Cisco Secure Email vs Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Microsoft Logo
12,659 views|10,155 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
Cisco Logo
9,374 views|6,133 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Forcepoint Logo
5,399 views|3,509 comparisons
83% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Email and Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, TitanHQ and others in Email Security.
To learn more, read our detailed Email Security Report (Updated: June 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use.""I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface.""It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links.""The most valuable feature is the integration. It's a single console, so we don't have to switch around between multiple products. Another valuable feature is the ease of operations and maintenance.""Defender enables us to secure all 365-related activity from a single place. It gives us visibility into everything happening in Outlook, protecting us against phishing and other email-based threats. Defender helps us detect any suspicious behaviors.""Microsoft Defender has a feature to protect each and every attachment. Even if it's an encrypted attachment, it will check for any potential threats.""Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"The tool comes with AI features. It is good for clients who already use Cisco products due to integration.""I love the Advanced Malware Protection feature. It works very well... The appliance has more security such as SDF, DKIM, DMARC, and encryption.""The user interface was quite friendly, it was quite easy to use, unlike some other Cisco products. Anybody could use it. You don't have to be familiar with IT to be able to handle navigating it.""There were detailed logs available. That was a seriously good feature... It turns out these were actually spoof emails that came into our environment. I got to know about them from the log system.""Capital expenditure is a significant consideration, and the impact on major expenditures prompts a careful analysis before onboarding the new product.""Because we scan products, and there is a lot of critical data, security is very important in these cases.""The system enables end users to manage their own whitelists/blacklists.""What I find the most valuable about Cisco Secure Email is that the logs are not that difficult to see even if you're not used to them. The logs are reasonably readable and diagnosing the problem is not too hard with them."

More Cisco Secure Email Pros →

"The most valuable feature of Forcepoint Web Security is creating the easy to install further policies that are deployed through the Forcepoint security manual at some stage. Just drag and drop and the policies are there.""Email Sandbox, DLP and Proxy.""Most valuable features are content filtering and monitoring.""Real-time category protection.""The solution’s administration is easy.""Provides good visibility and good filtering features.""The tool categorizes the user profiles which is very comfortable.""It has protected clients against cyberattacks."

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Pros →

Cons
"About eight months ago, we started to measure the quantity of phishing and spam that we have been receiving, and it has been increasing a lot. That means that protection for our email is not as good as we were expecting.""This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products.""One area for improvement is integration. For example, when it comes to external SaaS platforms, we were not able to get a lot of information on integrations with such apps for security and authentication.""Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features.""The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""I'd like some additional features any product can give me to protect our environment in a better way.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data.""One area for improvement is support, in terms of being able to reach them and, especially, technical support for configuration."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"The initial setup was complex because I have two sites with physical clusters.""I would like to see sandboxing for email, where suspicious emails received by the system are analyzed through online services.""My opinion on the licensing of this solution is that it is a mess that needs sorting out. I am not particularly bothered by pricing as I administer it and make recommendations for people to buy or not to buy.""The user interface could be updated.""Cisco Secure Email can be improved from the administrator's point of view. Usually, you have to work with different areas, and they can try to make it easy for the administrator to use different functions.""The graphical user interface is not user-friendly like other vendors. I find it very difficult at times to find some options on the UI.""I have some frustrations with the user experience in the interface, specifically with regard to making a list of people for whom I want to allow email access.""The user interface is a bit complex."

More Cisco Secure Email Cons →

"The performance issues in the product are an area of concern where improvements are required.""The technical support team's response time could be improved.""It's the support that's the problem because that's a different question from the product itself — it's the Achilles heel.""The initial setup was complex.""The firewall doesn't have any features because some customers are requesting they will install the firewall without licensing. At this time we cannot go further without licensing. Licensing is a must with Forcepoint Web Security firewalls.""A room for improvement in Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is the support it offers. It's very bad. What I'd like to see in the next release of the product is for it to be less complicated because at the moment Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is more complicated than other products. Sometimes issues come up that you can't solve without the support team. For example, you should write the root password to fix the issue. In the next release of the product, it would be good if it had an easy-to-use interface. Troubleshooting issues in Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway should be less complicated as well.""The Sandbox solution should be integrated with the NIST to handle whatever new vulnerabilities or new sites are identified as potential threats.""The initial setup can be complex."

More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "We do annual licensing for Cisco Secure Email Gatewayand SMA together, and possibly SmartNet support. Packaged together, the cost is just under $38,000."
  • "In addition to the standard licensing, there is a cost for SMARTnet as well."
  • "Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
  • "Licensing costs depend on how many users there are. It could range between $5 and $7 per month, per user."
  • "The license was not per user, the license model was per feature. You could choose anti-virus, anti-spam, etc. It was feature-based and charged yearly."
  • "There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
  • "We were using Proofpoint and then we switched to Cisco... reportability was one of the main reasons we switched, but the biggest one was cost. If you can get an equivalent functionality for a better price it's wise to do so. That's what our primary decision came down to: We could get equivalent functionality at a lower price point."
  • "It is not that costly. We pay for the solution through a contractor and pay an annual fee."
  • More Cisco Secure Email Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Expensive, but with a good reseller you can get a very good price."
  • "It is a well-priced option."
  • "It is quite expensive."
  • "The pricing on Forcepoint Web Security is fair. Fair pricing at current market rates, if you are comparing with the competition."
  • "The licensing is not expensive."
  • "The price of this product should be reduced to make it more competitive."
  • "Licensing is flexible. License pricing information is based on the customer, their environment, and on the future approach."
  • "The solution is priced a little high compare to similar solutions."
  • More Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Security solutions are best for your needs.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
    Top Answer:The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market. Whether the product… more »
    Top Answer:I am not satisfied with the solution's reporting and logging.
    Top Answer:The product's user management is an area where my company does not face any challenges.
    Top Answer:Compared to the other products in the market, Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway can be a cost-effective tool. My company… more »
    Top Answer:If there is a category of generative AI or GenAI, it is not a very detailed category, as there are many AI-based sites… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
    Forcepoint SWG, Websense Web Security, Forcepoint TRITON
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    Cisco Secure Email is an email security solution that provides advanced protection to safeguard inboxes. The solution includes comprehensive defense from the most damaging threats so your employees and organization can remain secure at all times. In addition, it includes advanced threat defense capabilities that detect, block, and remediate threats in incoming email faster. Simultaneously, it protects an organization’s brand, prevents data loss, and secures important information in transit with end-to-end encryption.

    Cisco Secure Email Features

    Cisco Secure Email has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Advanced threat analysis: Easily identify the malicious techniques used in attacks targeting your organization. Understand the specific business risks and categorize threats to gain insight into the parts of your organization that are most vulnerable to attack.
    • Robust, actionable threat data: The solution’s searchable threat analysis data provides critical contextual insight to the attack scope and breadth and expedites remediation.
    • Real-time URL analysis: With this feature, you can drop emails with risky links automatically or block access to newly infected sites with real-time URL analysis to protect against phishing.
    • Domain-based message authentication (DMARC): Users can prevent brand abuse from attackers using their organization’s domain to carry out phishing campaigns with automation of the domain-based message authentication (DMARC) process.
    • Data loss prevention (DLP): The solution enables users to protect sensitive content in outgoing emails.

    Cisco Secure Email Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Cisco Secure Email. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Optimize your defenses: The solution is designed to protect your organization from threats that can come from multiple sources, including phishing, malware, and ransomware. It can defend against all of them with industry-leading threat intelligence that empowers you to act quickly.
    • More efficient processes: You can use the solution’s orchestration feature to simplify workflows, reduce the burden on your team, and focus on more strategic initiatives.
    • Easy-to-manage tools: The solution is built with tools that are user-friendly and help you spend less time managing alerts. They allow users to quickly detect emerging threats and quarantine suspected threats to prevent their spread.
    • Flexible license options: Cisco Secure Email provides three different license choices: Secure Email Essentials, Secure Email Advantage, and Secure Email Premier.
    • Increase spam catch rates: Cisco Secure Email blocks unwanted emails using a multilayered scanning architecture.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Cisco Secure Email is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has an intuitive interface, reputation filtering, few false positives, and great protection features.

    Enrique J., Owner at Jolly Security Inc., says, "It has an intuitive, clear graphical interface where you can deploy your policies and understand the overall flow. The most valuable feature is reputation filtering.”

    The solution has a “low rate of false positives, good support, and it integrates well with other Cisco security products,” explains Mark R., IT Admin / Manager at a retailer.

    PeerSpot user Charles N., Network Security Engineer at Galaxy Backbone Ltd., mentions, “It is doing its work. It is doing what it was actually designed to do. They have a lot of features such as Advanced Malware Protection, Email Protection, Advanced Phishing Protection, Antispam, Antivirus, and Outbreak Filters.”

    Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is a secure web gateway (SWG) tool that provides multiple forms of protection against malware, including blocking categories of websites, inline scanning of downloaded files, and zero trust-based advanced threat protection. The solution monitors and controls any interaction with any website, including blocking access to websites based on category and risk score, blocking download of malware, blocking upload of sensitive data to personal file sharing accounts, and detecting shadow IT.

    Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Features

    Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Real-time traffic inspection
    • Protection for off-grid workers
    • Time and content-based access
    • Data leak prevention
    • SCIM provisioning
    • Data-in-motion scanning
    • Connection policies
    • Content policies
    • RBI profiles
    • Discovery dashboard
    • Bypass prevention
    • Unified on-device agent
    • Field Programmable SASE Logic (FPSL)

    Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Fast: The solution is high speed with on-device enforcement. Traffic is routed directly to its destination. In addition, you will experience fewer bottlenecks and choke points.
    • Flexible: Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is designed to automatically scale up or down with traffic needs. It is also flexible because it is hosted on AWS in more than 300 data centers.
    • Advanced DLP capabilities: The solution’s advanced DLP capabilities keep sensitive information from leaking out onto websites to provide consistent protection and simplify management.
    • Streamlined security: Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is part of Forcepoint ONE, a Security Service Edge (SSE) cloud-native platform that provides secure access to web, cloud, and private apps while connecting users directly to websites so you can skip the data center.
    • Unified administrator console: You can use the solution’s unified administrator console to reduce repetitive and redundant configuration management.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has strong reporting capabilities, good URL filtering, and can retrieve and analyze lost data when necessary.

    Shipra G., Service Delivery Manager at Paramount Computer Systems, says, “The reporting part of it is pretty awesome. With the reporting, you can drill down effectively. It gives us a lot of power to really look into what we are looking for. That is one very crucial feature. In the remote filtering part, the agent that they have on Forcepoint is pretty light. That also is a very, very good feature that we look into and sell.”

    Mohammed S., Security Engineer at Futuretec, writes, "The most valuable feature for me in Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is URL filtering, though all other features of the product are okay as well."

    Arvind K., Director at Foresight Software Solutions Pvt Ltd., says, “They have well-integrated web security. They have the enterprise DLP included in the cloud as well.”

    An Ict Help Desk Administrator Individual Contributor at a transportation company states, “The most valuable feature of Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is the ability to retrieve and analyze lost data. It also allows us to detect and prevent the release of all messages and to take appropriate actions in consequence.”

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
    Adventist Health, Alphawest, Amadori, Anoka County, Compartamos Banco, Davies Turner, EverBank, iGATE, Karlstad Municipality, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Scavolini, Smurfit Kappa, Toyota
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company17%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Retailer10%
    Government7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Educational Organization17%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company26%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    Integrator7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise40%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise37%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise48%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise59%
    Buyer's Guide
    Email Security
    June 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, TitanHQ and others in Email Security. Updated: June 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco Secure Email is ranked 2nd in Email Security with 56 reviews while Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is ranked 5th in Secure Web Gateways (SWG) with 47 reviews. Cisco Secure Email is rated 8.4, while Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Email writes "Has effortless spam control, improves security posture, and frees up our IT department's time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway writes "Simple to set up, reliable, and offers great reporting". Cisco Secure Email is most compared with Trellix Collaboration Security, Fortinet FortiMail, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Proofpoint Email Protection and Trend Micro Email Security, whereas Forcepoint Secure Web Gateway is most compared with Zscaler Internet Access, Cisco Umbrella, Symantec Proxy, Fortinet FortiProxy and Forcepoint ONE.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.