Email Security

The Top 11 Business Email Compromise (BEC) Protection Solutions

Discover the top solutions to help you protect your organization against business email compromise attacks.

The Top 11 Business Email Compromise (BEC) Solutions Include:
  • 1. Abnormal Security
  • 2. Graphus
  • 3. Agari
  • 4. Avanan
  • 5. Barracuda Total Email Protection
  • 6. Cofense
  • 7. Darktrace
  • 8. Huntress
  • 9. IRONSCALES
  • 10. Mimecast Email Security With Targeted Threat Protection
  • 11. Proofpoint Email Security And Protection

Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a form of phishing that impersonates a brand, in order to make their requests seem more authentic and trustworthy. By imitating a known and reputable brand, users are more likely to share information that they know to be sensitive, more readily.

Where BEC attacks are concerned, the victim is not limited to the party that is tricked into sharing sensitive information, but also the organization who is impersonated. If your brand becomes associated with phishing and other types of attack, your legitimate messaging and communication may be questioned. You may lose customers due to your credibility and trustworthiness not instilling enough confidence in the current and potential customers.

BEC is a diverse and complicated issue to resolve. As such, there is not one single solution or process can eliminate the risk, but a series of different solutions and approaches that increase your chances of combating the threat.

In this guide, we’ll cover the top solutions to help prevent your organization falling victim to BEC attacks. The platforms listed in this article address BEC from several different perspectives, including email spoofing, credential theft, and phishing. The list includes products that can be defined as Secure Email Gateways (SEGs), firewalls, and user training platforms. It is through taking a broad and comprehensive approach that you have the best chance of eliminating the threat completely. 

Abnormal Security Logo

Based in San Francisco, California, Abnormal Security provides comprehensive protection against the full spectrum of email attacks, including business email compromise, phishing, malware, ransomware, social engineering, as well as spam and graymail. The platform can also automate your security operations to streamline workflows and reduce total spend.

Abnormal allows you to prevent harmful emails from reaching your users. This reduces the chances of business email compromise attacks, supply chain fraud, and credential phishing attempts. The solution also has the capability to detect account takeover attacks by monitoring normal behavior and flagging suspicious activities. The platform’s analytics capabilities enable it to assess your security posture and make suggestions of how this can be improved. Reports can be automated for auditing and compliance purposes.

The platform can ingest data from sources other than email to give you comprehensive security; this includes Slack, Microsoft 365, and Active Directory, amongst others. The platform unifies data from these sources to provide clear and concise intelligence regarding users and threats. We would recommend Abnormal for organizations of all sizes that need a comprehensive and agile email and communications security tool.

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Graphus Logo

Graphus is an anti-phishing and business email compromise solution for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. It uses sophisticated AI algorithm and machine learning engines to stop email threats. Graphus was acquired by Kaseya in 2020.

Graphus ensures effective email protection. BEC attacks are automatically quarantined, with instant threat alerts and detailed contextual data to help you monitor inboxes and prevent threats.

Graphus also enables users to block unwanted emails in their own inboxes, with spam and phishing reporting. It places warning banners on suspicious email content to help users more effectively spot harmful email messages.

The Graphus platform is cloud-based and is deployed via API integration, so there is no need for MX record changes, email rerouting, or agent installation. The admin console is modern and user friendly. In the dashboard, you can find comprehensive security reports, providing insights into email security effectiveness, risk levels, and types of attacks.

Overall, Graphus provides a robust, user-friendly, automated email security solution. We recommend it as a strong solution for SMBs looking for an easy-to-deploy, easy-to-manage email security software.

Graphus also a strong option for managed service providers. It offers an effective console for managing multiple tenants, including the ability to roll out settings and policies for all clients at once.

Agari logo

Agari is an email security provider that helps protect enterprises worldwide against a range of digital and cyber threats. Agari’s cloud-based suite of products includes phishing and BEC defense, impersonation protection, and comprehensive threat reporting and analysis. Their expertise extends from their BEC-focused counterintelligence research group, the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division (ACID).

Agari Phishing Defense works to inspect and analyze inbound emails for anomalous behavior and indicators of compromise, including domain spoofing and lookalike domains. The solution blocks malicious emails from reaching user inboxes. Agari’s products also shield against vendor email compromise by learning and modeling third-party identities and monitoring abnormal activity. The Agari Active Defense solution delivers actionable insights, threat visibility, and robust reporting, thereby providing comprehensive protection against BEC attacks. The solution is compatible with Microsoft 365, Microsoft Exchange, and Google Workspace and integrates with platforms like Azure Sentinel, Splunk, and Palo Alto Networks.

Users appreciate Agari’s ease of use and excellent customer support, along with the included onboarding and training services. The platform is recommended for enterprise organizations from various industries seeking advanced BEC protection coupled with analytics and intelligence feeds.

Avanan Logo

Avanan is a cloud-based platform providing email and collaboration tools security for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and Dropbox. Advanced AI technology enables Avanan to continuously scan inbound emails for signs of fraud, impersonation, and other anomalies by building custom threat profiles using communication patterns, employee relationships, and historical emails. The platform works alongside default email security solutions to catch threats that might go undetected, such as BEC, account compromise, phishing, and data leakage.

Avanan utilizes contextual analysis, anomaly detection, and its anti-phishing algorithm, Smart-Phish, to analyze emails in real time and detect BEC and employee impersonation. The solution also identifies account compromise by monitoring suspicious activity across the email network and cloud applications. This includes unrecognized logins and multiple password resets, and can automatically lock out suspicious users based on configured policies.

The Software-as-a-Service solution is easy to install via API, requiring no change to MX records, making it simple to use, reliable, and scalable. Avanan is well-suited for organizations of all sizes using Microsoft 365/Exchange or Google Workspace and is designed to reinforce existing email security stacks by detecting threats that might evade traditional defenses. Real-time reporting allows IT managers to analyze every aspect of a threat and gain a deeper understanding of potential risks.

Barracuda Logo

Barracuda offers a Total Email Protection portfolio, which provides all-inclusive protection against 13 different email threats, including spear phishing, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and account takeover. This comprehensive security solution combines a Secure Email Gateway (SEG), AI-driven threat detection, user awareness training, and automated remediation to achieve robust email security. Barracuda Sentinel is a component that utilizes AI for detecting impersonation and malicious activities, while PhishLine offers user awareness training and reporting.

Barracuda Total Email Protection uses Sentinel’s advanced AI capabilities to analyze user communication patterns and create an identity graph. This serves as a baseline to detect anomalies such as unusual requests, unrecognizable contacts, and BEC-related language. The platform automatically flags and removes suspicious emails. PhishLine delivers engaging, updated user awareness training materials and customizable simulated phishing campaigns, as well as user behavior reporting. High-risk employees, such as those in finance, HR, and IT, can be identified and given tailored training through PhishLine.

Rated highly for its effectiveness and ease of use, Barracuda Total Email Protection serves as a comprehensive email security and awareness training solution. Sentinel employs API-based deployment, integrating swiftly with users’ inboxes. The portfolio is designed for mid-sized and enterprise organizations seeking all-in-one protection against email threats like spear phishing, BEC, and account compromise.

Cofense Logo

Cofense is a leading provider of advanced phishing detection and response solutions, designed to protect organizations from phishing, BEC, and other email-related attacks. The Cofense suite combines security awareness training and phishing simulations to educate employees on how to identify and respond to threats effectively, in addition to automated tools for triaging and addressing reported threats.

The Cofense platform includes a user training course, where employees learn to identify and react to various types of phishing and BEC attacks. Alongside this training, organizations can use simulated phishing emails to mimic real-world threats and test employees’ knowledge. Employees can then use an email reporting plugin to report both suspicious simulated and genuine emails. Cofense also offers automated triage, threat analysis, and quarantine capabilities based on established policies.

Cofense’s phishing detection and response platform is compatible with Microsoft 365 email protection and Google Workspace. It is praised by its users for its ease of use, reliability, and flexibility. This solution is suitable for companies of different sizes and industries looking to protect themselves against email threats through engaging awareness training and automated detection and response tools.

Darktrace Logo

Darktrace is a cybersecurity company that provides advanced email security solutions to protect businesses from various threats such as phishing, supply chain attacks, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and accidental data loss. Darktrace’s email security offering, Darktrace/Email, employs a self-learning approach that adapts to ever-evolving threats by understanding what is considered ‘normal’ behavior for each employee and detecting anomalies in both inbound and outbound communications.

To offer comprehensive protection, Darktrace/Email not only focuses on securing email but also extends its capabilities to a range of SaaS applications and devices on the network. This 360° user understanding allows the solution to take targeted actions, such as neutralizing threats while repairing or allowing unusual but safe emails. Darktrace/Email also communicates directly with end-users to explain its actions and takes employee feedback into account to improve its AI-driven detection capabilities.

In addition to safeguarding against cyber threats, Darktrace/Email helps boost productivity by reducing non-productive mail, such as unwanted cold calls, spam, and newsletters. As a result, employees can focus their time on important tasks and drive business growth. Darktrace/Email is an effective solution for combating a wide range of email-related threats, including ransomware, which often begins with a successful phishing attack. By providing multi-stage protection, Darktrace ensures that organizations can prevent threats from developing, before resolution becomes even more complex.

Huntress

Huntress is a managed security platform designed to secure small and mid-market businesses by focusing on essential cybersecurity measures. The platform works directly with IT providers and resellers, making security simple and accessible for businesses. Huntress detects threats, with its team of threat hunters able to analyze and respond to these threats, providing users with actionable incident reports.

The Huntress dashboard offers a comprehensive view of active incidents and investigations, enabling even non-security professionals to respond to cyber threats effectively. The platform includes features such as endpoint protection, detection, and response capabilities, supported by the ThreatOps team. This combination of features enhances businesses’ cybersecurity measures.

Huntress works by detecting attackers who abuse legitimate applications or aim to deploy malware and ransomware. The platform eliminates persistent footholds on Windows and Mac, enables earlier detection of potential ransomware incidents, and optimizes frontline protection with Microsoft Defender. Additionally, its managed endpoint detection and response (EDR) and 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) help to evict hackers faster.

With detailed summaries and customizable reports, businesses can accurately measure and articulate the value they gain from the Huntress managed security platform. This platform helps to boost cybersecurity knowledge and grow businesses by developing employee security awareness through training solutions.

Huntress
IRONSCALES Logo

IRONSCALES is a cloud-based email security and anti-phishing provider that utilizes AI and human intelligence to offer comprehensive email protection and user security awareness training. The platform safeguards organizations against various threats, such as internal and external phishing attacks, CEO and employee impersonation, supply chain attacks, and invoice fraud.

Key features of the IRONSCALES platform include inbound email filtering, URL scanning, DMARC, and anomaly detection. The system learns employee habits, communication history, and relationships to identify and prevent impersonation and fraud. IRONSCALES also provides engaging training modules and customized phishing simulation emails, helping users recognize and combat phishing attacks.

Easily integrating with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Exchange, IRONSCALES is quick to deploy, does not require MX-record configuration, and is highly rated by users for its intuitiveness and ease-of-use. The solution is suitable for SMBs as well as enterprise organizations seeking advanced email security, BEC protection, and personalized phishing simulations.

Mimecast Logo

Mimecast is a well-respected email security provider that offers a comprehensive, cloud-based security platform through a single subscription service. Their Email Security With Targeted Threat Protection products are designed to secure organizations against Business Email Compromise (BEC) using an array of advanced features, such as a secure email gateway, impersonation protection, and internal email protection. Powered by the Mimecast Security Operations Centre (MSOC), Mimecast analyzes billions of emails each month to keep users up-to-date with emerging threats.

Mimecast’s email security products provide protection across desktop and mobile devices, as well as personal devices. The secure email gateway combines detection engines, threat intelligence, and policy management, along with DMARC and email quarantine. Mimecast Impersonation Protect scans inbound emails in real time for suspicious content and domain spoofing. For additional security, organizations can utilize Mimecast Awareness Training to educate and test employees on email-based threats. The platform can be run on Amazon Web Services or Mimecast’s native cloud platform, Mime|OS.

Users often praise Mimecast’s platform for its reliability, effectiveness, and ease of management. Mimecast offers high-quality support, making it a suitable option for enterprise organizations across various industries seeking robust email security and BEC protection, as well as user awareness training.

Proofpoint Logo

Proofpoint is a leading cybersecurity and compliance provider offering protection for over 8,000 businesses globally. The company’s Threat Protection Platform, which includes Proofpoint Advanced BEC Defense, utilizes their advanced Supernova detection platform to help organizations safeguard their data from targeted attacks and prevent business email compromise (BEC).

The Proofpoint Threat Protection Platform employs machine learning and AI to analyze billions of emails, URLs, and attachments daily. The platform offers advanced features that allow organizations to identify, block, authenticate, and manage suspected threats effectively. Additional benefits include comprehensive BEC threat reporting, supply chain threat analysis, and user-specific data. To enhance user awareness, Proofpoint provides targeted BEC training to help users recognize and report suspicious emails and imposter threats.

Proofpoint’s solution is reliable, easy to set up and manage, as well as being highly effective in detecting and blocking threats. The platform is suitable for organizations of all sizes across various industries seeking a robust email security solution complete with advanced reporting capabilities and user awareness training.

The Top 11 Business Email Compromise (BEC) Protection Solutions