Most email gateway security solutions include anti-spam and antivirus engines. However, truly reducing email risk requires several additional features that can help to address the full spectrum of threats posed by inbound and outbound email.
Key features to consider when evaluating gateway solutions include:
- CONFIGURABILITY
Ease-of-use is important, but it should not come at the expense of configurability. The email security gateway solution should have enough configuration options so that they can be customized to specific business requirements.
- MULTIPLE ANTIVIRUS ENGINES
Defense-in-depth* strategies were once only available to large businesses. Today, you should seek similar capabilities for your clients. Because no antivirus engine is perfect, best practices suggest you should adopt email gateway security solutions that use multiple such engines to improve overall antivirus effectiveness..
- FILTERING FOR EMAIL EXPLOITS
Email-exploit engines attempt to detect unknown malware. They do this by analyzing suspect code and determining whether or not it has the characteristics of malware. This is a critical capability for email security solutions because it helps defend against malware exploiting vulnerabilities that have not been publicly revealed or patched. Called a zero-day attack, this type of threat is increasingly common.
- ANTI-PHISHING ENGINE
Anti-phishing engines reveal the true domain names of spoofed websites promoted in phishing emails. This helps decrease the likelihood of the user falling prey to a phishing attack.
- INTELLIGENT SPAM FILTERING
Anti-spam vendors are notorious for publicizing inflated effectiveness rates. Because of this, you should focus not just on detection rates, but also on the corresponding false positive rate.