Lord of the Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) The fellowship of the Phish.

"89% of IT Leaders voiced frustrations with their secure email gateway (SEG)"
~ Independent survey commissioned by Egress to 500 IT leaders from Mid-Enterprise size businesses

SEG Expectations:

Reality:

IT Leaders top frustrations with SEGs:

𑗏 "Requires a high level of admin to maintain"
𑗏 "Quarantines too many legitimate emails"
𑗏 "It's too expensive"
𑗏 "Attacks bypass it too easily"
𑗏 "No way to know which attacks are getting through"

Why are phishing emails still slipping through the net?

Phishing attacks (and cybercriminals tactics in general) are constantly evolving. They use many sophisticated techniques to evade detection by email security controls. 

Traditional SEGs provide excellent email hygiene by filtering spam and malware. However, they are reactive and can struggle to deal with both links and payloadless attacks.

According to industry statistics, every 1 out of 3,722 emails in the UK is a phishing attempt.

Cyber Criminals are after 'the precious' (your users)

Why? Hacking a human is a-lot easier than hacking software.

So, what can we do?

Many organisations continue to use third-party secure email gateways (SEGs) even though, Microsoft 365 includes a rich set of foundational email hygiene capabilities...

What about second breakfast our second SEG layer of defence?

It seems like unneeded complexity and that you may be duplicating capabilities... Please refer to the infographic below which highlights some of the overlap. 

How can i utilise what i have, enhance my protection and plug the security gaps? 

The team here at Spear Shield recommends what Gartner has coined: an Integrated Cloud Email Security solution (ICES).

What is an ICES Solution?

ICES products use behavioural analysis, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning to detect and stop phishing attacks, account takeovers, and the delivery of ransomware. 

While a secure email gateway might be able to detect known threats, an ICES solution takes this to the next level. While SEGs can scan links and attachments for malware, the more sophisticated attacks use social engineering to lure victims into handing over data or sending money. An ICES product's advanced tools mean it's possible to stop these social engineering attacks before they cause any damage to the business.

Gartner explained in its guide: "[ICES] email security solutions use a variety of advanced detection techniques, including NLU, NLP, social graph analysis (patterns of email communication), and image recognition."

Findings in IBM's Cost of a Breach Report showed that organisations with AI-based security solutions — such as ICES — experienced a significant reduction in data breach costs, cutting breach costs from $6.71m to $2.90m.

Machine learning 

Contextual machine learning allows a tool to understand users' behaviour in real-time. That includes the message's content, the sender's typical behaviour, their location, and when they're communicating with recipients. That allows the ICES product to spot suspicious activity outside the expected behaviour of a user and their recipients. 

NLP

NLP turns language into actionable data. Attackers often use it to find out sensitive information about a target to launch a spear-phishing attack. That's why it's also an important tool in preventing these types of attacks. An ICES solution that uses NLP can understand the context of an email or attachment as a human would and take action accordingly.

How does Spear Shield help orgs fight phishing?

"The burned hand teaches best. After that, advice about fire goes to the heart."
~ Gandalf the Cyber-Wizard.

Spear Shield are currently running a FREE Email security assessment that can help you identify:

• Total number of Dangerous and Suspicious emails detected landing into employees inboxes throughout the engagement
• Insight into the top types of phishing emails your organisation is receiving
• Insight into the top types of payloads being used in the phishing emails your organisation is receiving
• Insight into your Supply Chain Health (DMARC status of inbound emails)
• Insight if there are live phishing attacks sat in employees inboxes that can be remediated together
• Phishing Simulation results (with and without an ICES solution implemented)
• Previous caught user analysis breakdown
• Insight into how many users were stopped in their tracks at the link advisory page
• Insight into the reporting heroes in your organisation
• Insight into what device type your employees are engaging business emails on. (mobile, PC, both)
• Consultative recommendations for security best practice

If you'd like to learn more, you can visit www.spearshield.co.uk/phish or contact the team today:

hello@spearshield.co.uk

01473 948980

About Spear Shield

Phish fighting, threat hunting, cyber risk mitigation experts.
Based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Spear Shield are a team of cybersecurity risk and mitigation experts who align their award-winning solutions and services to help businesses solve their cybersecurity challenges.