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Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs Cisco Secure Email comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (10th)
Check Point Harmony Email &...
Ranking in Email Security
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (5th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (9th)
Cisco Secure Email
Ranking in Email Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 15.9%, down from 20.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration is 5.7%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 9.6%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Luis-Brown - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 8, 2023
Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 lacks proactivity in assisting us with preparing for potential threats before they occur. While they employ a substantial amount of threat intelligence to preemptively prevent incidents, their effectiveness diminishes when it comes to delivering proactive threat intelligence alerts from Microsoft. Their focus primarily revolves around managing the internal environment. On the other hand, my other vendor, Check Point, along with my membership in MS-ISAC, supplements me with this type of information. The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement. It is adequate, but it doesn't match the quality of Proofpoint or Mimecast. However, it comes close in effectiveness. Plus, if we're obtaining it for free, investing in the other products seems impractical.
Rahul Kamble. - PeerSpot reviewer
May 3, 2024
Offers complete detection and simple management and is a user-friendly solution
It's very effective as a solution to prevent mobile app threats. It has a mobile MDX, mobile detection, and response session. As a comprehensive solution, Check Point offers a very granular and best-in-class experience. Compared to competitors like Fortinet, Trend Micro, Palo Alto, and Cisco, Check Point provides a superior solution according to both the MITRE and Gartner frameworks. For example, in a recent attack simulation, Check Point only allowed ten malicious emails through, while Fortinet allowed 1500 and Cisco allowed 1800. Check Point's email attack ratio is nearly 0.10%, while others range from 1% to 3%. This demonstrates Check Point's superior email filtering capabilities. Check Point's email cleaning ratio is 99.9%, significantly higher than the 98%, 95%, or 93% of its competitors. Moreover, Check Point Harmony Email incorporates AI technology within its security features. Harmony Email & Collaboration (HEC) provides full protection and addresses zero-day files. It's the best solution available, as others don't offer protection against zero-day attacks and rely on signature-based solutions. HEC is truly the best option.
Muhammad Naeemuddoja - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 14, 2023
Robust email security with advanced threat protection, seamless integration with the Cisco security ecosystem, and flexibility in deployment options
While Cisco is a preferred choice for larger enterprises, its products, especially in the realm of security, tend to be more expensive due to their advanced features. Many organizations commonly rely on Microsoft Outlook for their email needs. Transitioning to Cisco security solutions, including Cisco SecureMail, requires careful consideration and typically involves a learning stage. The decision between traditional hardware and virtual machines (VMs) for deploying solutions like Cisco Secure Mail often depends on financial considerations. VMs are generally more cost-effective compared to dedicated hardware, leading industries to increasingly favor VM deployment. The choice is particularly relevant when the server's capabilities are robust enough to meet organizational needs. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"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."
"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."
"The risk level notifications are most valuable. We get to know what kind of intrusion or attack is there, and we can fix a problem on time."
"Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests."
"Defender is a SaaS platform, so it offers more flexibility. Managing the permissions is easier. The solution's automated detection and response features are scalable."
"Some of the valuable features on the email side are anti-phishing, anti-malware, and Safe Links."
"The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues."
"The ease of management and intuitive administration are excellent."
"It is the collaboration between users inside the company. It is a big advantage with Check Point to be able to work together on the same document."
"Check Point's technical support is very good."
"The API is its most valuable feature. On the API side, relative to the rest of the market, Check Point is decades ahead of its competitors."
"The anti-phishing feature is the solution's best feature."
"It helped us to bring security compliance and ensure system robustness throughout."
"It is fast and quite effective in terms of preventing any security incidents."
"The threat management database provides consistent updates."
"This solution provides some benefits, like comfortable access to TAC support. You get prompt support when working directly with Cisco."
"Capital expenditure is a significant consideration, and the impact on major expenditures prompts a careful analysis before onboarding the new product."
"Administration of the email domains and custom filters are easily done via the web interface."
"Users were able to do a check by themselves on quarantined emails. They could check if a valid email had been stopped, if it matched up with the SPF certification."
"It sends us reports, where we can see if there have been attacks, e.g. DDoS. If so, we can switch to a clean IP."
"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."
"The tool's most valuable feature in preventing security breaches revolves around the area of malware protection that the product provides."
"It does a great job of preventing spam, malware, and ransomware. I can only go by what people have told me and what I've seen, but I have not seen spam in a year and a half to two years in my own company mailbox. And there are not a lot of catches where it's catching something that should have gotten through, either."
 

Cons

"We are always looking for others tools to increase automation on tasks. There can be better integration with other solutions, such as PowerPoint and email."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
"The pre-sales cost calculations could be more transparent."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"The only thing they should improve is the licensing model. They should stop changing it. A year ago, the five features I mentioned were included in one product. Now, three of them are bundled into one product, and you have to pay extra for the other two. I don't mind paying extra, but I don't want them to change it every year or every six months. I need to know what I'm looking at and not worry about it next year."
"The UI needs to be more user-friendly."
"The implementation could definitely be better."
"There could be more automation features included for it."
"The next release should focus more on email categorization and provide options for unlocking blocked safe emails."
"At this time, the two-factor authentication does not work for Active Directory."
"The business team should be further expanded, and more peer feedback should be made available publicly to have better and complete visibility of the application globally."
"If Check Point finds something to be described as a clean email, it should have the option to automatically release it to the user. At the moment, we don't have that option."
"Check Point has to continue refining the intelligence engine to minimize the number of false positives."
"Since the portal to the management and administration entry sometimes has performance problems and takes a long time to respond to what has arrived, the handling of the tool is difficult."
"The hardware is not up to the mark. Two to three times a year we have complete downtime."
"Typically, in a phishing email, they try to use a name everybody's going to recognize, like the CEO's name or the CFO's name... With this appliance, the way it's designed at the moment, for us to really stop that with any level of confidence, we have to build a dictionary of all the names of the people we want it to check, and all the ways they could be spelled. My name would be in there as Phillip Collins, Phillip D. Collins, Phillip Dean Collins, Phil Collins, Phil D. Collins. There could be eight or 10 variations of my name that we'd have to put in the dictionary. There's no artificial intelligence to say "Phil Collins" could be all these other things, and to stop phishing from coming through in that way."
"Licensing is quite complicated for a number of customers, including ourselves."
"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."
"Cisco is already providing a very good environment with the IronPort solution, but there could be some more integration with other products. For instance, an integration with the EDR solution could be there to raise an alert."
"The interface is dated. It has looked pretty much the same for 15 years or so. It would be helpful to be able to do everything from one spot. The centralized quarantine and reporting are completely separate from policy administration."
"They could improve the filters. In my time at the company, there were several times we had to contact support to update the filters."
"The scalability must be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The product is very expensive."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"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."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
"The pricing is expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"The pricing is in the middle. Check Point's pricing is not the highest in the competitive market."
"The pricing and licensing are always negotiable."
"Reasonable cost, quick and easy implementation, and transparent."
"Do a full feature evaluation (interactive) with a support person. That is what I did."
"There are absolutely no additional costs to the standard licensing fees. One of the wonderful pieces is that CloudGuard SaaS is all-inclusive in its licensing. There's no a-la-carte functionality. You're getting 100 percent of the product for the licensing that you're paying."
"The pricing is competitive."
"Cisco Secure Email is expensive, but we get what we pay for."
"Cisco Secure Email and the support are priced well. It's not cheap, but there are other solutions that offer less and cost so much. For example, Microsoft is more expensive than Cisco."
"It is a super big router that costs a few hundred thousand dollars."
"The solution is expensive."
"There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"I rate the product price as six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a very expensive tool."
"The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market."
"Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of variou...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The pricing is reasonable since it comes integrated with our Office 365 license.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Sometimes, phishing emails manage to pass through the filter, so the system needs to enhance its phishing email detec...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The use cases include anti-spam and anti-phishing. We have Email Collaboration for the anti-spam solution and anti-ph...
What do you like most about Check Point Harmony Email & Office?
The product offers good and easy integration capabilities with other products.
What do you like most about Cisco Secure Email?
Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Email?
The pricing for Cisco Email Security Appliance involves recurring costs for licenses based on the contracted time fra...
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
The discontinuation of physical hardware solutions is a significant area for improvement in the Cisco Email Security ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Check Point CloudGuard, Check Point CloudGuard SaaS , Check Point Harmony Email & Office
Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Helvetia, Denham Capital, Daymark Solutions, Neopharm Group
SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration vs. Cisco Secure Email and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.