Cloud Email Security Software Features
At minimum, cloud email security software offers advanced filtering functionality and rule-based actions to prevent email-based spam, malware, viruses, and phishing attempts. Many cloud email security software providers include additional functionality including advanced threat protection, encryption, and data loss prevention tools, among others.
Anti-spam — This functionality prevents unwanted emails (bulk, mass, or other junk emails) from reaching recipients mailboxes. Filtering out spam emails can improve employee productivity, because employees are not sifting through unwanted emails.
Anti-malware — This feature prevents emails with malicious links or attachments embedded with malware (ransomware, spyware, other viruses, etc.) from reaching email recipients.
Anti-phishing — This functionality helps prevent social engineering attacks such as phishing, spear-phishing, and C-level executive impersonation attacks.
Filtering functionality — With filters, IT administrators can allow and prevent the delivery of certain kinds of emails to end users. Filters can include: approved senders, approved lists, greylists such as bulk emails that may not be malicious, blocked senders, blocklists, IP reputation, content (such as profanity, credit card numbers, password protected files, and other sensitive information), virus detection, redirects and malicious URLs, newsletter detection, attachment size, and invalid recipients.
Rule-based actions — Using rule-based actions, the cloud email security software can automatically block, delete, route to, tag a subject, copy an administrator, and redirect emails to another email address, among other actions.
Granular search functionality — Cloud email security solutions enable IT administrators to locate specific emails using granular search functionality. Users can narrow emails down from sender, recipient, content, and many other factors.
User groups settings — With user group settings, IT administrators can easily manage users by assigning them to groups and applying group settings.
Reporting — One of the major benefits of using cloud email security software is the ability to create reports to understand unique threats over time. Many cloud email security solutions provide incident logging with granular detail, which is required for regulatory compliance. Reports often come in PDF or CSV formats.
Dashboards (administrator and end-user) — Cloud email security solutions offer dashboards for administrators to manage their company’s email security, as well as quarantine dashboard for end users to review suspicious email activity related to their user account.
Additional Cloud Email Security Features
Advanced threat protection — As email-borne threats become more sophisticated, so must the security tools needed to thwart these attacks. Many cloud email security solutions include further security tools, providing an additional layer of protection on top of standard anti-spam, anti-malware, and anti-phishing functions. Advanced threat protections often include machine learning to conduct abnormal behavioral analysis, display name spoof detection (especially regarding C-level impersonation attacks), detecting lookalike email domains that are visually confusing (such as the letters “RN" looking like the letter “M" when in lowercase. Example, “name@ernail.com" visually looks like “name@email.com"), compromised email account detection, and other anomalies.
Embedded data loss protection — While cloud email security is mostly concerned with ensuring the safety of incoming mail, some tools monitor outgoing mail, as well. Monitoring can prevent employees from sending sensitive information externally via email. Monitoring can also include things such as ensuring employees do not use profanity or other non-approved language in their emails to prevent reputational damage.
Multi-language — Some cloud email security software providers support email analysis in multiple languages and allow custom dictionaries.
Embedded encryption — Some cloud email security solutions offer embedded encryption functions, which apply encryption to a company’s outgoing emails based on specific policies.
Archiving — Some cloud email security solutions also offer archiving solutions, which are helpful for companies in regulated industries to properly store, secure, and search emails as needed.
Other Features of Cloud Email Security Solutions: Account takeover prevention, Advanced threat protection (ATP)
Software and Services Related to Cloud Email Security Software
Security awareness training software — Training a company’s workforce on the security threats they face via email attacks is one step of many to prevent email-borne attacks. Using security awareness training software, companies can simulate attacks or fraudulent emails to help employees better identify malicious content before encountering it in real-life scenarios.
Password manager software — Password managers help protect personal data by securing and strengthening personal passwords. They allow users to create strong and unique passwords for every website or application they log in to while saving the user from having to memorize each password.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) software — MFA software helps improve security across a company by requiring additional authentication measures for access to sensitive information, systems, or applications.
Data loss prevention (DLP) software — DLP tools prevent sensitive information, such as intellectual property, financial information, and customer sensitive data from being sent externally. Some cloud email security software providers offer native data loss prevention functionality for outbound emails, but DLP tools are also offered as a standalone product and can apply to other communication platforms besides emails, such as instant messaging and collaboration platforms.
Secure email gateway software — Secure email gateways offer similar features to cloud email security software, such as anti-spam and anti-malware functions, but are meant for on-premises deployments.
Email anti-spam software — Though a native feature of cloud email security solutions, email anti-spam software is available as a standalone product. This is used to prevent malicious content from being delivered via email
Email encryption software — Email encryption is an embedded feature of many cloud email security solutions, but is also available as a standalone product. Email encryption is used to ensure data in transit remains secure until the authorized party is identified
Cloud access security broker (CASB) software — CASB software is used to provide a layer of protection and policy enforcement for employees accessing cloud-based software. CASB solutions are also used to identify abnormal behaviors from internal actors.
Cloud file security software — Cloud file security software is used to secure information stored within cloud-based (SaaS) applications.
Website security software — Website security software is designed to protect business websites from a number of internet-based threats.
