Global email security is a very competitive market. Providers from Cisco, Trustifi, Mimecast, Abnormal Security, IBM, Avanan Checkpoint, and Proofpoint deliver similar capabilities to help clients address the growing concern about artificial intelligence(AI)—based email phishing attacks.
This competitive analysis will focus on three email provider solutions: Trustifi, Proofpoint, and Mimecast. The article will discuss their differences, similarities, and what makes one solution better.
Clients wanting to re-evaluate their email security strategy would benefit from valuable knowledge and insight into these market-leading providers.
What Are The Key Differences Between Proofpoint and Mimecast?
Every email security provider has similar capabilities, including anti-spam, anti-virus, and anti-malware. “Several of these solutions originally started as secure email gateway (SEG) solutions that could block spam, email viruses, and malware.”
Proofpoint specifically started as an SEG solution and was initially focused on being an on-premise deployment solution. Mimecast is another leading marketing solution whose origins include being an SEG device.
Market Presence.
Unlike Mimecast, Proofpoint grew its market share by serving medium to prominent enterprise places. Many clients started using Proofpoint when on-premise Microsoft Exchange architectures were the norm. As more clients moved to Microsoft M365 for cloud-based mail, clients wanted proper cloud-first email security.
Mimecast provides security solutions for small to midsize businesses, including email protection and awareness training. It offers plans for different user sizes with features like archiving and e-discovery.
Cloud.
Unlike Mimecast, Proofpoint grew its market share by serving medium—to large enterprises. Many of these clients started using Proofpoint when on-premise Microsoft Exchange architectures were considered the norm. As more clients moved to Microsoft M365 for cloud-based mail, clients leveraged Proofpoint’s cloud offering.
Mimecast features a cloud-first architecture. However, It developed the Mimecast Synchronization Engine for clients who wanted a local presence. The Mimecast Synchronization Engine is a Mimecast application that helps integrate your Microsoft infrastructure with the Mimecast cloud.
Threat Protection.
“Proofpoint provides comprehensive protection against cloud and email threats. We use NexusAI machine learning to analyze traffic, headers, and real-time message content. This enables us to block domain spoofing, display name spoofing, and typo-squatting attacks. Our system can also identify suspicious cloud log-ins, unauthorized file sharing, and risky third-party apps trying to access your cloud accounts.”
Mimecast’s email security solution includes targeted threat protection features to enhance virus and spam protection. It uses multiple detection engines and threat intelligence sources to prevent targeted attacks, including phishing, ransomware, malicious URLs and attachments, and impersonation attacks.
Ease of Use.
Proofpoint: The company, known more as a large enterprise solution, continues to be challenged by the small-to-medium business marketplace. SMB users and IT staff need more time and resources to navigate various screens and portals to protect their emails.
Mimecast: The company supports many SMB clients with its platform consolidation strategy. However, Mimecast users need help with issues similar to those of Proofpoint clients, such as navigation and ease of use. Most of Mimecast’s features come from third-party software ecosystem partners. This decision to port in features for email encryption, DMARC, and other functions impacts the user experience.
What Are The Key Differences Between Proofpoint and Trustifi?
Proofpoint is a primary Secure Email Gateway (SEG) vendor, serving mid-sized and larger organizations with 250 or more users. They have an “Essentials” package for organizations with 5 to 1,000 users. Trustifi is another major player in email security, providing a comprehensive suite of tools from encryption to advanced threat protection. Trustifi stands out for its user-friendliness, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, offering a versatile email security solution.
Market Presence.
Proofpoint has a rating of 4.5 stars with 737 reviews. Trustifi has a rating of 5 stars and five reviews. Compare product capabilities, customer experience, pros and cons, and reviewer demographics to choose the best fit for your organization.
Trustifi is easy to deploy on Gmail/GSuite, Outlook, and most email servers. The company offers advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, encryption, real-time reporting, and tracking. Trustifi helps organizations reduce human error and enhance user security. It can be a supplemental security layer to existing email providers, giving customers complete control over email security. Trustifi is flexible and tailored to meet each business’s requirements.
Cloud.
Trustifi’s cloud-first architecture established it as a strong ease-of-use email security provider while supporting a platform consolidation strategy. Its ability to consolidate several email security protection layers, including inbound email filtering, outbound DLP, ease-of-email encryption, and one-click-to-comply, separates it from Proofpoint.
Proofpoint originated with an on-premise offering to support medium-to-large enterprise organizations still using Exchange on-prem for email services. The company offered a cloud-based SaaS offering. However, most of their clients continue to leverage the on-prem solution until they fully migrate to M365.
Proofpoint’s mid-to-large client base prefers separating various security controls if one layer cannot function. The idea of platform consolidation favors the small-to-medium (SMB) markets. Trustifi assists the SMB with platform consolidation to help lower operating costs for email security and deliver additional layers of protection without disrupting the users while managing every function from a single management console.
Threat Protection.
Proofpoint and Trustifi detect and prevent email spam, phishing, and malware. However, Trustifi’s advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continue to help clients withstand advanced email threat attacks and zero-day attacks.
Proofpoint provides AI-based cybersecurity protection that requires specialized expertise for effective implementation. Human oversight is often necessary to respond to potential threats accurately. The accumulation of datasets for training AI poses challenges and costs for Proofpoint.
Ease of Use.
Proofpoint: The company, known more as a large enterprise solution, continues to be challenged by the small-to-medium business marketplace. SMB users and IT staff have limited time and resources to navigate various screens and portals to protect their emails.
Trustifi continues to receive public recognition from its clients regarding their ease of use.
“Trustifi – Very Easy to Use!”
“Overall:b> My overall experience with Trustifi has been great. I can easily send encrypted or private information to whoever I need to, trust that the information is protected, and know that I am not inconveniencing my correspondents by making them sign up for an account to receive my emails.”
What Are The Key Differences Between Mimecast and Trustifi?
Mimecast is an email security provider that protects against phishing and impersonation attacks, offers spam protection, and has a user-friendly reporting system.
Mimecast has been in the industry for a long time. The company provides email security for cloud-based and on-premise services. “Mimecast supports all clients except for Linux. It offers features like email archiving, DLP, and protection from malware through browser isolation.”
Trustifi is a comprehensive, convenient, and easy-to-use email security solution. It offers advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, encryption, and real-time reporting and tracking. Trustifi can enhance existing email security measures and give users complete control.
Market Presence.
Mimecast is a top email security provider with a wide range of products that offer more features and capabilities than Email Security Cloud.
Trustifi is a versatile option for organizations of varying sizes seeking to secure email communications, especially those within the small-to-medium (SMB), legal, financial, and healthcare industries. It is recommended for its robust email encryption and inbound email protection features, making it a comprehensive and user-friendly security solution.
Cloud.
Mimecast provides Email Security solutions such as Cloud Gateway for managing emails in complex environments and Cloud Integrated Email Security for quick deployment and optimization in Microsoft 365 without requiring changes to MX records.
Mimecast features a cloud-first architecture. However, It developed the Mimecast Synchronization Engine for clients who wanted a local presence. The Mimecast Synchronization Engine is a Mimecast application that helps integrate your Microsoft infrastructure with the Mimecast cloud.
Trustifi offers secure email encryption to prevent data loss and protect outbound emails. It also provides tools for inbound threat protection against spam, malware, phishing, account compromise, and other email threats.
Trustifi supports all three deployment options: MX record redirect and Trustifi MTA Email Relay. Like Proofpoint and Mimecast, leveraging the MX record redirect requires a change within DNS, while the MTA option can be established within minutes.
Threat Protection.
With threat detection, continuity, and archiving tools, Mimecast helps enhance your email system’s cyber resilience. Mimecast scans emails for malware and filters content to prevent leaks and theft.
Trustifi offers real-time inbound email scanning for threat intelligence and response. It provides powerful protection against phishing attacks, including URL scanning and protection against business email compromise and impersonation. All email aspects, including headers, content, links, and attachments, are scanned for safety.
“If a malicious email is detected, users are warned not to reply, click on links, or open attachments.”
Ease-of-Use.
“Mimecast enables users in organizations to send secure emails efficiently without requiring knowledge of encryption methods or keys. Recipients outside the organization can easily send or receive secure messages. Administrators can set flexible policies to enforce encrypted messaging for specific content or recipients automatically.”
Cause and Concerns – Mimecast
Mimecast has engaged third parties and Mimecast affiliates to act as sub-processors to help provide services. These sub-processors may access or process specific data, including personal data. This page lists the third-party sub-processors and the services they provide for Web Security Services.
Similar to Trustifi, the company supports a large number of SMB clients with its platform consolidation strategy. However, Mimecast users suffer from issues regarding navigation and ease of use similar to those of Proofpoint clients. Most of Mimecast’s features come from third-party software ecosystem partners. This decision to port in features for email encryption, DMARC, and other functions impacts the user experience.
Trustifi’s consolidated email security platform is designed for simplicity and ease of use, making it easy for users and admins. Trustifi offers comprehensive data loss prevention (DLP) with detailed reporting and control over email. The solution is ideal for organizations needing fully compliant email encryption, as it complies with PCI, GPDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, and more.
Trustifi continues to receive public recognition from its clients regarding its ease of use.
“Trustifi – Very Easy to Use!”
“Overall:b> My overall experience with Trustifi has been great. I can easily send encrypted or private information to whoever I need to, trust that the information is protected, and know that I am not inconveniencing my correspondents by making them sign up for an account to receive my emails.”
What Advanced Features Separate Trustifi from Proofpoint and Mimecast?
Each of these three solutions delivers the basic and expected features for email security. However, how these competitors deliver their features is different. The integration with email encryption, data loss prevention, data tokenization, and support for platform consolidation has several key differentiators among these three vendors.
Integration With Email Encryption.
Trustifi’s ability to consolidate several email security protection layers, including inbound email filtering, outbound DLP, ease-of-email encryption, and one-click compliance, separates it from Proofpoint and Mimecast.
Proofpoint requires the user to access a separate portal to handle all email encryption functions. The company continues to invest in development efforts to help make this function much more accessible. However, this is a reality; many Proofpoint clients will leverage email encryption embedded within Microsoft M365 or invest in a standalone encryption product.
How Do These Competitors Compare Regarding Pricing and Plans?
Pricing similar to feature functionality varies significantly between these solutions.
Proofpoint Pricing.
Here is a breakdown of Proofpoint offerings and pricing:
Essentials: Anti-spam – Anti Virus with Security Awareness – $5.95 per month per user
Advanced: Essentials Plus – Advanced BEC – URL Defense – Email Warning – $6.65 per month per user
Professional: Advanced Plus – Email archiving – Security Awareness – $8.71 Per month per user.
Mimecast Pricing.
Here is the breakdown of Mimecast offerings and pricing:
Protect: AI-enhanced detection – advanced phishing protection – URL Analysis – Attachment scanning/ sandbox Starting at $4.50 per user per month
Protect Plus: Protect level plus social graphing – dynamic email banning – browser isolation – email continuity – custom pricing available. (Est. $5.50 per user per month)
Protect Suite: Protect Plus with awareness training, email backup and restore DMARC, and cloud archive – Pricing – custom based on options needed. (Est. $6.05 per user per month)
Trustifi Pricing.
Here is a breakdown of Trustifi offerings and pricing:
Email advanced security package – $3.00 per month flat rate. Volume discounts are available.
Clients can add Email archiving for $1.00 per user per month.
Total Comparison:
Trustifi’s flat-rate costing model delivers virtual features within its consolidated platform with the exemption of email archiving. This capability adds $1.00 per user per month to the cost. The others rely on scale-up and scale-out pricing models based on feature selections.
How Do These Providers Assist Clients With Their Security and Compliance Mandates?
Email security is critical in assisting clients with various security and compliance mandates. Several national and global compliance and privacy mandates require organizations to ensure the following adaptive controls are operating correctly:
- Data loss prevention (DLP)
- Email encryption
- Support for multi-factor authentication
- Email archiving for eDiscovery and data retention.
- 247x7x365 monitoring and reporting.
- Proven incident response, threat modeling, and remediation capabilities.
Each of the three email security providers in this article supports these features. However, they differ in how they align the adaptive control with the various mandates.
Proofpoint.
With the release of the Proofpoint compliance module, clients can drill into the various analytics screens to see if use actions impact the organization’s compliance standard. The company embeds over 80 compliance templates, including FCA, GPDR, CCPA, PCC-DSS, FINRA, SEC, IIROC, FTC, FDA, and HIPAA. Proofpoint captured the telemetry from their various solutions, including DLP, CASB, and inbound email filters, and ported this into the different templates.
Mimecast
Mimecast has several built-in templates for compliance reporting, including GDPR, CCPA, POPIA, and PIPEDA. It offers templates to align its DLP, archiving, email encryption, and reporting functions to compliance mandates. Configuring DLP rules takes considerable time and experience with items outside the pre-positioned template list.
Trustifi.
With their one-click-to-comply feature, Trustifi enables organizations to align their security adaptive controls with various compliance and privacy. With a single click, clients can leverage pre-positioned rules and policies.
FAQs
Question 1: If I want to enhance my current Microsoft M365 or Google Workspace email security capabilities, which solution should I consider?
Answer: 1: The decision to use either of these providers comes down to ease of use when adding additional security for M365 or Google Workspaces, the cost, and ease of use for the user community. Based on these criteria, Trustifi would be the optimal choice.
Question 2: Are there any hidden costs when selecting one of these providers?
Answer 2: Yes, the answer is maybe, depending on which provider you select. Proofpoint, being larger enterprise-focused with several additional features quickly, could be more expensive, especially with the extra CASB. Mimecast also has three layers of licensing, and depending on your attack surface, you may need more features requiring additional licensing costs. Trustifi’s flat rate pricing allows adding functionality without extra cost.
Final Verdict.
Each email security solution delivers services and capabilities to meet various market segments.
Proofpoint.
Proofpoint continues to sustain its business through upgrades, transitioning its clients from on-premise solutions to the cloud, and through additional features, including CASB and compliance reporting.
**However, the SMB market and clients specifically interested in lowering their email security licensing and operational cost will likely consider options other than Proofpoint.
***Clients interested in an ease-of-use solution to help with better user adoption will also consider other solutions than Proofpoint.
Mimecast.
Mimecast delivers exceptional services for SMBs, mid-enterprise, and larger organizations. Their solutions have good integration and support for platform consolidation.
**Usersb> remain challenged by the platform’s various integrations, ease of use, and possible security dependency implications with Mimecast’s third-party partners.
***Organizationsb> looking for a more accessible cost-per-license model will consider other options.
Trustifi.
Ultimately, Trustifi delivers exceptional platform consolidation, better ease of use for users and security engineers, and a simple and cost-effective licensing model. SMB and mid-enterprise also prefer Trustifi because of the quick setup and enablement time.
Despite established security measures, 62% of inboxes suffered attacks. Trustifi’s report underscores the critical need for advanced email security measures in today’s threat landscape.
If your organization is evaluating email security solutions and your firm is an SMB looking to lower cost, increase security protection, and ensure ease of use for your users, Trustifi is the optimal choice.
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