Relay-based Email Security Solutions Featured in Forbes Article

Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) are out and relay-based email security solutions are in, according to an article published by Forbes on 30 December 2021. Rom Hendler, co-founder of Trusifi, a provider of SaaS-based email security, authored the article, titled “SEGs Are Dead — Long Live Relay-based Email Security.”

In the heyday of on-premise email systems, SEGs were the leading security solutions to protect a company’s data and users from email attacks. As many companies have migrated from on-premise to cloud-based email systems, however, the traditional SEGs have lost their effectiveness against cloud-savvy hackers. A new type of email security is needed to combat the new types of attacks. Hence, the introduction of more powerful and sophisticated “next gen” security solutions that use APIs to create a relay between the Microsoft Exchange server and the security software.

The Forbes article first identified the weaknesses of SEGs in the new cloud-based infrastructure and then explained how relay-based security systems, such as Trustifi’s suite of offerings, overcome those vulnerabilities.

SEGs lack agility

Phishing attacks have become the most common approach for modern hackers to infiltrate a business’s systems. Through social engineering, the attackers trick unsuspecting email recipients into giving up system log-in credentials. The cybercriminals then use those purloined credentials to enter the user’s account to send messages to other victims. Because the malicious messages originate from a legitimate email account, SEGs cannot detect them. SEGs are designed to block messages at the perimeter from known blacklist addresses. Because the hackers have gained access to a legitimate inside address, the gateways are useless.

A typical attack begins with the hackers researching the C-level executives of a company and their associates. They intercept unencrypted communications and determine the role and authority of the targeted user, such as the company CEO. Once they breach the CEO’s account, the thieves send a message to a trusted colleague in the company to wire company money to an account owned by the criminals. The compliant employee conducts the transfer immediately. The whole scam happens so quickly that the unsuspecting victims don’t have time to cross-check the request or the transaction until it is too late.

AI and OCR to the rescue

To defeat social-engineered attacks, the “next gen” security solutions employ powerful Artificial Intelligence filters and hyper-sensitive Optical Character Recognition to scan every email, both internal and external, before they hit the recipient’s inbox. Tools powered by AI detect key terms, such as “wire transfer” and “bank account.” They can then analyze the context of the message to determine whether it is a likely suspect for criminal activity. The OCR engines scan logos, images, and the contents of file attachments to look for telltale signs of tampering, forgeries, and trigger words. The security system can block or isolate suspicious emails, warn the sender, and flag the messages as potential risks for the receivers.

Additional features of relay-based security solutions

Besides AI and OCR capabilities, Hendler identified critical features of an effective cloud email security solution:
Encryption – the author specified that all outbound emails should be encrypted. Criminals cannot create a social-engineered phishing attack if they cannot read and analyze a company’s email traffic. The solution is even better if it enables encryption of inbound emails. Encryption is highly effective in reducing attacks on both the senders and the receivers, but it works only if it is simple to use. Unless the encryption process is automatic and seamless for both the originator and the recipient, it won’t get used, and the company’s unencrypted emails are loose in the wild for every hacker to view.

Automated Security Compliance – Sensitive information often leaks through email messages because the user has to make a decision about whether the message contains sensitive information and then manually apply the appropriate security protection. HIPAA, GDPR, PCI and other data protection regulations are voluminous and complicated. Users with the best of intentions may still fail to recognize when an email they just wrote falls under a regulatory compliance requirement. A system with a sophisticated AI engine, however, can scan every outgoing email, recognize the presence of information that falls under a regulation, and automatically encrypt the message.

Simple Administration – Not only is simplicity of operation important to the system end users, it is also critical for the IT administration and maintenance staff. The solution is best that requires only minimal expertise and hands-on intervention by the system administrators. A single click of a button should be all that is needed by the admin to enable automated compliance and company-wide encryption.

Final Thoughts

Cybercriminals are a resourceful breed. Cybersecurity providers must be even more resourceful to stay ahead of the attackers. A cloud-deployed, relay-based, centrally managed security solution can keep a company’s email defenses up to date with virtually no effort by the company’s IT security team.

Trustifi’s multi-layered cloud email security solutions offer their clients best-in-industry protection for their mission-critical email systems. Trustifi’s “next gen” Inbound Shield, Automated Encryption, Data Loss Prevention, and One-Click Compliance features meet the standard set by Rom Hendler’s article in Forbes. Contact a Trustifi security consultant to learn how easily and affordably your company can protect itself from phishing, malware, ransomware, impersonation, and pretexting.