Cisco Secure Email and Avanan compete in the email security category. While both solutions offer strong protection, Avanan seems to have the upper hand with its flexible integration and advanced AI technology.
Features: Cisco Secure Email provides comprehensive email security with threat detection, anti-spam capabilities, and integration with Cisco Talos. It offers protection against ransomware, spam, and phishing plus advanced malware protection. Avanan employs advanced AI technology to deliver robust email security for Office 365 and other cloud services, excelling in real-time threat detection and sandboxing capabilities, efficiently identifying and neutralizing phishing attacks.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Email needs a more intuitive interface, faster integration with reporting tools, and improved sandboxing features. The multi-step rule application process and high costs are also areas of concern. Avanan requires enhanced AI logic to reduce false positives and better handling of incorrectly marked spam. It also calls for more third-party tool integrations and detailed analytics.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Secure Email offers deployment across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments, with generally praised technical support, despite some inconsistencies. Avanan focuses on cloud-first solutions, providing flexible deployment across private and public clouds. Customers value its good technical support and ease of scalability, though integration complexity receives mixed reviews.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Email is often considered expensive, yet users recognize its value through comprehensive security features. In contrast, Avanan provides cost-effective pricing models suited for variable environments, allowing organizations to scale without high costs. Its SaaS-based, user-specific pricing offers good value and flexibility.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Any issues are addressed quickly by Microsoft's support.
Customer service and support have been fantastic.
Cisco's tech support can be hit or miss, depending on the engineer you get.
The support is pretty decent, with a rating of eight out of ten.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
The on-premises hardware is not very scalable, but switching to the SaaS offering is expected to improve scalability.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Based on my experience, the stability of Cisco Secure Email is very strong.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
I would reduce the cost.
The solution should better analyze the actual content rather than only focusing on the email header or origin.
It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated into the Email Security Gateway so customers don't have to buy two products for full email protection.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Its cost is bundled with other Cisco products.
The licensing is a mess and needs sorting out.
The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group.
It also possesses multiple modules for spam detection, malware detection, and threat intelligence, which are valuable in categorizing emails and determining actions.
It is highly effective in catching phishing and spam emails.
It covers everything through email, like antivirus, IDS, and IPS.
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.
Avanan provides advanced email security, integrating with cloud services like Microsoft Office 365 to guard against phishing, malware, and ransomware while offering user-friendly, seamless, and comprehensive protection for all users.
Avanan leverages AI to detect and block threats before they reach inboxes, offering real-time protection, data leak prevention, and advanced email screening. The solution is easy to deploy and can be used effectively by both technical and non-technical users to secure email environments. Integrating seamlessly with Microsoft 365, it provides continuous protection, efficiently sandboxing suspicious emails and responding swiftly to emerging threats. While recognizing its performance in threat detection, users suggest improvements in AI logic to reduce false positives and enhance user experience.
What are the key features of Avanan?In industries like finance, healthcare, and education, Avanan's security measures are critically important for protecting sensitive information. Financial organizations benefit from advanced threat detection to safeguard transactions, while healthcare entities use robust security protocols to protect patient data. Educational institutions use Avanan to secure communications, ensuring the safety and privacy of students and staff.
Cisco Secure Email ensures email traffic security, acting as a checkpoint before emails enter environments like Office 365. It filters out spam, phishing attempts, and malicious content, scanning emails for threats. It offers both inbound and outbound email security with features like URL filtering, spam filtering, and encryption.
Cisco Secure Email functions as an email gateway in cloud, on-premise, and hybrid deployments. Offering capabilities such as Advanced Malware Protection, URL and Reputation Filtering, and real-time threat intelligence from Talos, it efficiently safeguards email traffic. Detailed logging, reporting, and quarantine management features provide robust security while being highly configurable. Its integration with SecureX and customizable rules enhance its effectiveness. Though strong in malware protection, improvements in reporting, phishing detection, user-friendliness, and integration with Office 365 are areas of focus. Scalability, cost-effectiveness, and AI-driven features are also areas where it can advance.
What are the most important features of Cisco Secure Email?Cisco Secure Email integrates effectively in sectors like finance, healthcare, and education that need stringent data protection and compliance. Financial institutions favor it for its encryption and data leak protection features ensuring secure transactions. Healthcare organizations use it to adhere to compliance requirements like HIPAA, safeguarding patient data with advanced threat detection and email security. Educational institutions rely on it for protecting student data and intellectual property from phishing and malware attacks, ensuring a secure communication environment.
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