Guide to Secure Email Gateway Software
Secure Email Gateway software is used to protect a company's email from unwanted content, malware, and other malicious attacks. It works by scanning incoming emails for various criteria, such as the sender’s reputation or the content of the email. If an email fails to meet certain requirements, it is rejected or placed into quarantine for review by an administrator.
Secure Email Gateway software also offers encryption services that use public and private keys to secure messages before they are sent. These encrypted messages can only be opened with a password known only to the recipient, thus protecting against unauthorized access of personal information or confidential data.
Additionally, Secure Email Gateway software provides spam filtering features that scan emails for potential threats and filter out known spammers based on their IP address or domain. This helps reduce the chances of your company receiving harmful emails containing viruses and malware that can compromise your business data and systems.
Finally, Secure Email Gateways also offer authentication services that validate the authenticity of incoming mail through mechanisms like Domain Message Authentication Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) which ensures only legitimate emails from a particular domain reach your mailbox. With these authentication services enabled, your business is better protected against phishing attacks as well as spoofed mail sent from fake domains designed to look like legitimate ones.
All these features make Secure Email Gateways invaluable tools for maintaining security within an organization’s email infrastructure and reducing its risk of being exploited by malicious attackers or fraudulent activities.
Features Offered by Secure Email Gateway Software
- Encryption: Secure email gateway software provides an extra layer of security by encrypting emails so that only the intended recipient can read the message. This encryption is done using advanced algorithms and techniques to protect email communication from being intercepted and decoded.
- Message Filtering: Secure email gateway software filters messages based on user-defined criteria, such as specific senders, words in subject lines or content of the message body. It helps to identify spam or malicious emails before they can reach their intended target.
- Anti-malware Protection: The software is designed to detect and block malicious attachments, links, and files that contain viruses or trojans. This ensures that all incoming emails are free from malware threats before reaching their destination.
- Remote Access Control: Secure email gateway software allows remote access to authorized users who are outside of the corporate network but need access to internal resources. It also prevents unauthorized users from accessing resources via secure protocols such as VPNs or SSH tunnels.
- Content Control: The software can be configured to control what kind of content is allowed into the organization's network, including sensitive data like credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc., helping ensure compliance with industry regulations such as HIPAA or PCI DSS standards.
- Automated Delivery Rules: Secure email gateway software is capable of creating rules for automated delivery of emails based on certain criteria such as size or type of attachment or sender address. This helps streamline email flow and reduce manual effort required for mail delivery management tasks.
What Types of Secure Email Gateway Software Are There?
- Anti-spam Filtering: Secure Email Gateway software is designed to eliminate spam messages from reaching your email inbox. The software filters out emails based on a variety of criteria, such as sender or recipient addresses, content keywords, and IP addresses.
- Encryption: Secure Email Gateway software encrypts emails sent and received to protect data confidentiality. This ensures that only the intended recipients can access the email’s contents.
- Content Filtering: Secure Email Gateways can also be used to filter emails based on their content and attachments. This helps prevent malicious emails from being sent or received, keeping your system safe from potential attacks.
- Authentication: Secure Email Gateways authenticates incoming emails by verifying the message source and sender address against a trusted list of domains or IP addresses. It also ensures that outgoing mail is authenticated before it is accepted for delivery.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP): DLP solutions help safeguard confidential information by preventing sensitive data from leaving an organization in unencrypted form or through unauthorized sources. They work by scanning outbound messages for certain keywords or phrases that indicate sensitive information and alerting administrators to any potential breaches of security policies before they occur.
- Archiving & Compliance Solutions: Secure Email Gateways allow organizations to archive all sent and received email messages in order to comply with industry regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, GLBA etc., while providing quick access to important archived messages when necessary.
Secure Email Gateway Software Advantages
- Increased Security: Secure email gateway software provides enhanced security by protecting against malicious threats such as viruses, malware, and phishing schemes. It also ensures that sensitive information remains confidential by using encryption technologies such as TLS and SSL.
- Compliance: Organizations can ensure they remain compliant with industry or government regulations by implementing secure email gateway software. This helps to protect the organization from legal repercussions due to a violation of privacy or data protection guidelines.
- Improved Efficiency: Secure email gateway software allows for efficient management of incoming emails, helping to reduce the amount of time it takes for messages to reach their intended recipient. In addition, this type of solution can provide organizations with valuable insights into how users are interacting with email content so that communications and marketing campaigns can be more effectively targeted.
- Reduced Spam Volume: Secure email gateways offer powerful filtering capabilities that can identify and block unwanted messages from entering an organization’s network, resulting in reduced spam volumes and improved overall user experience.
- Automated Processes: Secure email gateways automate many processes such as message scanning, routing, encryption/decryption, virus scanning, etc., allowing IT staff to focus on other important tasks rather than manually managing each individual message.
Who Uses Secure Email Gateway Software?
- Businesses: Secure email gateway software is used by businesses of all sizes to protect their sensitive data and ensure that confidential information remains safe. This type of user typically uses the software to manage large volumes of email traffic, as well as filter out spam and other malicious content.
- Government Agencies: Government agencies use secure email gateway software to securely transmit sensitive information between its own departments, as well as with other federal, state, and local organizations.
- Healthcare Providers: Healthcare providers use secure email gateway software to protect patient data when sharing information with colleagues and other healthcare professionals. This helps them comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations.
- Educational Institutions: Educational institutions use secure email gateway software to protect student data while exchanging emails with teachers, administrators, parents, and other third parties who may be involved in the educational process.
- Financial Institutions: Banks and other financial institutions rely on secure email gateways for transmitting sensitive financial information or protecting customer account numbers from prying eyes.
- Law Firms: Secure email gateways are essential for lawyers who must share confidential legal documents with clients or opposing counsel without exposing private information or violating ethical rules about client confidentiality.
- eCommerce Sites: Online stores often use secure email gateways to securely transmit customer details such as credit card numbers or personal addresses when completing a purchase transaction.
- Non-profits: Non-profit organizations often use secure email gateways to send confidential donor information or store transactions with vendors.
How Much Does Secure Email Gateway Software Cost?
The cost of secure email gateway software can vary widely depending on the features and capabilities you choose. Generally speaking, a basic secure email gateway for a small business can cost anywhere from $20 to $50 per month, while enterprise-level gateways with more advanced features such as virus scanning, spam filtering, and data loss prevention can range from $150 to $500 per month.
It's worth noting that some of these services may also include additional fees for extra storage or user licenses. It's important that you take all potential costs into consideration when shopping around for the right solution. Also make sure to research each vendor in detail to ensure they provide the protection and reliability that your organization needs. Additionally, consider if any pricing plans are available with discounts if you commit to an annual or multi-year contract, as this could significantly reduce your overall costs over time.
Types of Software that Secure Email Gateway Software Integrates With
Secure email gateway software can integrate with a variety of different types of software. This includes content filtering and anti-virus protection applications that help protect the network from malicious attachments, web filtering tools to block access to dangerous websites, data loss prevention (DLP) technology to identify sensitive data in outbound emails and prevent its unauthorized transmission, archiving solutions for long-term email storage and retrieval, encryption tools to secure sensitive emails, authentication tools to validate senders and verify message integrity, and cloud security systems for additional protection when using cloud services. In addition, secure email gateway software can be integrated with various analytics platforms to gain better visibility into mail traffic patterns or use machine learning algorithms to detect anomalous activities. Ultimately, the specific types of software that can integrate with a secure email gateway depend on the features offered by the solution provider.
Secure Email Gateway Software Trends
- Increased use of cloud-based email infrastructure: As organizations increasingly move their emails to the cloud, secure email gateways have become a necessary tool for protecting sensitive data from threats such as phishing, malware, and ransomware.
- Adaptability: Secure email gateways are designed to be adaptive, allowing them to detect and respond to new threats quickly.
- Integration of security protocols: Many secure email gateways now integrate multiple security protocols – such as encryption, authentication, and anti-spam measures – into a single solution. This makes it easier for organizations to ensure complete protection against various types of cyberthreats.
- Automation: Automation is playing an increasingly important role in secure email gateways. This allows organizations to automate various processes such as policy enforcement, threat detection and response, and more.
- Advanced analytics: Many secure email gateways now offer advanced analytics capabilities that can help organizations better understand their data and make better decisions about their security strategies.
- Multi-factor authentication: Multi-factor authentication has become an essential feature of secure email gateways, allowing organizations to ensure that only authorized users can access their emails.
- Secure mobile access: Secure mobile access is becoming increasingly important in today’s world. Many secure email gateways now offer mobile access options that allow users to securely access their emails from anywhere.
How to Find the Right Secure Email Gateway Software
Use the comparison engine on this page to help you compare secure email gateway software by their features, prices, user reviews, and more.
When selecting secure email gateway software, there are several factors to consider.
- Security: The most important factor when selecting a secure email gateway is the level of security it offers. Make sure that the software includes features like end-to-end encryption, malware and virus protection, and content filtering.
- Integration: It's important to choose a software that integrates seamlessly with your existing infrastructure. Look for something that can be quickly and easily integrated into your existing hardware, software, and systems.
- Cost: Determine how much you're willing to invest in secure email gateway software before making a decision, as costs can vary significantly between solutions. Consider what features you need and look for solutions that fit within your budget.
- Usability: Make sure the solution is easy to use so all users can understand how to properly utilize the system without needing extensive training or support. Good user interfaces help ensure users will actually use the system appropriately and securely.
- Support: Ensure that the vendor provides reliable customer service and technical support should any issues arise with their product or service offering. Find out what types of services they offer (e.g., online chat, phone callbacks), response time metrics, etc., before committing to any particular solution.
By carefully assessing these factors when selecting a secure email gateway software, you can ensure that you are choosing the right solution for your organization's needs.