provides a proactive defense against evolving email threats.
Fortra’s Cloud Email Protection Best Features: Key features include predictive AI for threat detection, real-time threat intelligence, email quarantine and removal, alerts to security admins, and integration with third-party orchestration tools. It supports Microsoft 365, Exchange, and Google Workspace, and can be deployed standalone or alongside a Secure Email Gateway (SEG).
What’s great:
- Advanced detection of impersonation and social engineering attacks
- Proactive threat hunting by expert analysts
- Seamless integration with major email platforms
- Real-time threat intelligence enhances security
- Flexible deployment options, including standalone or with SEG
What to consider:
- May require additional setup for non cloud-based email systems
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Fortra directly.
Who it’s for: Fortra’s Cloud Email Protection is ideal for organizations of any size seeking robust protection against spear-phishing and email compromise attacks, particularly those using Microsoft 365, Exchange, or Google Workspace.
Fortra's Cloud Email Protection
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration is a cloud-based solution designed to protect inboxes and collaboration apps from phishing, malware, account compromise, and data exfiltration. Built for the cloud and tailored to your organization, it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, deploying in minutes.
Why We Picked Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration: We appreciate its rapid deployment and the ability to secure multiple cloud-based applications. Its machine learning technology effectively identifies and blocks threats by analyzing email communication patterns.
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration Best Features: Key features include protection against phishing, malware, account compromise, and data exfiltration. It supports Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and extends security to OneDrive, Google Drive, and Teams. The platform uses machine learning to detect user impersonation and fraudulent messages, and can be deployed quickly via a cloud-based API. It integrates well with other third-party security providers.
What’s great:
- Rapid deployment within minutes
- Comprehensive protection across multiple cloud applications
- Effective machine learning-based threat detection
- Seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
- Enhances existing email security stacks
What to consider:
- Best suited for cloud-based email systems
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Check Point directly.
Who it’s for: Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration is ideal for organizations seeking to enhance their existing email security or replace their SEG with a robust, cloud-based email security solution. It suits businesses of all sizes that use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration
Barracuda Sentinel
Barracuda Sentinel is an AI-driven email security solution that safeguards against targeted phishing, account takeover, and BEC attacks. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 as part of Barracuda’s Complete Email Protection suite, which also includes PhishLine SAT and Essentials for comprehensive email security.
Why We Picked Barracuda Sentinel: We appreciate its AI engine that learns individual communication patterns to detect and block threats in real time. Additionally, its zero-administration approach simplifies management for IT teams.
Barracuda Sentinel Best Features: Key features include AI-driven threat detection, real-time blocking of malicious emails, zero IT administration, high detection accuracy, and integration with Microsoft 365. It also offers PhishLine for anti-phishing training and simulations. The solution is fully cloud-based.
What’s great:
- AI learns and adapts to user communication patterns
- Real-time threat detection and blocking
- Zero IT administration required
- High detection accuracy
- Seamless Microsoft 365 integration
What to consider:
- Focused primarily on Microsoft 365 environments
Pricing: Barracuda Sentinel is available as part of Barracuda’s Complete Email Protection suite. For specific pricing, visit Barracuda’s website.
Who it’s for: Barracuda Sentinel is ideal for smaller organizations and MSPs seeking effective phishing protection within Microsoft 365 environments. It offers a user-friendly, AI-driven solution that requires minimal IT management.
Barracuda Sentinel
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a cloud-based email security service that protects against unknown malware and viruses using extensive threat data from the Microsoft ecosystem. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365, offering protection for Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
Why We Picked Microsoft Defender for Office 365: We appreciate its comprehensive protection across the Microsoft 365 suite and its cost-effectiveness for organizations already using Microsoft products.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Best Features: Key features include real-time malware and virus protection, anti-phishing with machine learning, malicious link and attachment detection, and reporting capabilities like URL trace. It integrates with Exchange, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
What’s great:
- Seamless integration with Microsoft 365 environment
- Comprehensive protection across multiple Microsoft platforms
- Cost-effective for existing Microsoft users
- Real-time threat detection and response
What to consider:
- Less mature compared to some third-party solutions
- May not offer the most advanced protection features
Pricing: Included in some Exchange and Microsoft 365 plans, also available as an add-on module. For specific pricing, contact Microsoft directly.
Who it’s for: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is best suited for smaller organizations using Microsoft 365 who need a quick and easy-to-deploy security solution.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Mimecast
Mimecast is a leading cloud-based email management solution, serving over 36,000 customers worldwide. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for email security, archiving, and continuity, tailored primarily for enterprise organizations.
Why We Picked Mimecast: We appreciate Mimecast’s robust phishing protection technology, which integrates seamlessly into their overarching email security platform. Its use of AI for real-time scanning and threat intelligence ensures effective detection and prevention of phishing attacks.
Mimecast Best Features: Key features include real-time AI scanning of inbound emails, URL scanning to prevent malicious link access, sandboxing of attachments to neutralize threats, and threat intelligence data utilization. Additional offerings include email encryption, DMARC compliance, DNS filtering, and phishing awareness training. The platform integrates with various email systems and provides detailed reports and analytics.
What’s great:
- Real-time AI-driven email scanning for phishing threats
- Comprehensive URL scanning, including archived emails
- Effective attachment sandboxing to prevent malicious files
- Utilizes global threat intelligence for accurate threat detection
- Customizable and flexible for enterprise needs
What to consider:
- Advanced enterprise features might necessitate additional investment time
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Mimecast directly.
Who it’s for: Mimecast is best suited for mid-sized to large enterprises seeking a customizable, cloud-based email security solution with comprehensive phishing protection and additional features like encryption and compliance tools.
Mimecast
Proofpoint Essentials
Proofpoint Essentials is a comprehensive email security solution tailored for small to mid-sized businesses, offering robust protection against phishing, malware, and data loss. This multi-layered package includes email encryption, archiving, anti-virus technology, and a Secure Email Gateway.
Why We Picked Proofpoint Essentials: We appreciate Proofpoint’s extensive threat intelligence, derived from securing a vast number of emails, and its machine learning technology, MLX, which adapts to new threats in real time.
Proofpoint Essentials Best Features: Key features include MLX for spam and phishing detection, URLDefense and AttachmentDefense for sandboxing malicious links and attachments, and heuristic scanning for unknown viruses. Additional capabilities include the Supernova threat engine for BEC detection, predictive URL scanning, and one-click email removal from user accounts. Integrations support seamless compatibility with various email platforms.
What’s great:
- Highly effective spam and phishing detection with MLX technology
- Advanced URL and attachment protection through sandboxing
- Real-time adaptation to new threats
- Enhanced BEC detection with Supernova engine
- Easy one-click email removal for admins
What to consider:
- Advanced features may require higher-tier plans
- Best suited for SMBs and MSPs
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Proofpoint’s website.
Who it’s for: Proofpoint Essentials is best suited for small to mid-sized organizations across all sectors seeking a comprehensive, easy-to-manage email security solution.
Proofpoint Essentials
TitanHQ Phishing Protection
TitanHQ Phishing Protection is a specialized anti-phishing and remediation solution designed for Microsoft 365 users. It leverages a proprietary machine learning algorithm to identify and remove sophisticated phishing attacks that may bypass Microsoft’s native defenses.
Why We Picked TitanHQ Phishing Protection: We appreciate its exceptional visibility and accuracy in detecting phishing threats, as well as its seamless integration with Microsoft 365, enhancing the security of both internal and external emails.
TitanHQ Phishing Protection Best Features: Key features include multiple layers of email analysis (text, links, attachments), machine learning detection, post-delivery remediation, URL rewriting, time-of-click protection, and banner notifications. The solution also offers detailed reporting and analytics, and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 using the Microsoft API.
What’s great:
- High phishing catch rate with minimal false positives
- Swift deployment, operational in under 10 minutes
- Comprehensive post-delivery remediation capabilities
- Enhances user safety with URL rewriting and time-of-click protection
What to consider:
- Primarily designed for Microsoft 365 environments
Pricing: For detailed pricing information, visit TitanHQ directly.
Who it’s for: TitanHQ Phishing Protection is best suited for organizations using Microsoft 365 seeking to bolster their phishing defense with an AI-driven, cloud-based solution that offers rapid deployment and comprehensive threat analysis.
TitanHQ Phishing Protection
FAQs
Everything You Need To Know About Phishing Protection Solutions (FAQs)
Phishing is a type of cybercrime based on fraud. In a phishing attack, a cybercriminal contacts their target—usually via email—and tries to manipulate them into doing something that will put their data at risk. A user may be encouraged to share their credentials and financial information, or installing malware that will enable the attacker to access their machine.
Traditionally, phishing attacks were used to target hundreds or even thousands of people at once. Today, these attacks are becoming increasingly targeted; instead of sending a generic email to lots of users, the attacker will research their target before messaging them, then pretend to be someone the target knows in order to gain their trust. Because of this, the attacks are much more convincing and difficult to spot – the target is more likely to share sensitive information. These targeted phishing attacks are known as “spear phishing”.
Aside from traditional phishing and targeted spear phishing attacks, there are a few more types of phishing attack that you should make your users aware of:
- Whaling is a type of spear phishing that targets high-ranking members of an organization, such as C-suite executives, who are likely to have privileged access to critical corporate systems or valuable data
- Vishing, short for “voice phishing”, is a phishing attack delivered via phone call, rather than email. These attacks often create a high sense of urgency because the attacker is communicating with the user in real-time and can use this to add pressure
- SMiShing, or “SMS phishing” is delivered via text message. These attacks often claim to be from a trusted organization, such as a bank or an email post-delivery company, rather than a specific individual
- Phishing websites look like normal web pages—usually login or payment pages—but they scrape user data and send it directly to an attacker. Often, users open phishing pages from the links sent in phishing emails, but sometimes they can stumble upon them when browsing if the attacker has managed to hide the malicious page within a legitimate website
These solutions have a series of capabilities and features to identify malicious websites and compromised credentials, this reduces zero day phishing attacks. By identifying compromised login credentials that have been stolen in credential theft attacks, organizations can ensure that security measures are sufficient by changing passwords. By flagging malicious urls, users can ensure that they do not submit their details to fraudulent websites.
Good phishing prevention solutions should contain the following key features:
Email scanning – of incoming emails as well as outgoing emails to identify any sensitive details being shared, or any requests to do so. Suspicious messages should be either blocked or flagged to make users aware of the risks.
Report Phishing Button – this allows users to flag emails that may have been delivered, but show suspicious signs. Some services also offer a service to block phishing sites, further strengthening the attempts to mitigate phishing attacks.
Database access – some phishing attempts will be sent to a large number of inboxes. If a solution has access to a database of identified risks it can be easier to identify commonly used phishing templates. With the advent of artificial intelligence, many phishing communications are becoming more specific. Ensuring that your data is shared with the database can help to protect other users too.
Brand protection – some solutions will scan databases to identify if your brand is being used to trick users. While this is most common for large, trusted organizations, as attacks become more specific, smaller organizations could be targeted too.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), phishing is the most prevalent threat type in the US. Unfortunately, phishing attacks are not only prevalent but also highly successful; recent research from Verizon found that 82% of data breaches last year involved a human element, such as phishing or the use of stolen credentials. A further report from IBM discovered that one fifth of companies that suffer a malicious data breach are compromised due to lost or stolen credentials, while 17% are compromised via a direct phishing attack.
Traditionally, email protection came in the form of a secure email gateway (SEG). SEGs create a defensive perimeter around your organization’s email client, preventing the delivery of threats such as spam, graymail, and mail sent from senders on a deny list. However, they aren’t very effective at blocking highly specific and targeted phishing attacks.
Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) solutions sit within the user’s inbox, scanning all inbound and outbound (and sometimes also internal) messages for anomalous or malicious activity. ICES solutions use machine learning to detect threats; this enables them to pick up on indicators of compromise that are likely to go unnoticed by a SEG, such as unusual communication patterns, typos and grammatical errors, and unusual attachment types. When an ICES tool does find an indicator of malicious activity, it either deletes the email from the user’s inbox, quarantines it, or delivers the email but inserts a warning banner at the top to alert the user to its potential malice.
Some ICES providers (including many on this list) also offer a plug-in as part of a phishing simulation program that enables users to report phishing threats from directly within their inbox.
Many organizations choose to implement a SEG alongside an integrated cloud email security solution to ensure maximum protection against multiple types of email threat. The SEG acts like the wall around your castle, deflecting known threats; the cloud email security solution acts like the guards patrolling your castle grounds, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Security Awareness Training (SAT) is a human-centric form of phishing prevention. Usually, an SAT course is made up of two parts: content-based learning, and phishing simulations.
Phishing simulations are fake phishing emails that test a user’s ability to identify and report phishing threats. The strongest phishing simulators include a “report phishing” button that plugs into each user’s inbox, enabling them to report simulations (and, in some cases, real phishing threats) directly to their IT team as they come across them.
If a user fails a phishing simulation, they’re informed of where they went wrong, and IT and security teams can assign them more training as required.
Implementing a robust email security solution that combines ML-driven threat detection with phishing simulations is one of the best forms of defense against sophisticated spear phishing attacks. However, there is no single silver bullet solution to phishing. To ensure your best chances of staying secure, we recommend that you take a multi-layered approach to defense by implementing the further following tools.
Using a variety of tools in a complementary approach will result in a well-rounded, comprehensive cybersecurity infrastructure, which will also help protect you from other web, identity, and endpoint threats.
Security Awareness Training (SAT)
Security awareness training solutions train users on how to identify and correctly respond to a range of cyberthreats, including phishing attacks. Most SAT solutions combine a mixture of content-based, bite-sized training modules to teach users what different types of attack may look like, with phishing simulations that enable security teams to test how users are likely to respond to a real-life phishing attack. If a user clicks on a link in a phishing simulation, admins are notified and can assign that user further training. SAT is a great way of training users to be more vigilant in their work and personal lives, whilst instilling a culture of security within the organization.
Many organizations make the mistake of assigning security awareness training annually. While this might be enough to tick off a compliance checklist, it’s unlikely to actually improve your security. For best results, we recommend delivering regular, bite-sized training.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Multi-factor authentication requires users to verify their identities in two or more ways before being granted access to an account, application, or system. By implementing MFA, you can stop an attacker from accessing a user’s account, even if they’ve managed to get their hands on that user’s password via a phishing attack.
Different MFA solutions support different methods of authentication—some of which are less “phishable” than others. The strongest methods of authentication to prevent phishing attacks are biometric authentication (such as fingerprint scanners, facial recognition, and behavior recognition) and hardware authentication (using smart cards or USB sticks).
Endpoint Security/Antivirus
Some phishing attacks are used as a means of infecting an organization with malware, such as ransomware or an infostealer. The attacker simply sends the malware as an attachment and tries to manipulate their victim into downloading it. Implementing strong endpoint security or antivirus software can help mitigate the impact of a successful phishing attack by preventing the spread of malware across your organization, even if a user clicks on a malicious attachment.
Web Security
Phishing attacks are usually delivered via email, but there are millions of phishing webpages online that trick users into thinking that they’re entering their credentials or payment information into a legitimate website, when really the information they enter is being harvested by a cybercriminal.
A strong web security solution can help prevent your users from entering their details into phishing pages. There are several tools that can be used to achieve this.
- DNS filters do this by blocking phishing domains
- URL filters block individual phishing pages that are being hosted on non-malicious domains
- Remote browser isolation solutions can prevent users from inputting data into suspicious or malicious pages by restricting them to “view only” access
Strong Password Practices
Enforcing strong password practices won’t necessarily prevent phishing attacks, because phishing involves the threat actor stealing a password directly from your users, rather than cracking it using brute force. However, it can help minimize the damage that an attacker is able to do if they do gain access to a user’s account.
We recommend that you ensure that passwords are regularly updated across your organization, either through the use of password policy enforcement software or a business password manager. This means that, even if a password is compromised, the attacker will only be able to use it for a limited amount of time.
Written By
Caitlin Harris is Deputy Head of Content at Expert Insights. Caitlin is an experienced writer and journalist, with years of experience producing award-winning technical training materials and journalistic content. Caitlin holds a First Class BA in English Literature and German, and provides our content team with strategic editorial guidance as well as carrying out detailed research to create articles that are accurate, engaging and relevant. Caitlin co-hosts the Expert Insights Podcast, where she interviews world-leading B2B tech experts.
Technical Review
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.