email security gateway

An email security gateway is a product or service that is designed to prevent the transmission of emails that break company policy, send malware or transfer information with malicious intent.

Businesses of all sizes use email security gateways to prevent data loss, perform email encryption, compensate for weak partner security and protect against known and unknown malware. Solution types for email security gateways include private cloud, hybrid cloud, hardware appliances,virtual appliances and email server-based products. These solutions offer similar functions, and many providers offer more than one form.

Important considerations for choosing an email security gateway include the sophistication of the basic security functions, the additional security functions that are available, ease of management, usability and customizability, typical false positive and false negative rates, and reliance on external systems for email processing and/or storage. Some offer sandboxing capabilities to help identify unknown risks.

To protect data on computers and devices that may be accessible outside the company, it may be advisable to choose an email security gateway that provides end-to-end encryption.

Competitors in email security gateways include: Cisco Email Security Appliance, Clearswift SECURE Email Gateway, Fortinet FortiMail, McAfee Security for Email Servers, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) , Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Sophos Email Appliance, Symantec Email Security.cloud, Symantec Messaging Gateway, Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security, Trend Micro ScanMail Suite for Microsoft Exchange and Websense Email Security Gateway.