Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs Cisco Secure Email comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
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Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Check Point Anti-Spam and E...
Ranking in Email Security
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Secure Email
Ranking in Email Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 13.1%, down from 20.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade is 1.9%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 10.3%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
Unique Categories:
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
12.3%
Microsoft Security Suite
1.5%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

AR
May 28, 2024
It can integrate with third-party tools, improves compliance, and helps prevent advanced attacks
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 integrates with third-party solutions, our organization prioritizes Microsoft technologies for security. We only integrate external tools with explicit management approval. This focus extends to data backup. Even though Office 365 is a cloud service, we recently purchased Barracuda, a tool that seamlessly integrates with Office 365 for data backup. Prior to my arrival, our organization lacked a dedicated Office 365/Microsoft 365 security specialist, with IT admins relying on web searches for configuration. Upon identifying vulnerabilities, I implemented Microsoft Defender and other security measures. Our compliance score, which was around 30 percent a year and a half ago, now consistently ranges from 75 to 85 percent, thanks in large part to Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps prevent advanced attacks like business email compromise by stopping lateral movement within the network. It also includes data loss prevention features, where our custom policies have helped block malicious emails, ransomware, and spam before they ever reach our servers. While not perfect, Microsoft Defender has significantly improved our email security, offering around 80 to 90 percent effectiveness, which we're quite happy with. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has significantly improved our security team's efficiency. The comprehensive security analytics dashboard provides insightful information on threats, including the number of phishing attempts and attacks on our servers. This data can be easily exported for clear reporting to management. Overall, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves us time and simplifies security analysis presentations.
AS
Jan 27, 2023
Good advanced spam filtering, phishing protection, and compliance
The tool was implemented due to the fact that the company, which I audited, had low-security protocols in the areas of electronic mail. It was suggested to use a tool that would help them reduce the gap in the vulnerabilities that they present. A study was made of the needs and requirements in…
Hannes Johnsson - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 30, 2023
Good support, perfect stability, and many out-of-the-box filters
We have it for email security. We use it for some security features to set up emails Cisco Secure Email has helped free up our IT staff for other projects because the product is so stable, and you don't have to spend so much time with the administration of the product. You free up time because…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"The deployment capability is a great feature."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."
"Defender enables us to secure all 365-related activity from a single place. It gives us visibility into everything happening in Outlook, protecting us against phishing and other email-based threats. Defender helps us detect any suspicious behaviors."
"The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues."
"Does a thorough job of examining email and URLs for malicious content."
"The solution is very easy to use. All you have to do is to assign the license to the end-user and it's done. The customer will only have the feature activated, and the solution will monitor the emails to determine if they are a threat or not."
"Due to its technology, monitoring, and manufacturer features, we have been able to reduce the intrusion of spam and other threats that can be uploaded via email."
"Advanced Spam Filtering to identify and block unwanted email messages."
"Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade is quite reliable...It is a very stable solution."
"It does a better job of recognizing spammers."
"The solution can be monitored on a single dashboard with actionable insights and reporting."
"The robust Smart Dashboard enables to us fetch important and accurate data insights concerning the blocking of spammers and malware attacks on the system."
"Since the engine is made to block by IP, domains, and reputation, we minimized the spam threats that end up in the user's mailbox."
"A scalable, stable solution with good technical support."
"ATP has been the most valuable in improving our email security posture."
"It blocks bulk marketing messages, graymail, spam, and provides advanced malware protection."
"Initially, the most valuable feature for us was the SenderBase Reputation, because that reduced the number of emails that were even considered by the system by a huge number..."
"The malicious URL scanning, as well as the anti-malware features, have been really useful for us in our environment."
"The user interface was quite friendly, it was quite easy to use, unlike some other Cisco products. Anybody could use it. You don't have to be familiar with IT to be able to handle navigating it."
"The system provides our service desk with the means to troubleshoot email delivery issues with ease."
"It is a user-friendly product."
"Spam controls are excellent because they are a powerful feature that operates almost effortlessly."
 

Cons

"The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement."
"Configuring the default strategies and policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps generates a lot of noise and false positives."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once."
"It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."
"The solution's technical support is an area with shortcomings that need to be improved for the better."
"A major area for improvement is within some of the heavily discounted software blade add-ons on top of the current Next Generation Threat Prevention and SandBlast and Next Generation Threat Prevention offerings."
"I think that the pricing for the Check Point products should be reconsidered, as we found it to be quite expensive to purchase and to maintain."
"The UX/UI could be more friendly."
"It does not provide for standalone configuration on the security gateway. Instead, you need to have a management server/smart console for managing it."
"I would like this solution to be more integrated into other applications that Check Point has so that it could be managed quickly and safely from the Infinity Portal."
"Many would love to have this solution and be able to manage it from any device, including native applications or applications that can be installed on devices such as Android or iOS."
"Installation time could be improved as it takes too long to install."
"We have Microsoft and we have the E5 licenses, they have more EDR responses on certain emails. That's something that Cisco ESA on the cloud doesn't have. They don't do anything about MITRE attacks. They only detect if there is a malicious email or a threat and they remove it."
"One of the things that Cisco could improve on with IronPort is the support. Cisco doesn't really have enough engineers who have full, hands-on knowledge of IronPort. Knowledge of it is not something you can find easily compared to other security appliances."
"Many smaller businesses opt for more cost-effective solutions, such as Gmail or Hotmail accounts, instead of investing in Cisco Secure Email, given its higher cost."
"Cisco is already providing a very good environment with the IronPort solution, but there could be some more integration with other products. For instance, an integration with the EDR solution could be there to raise an alert."
"The graphical user interface is not user-friendly like other vendors. I find it very difficult at times to find some options on the UI."
"I would rate the stability a six out of ten. We had multiple issues with the stability."
"My opinion on the licensing of this solution is that it is a mess that needs sorting out. I am not particularly bothered by pricing as I administer it and make recommendations for people to buy or not to buy."
"There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"The product is very expensive."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"The solution could be better by simplifying the business model of their licensing. It was hard to figure out how to get the licensing done for the environment, initially."
"The product is expensive."
"It's a user-base subscription."
"While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"For licensing, my company makes yearly payments, which is expensive."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"This is a simple system with a very low cost and basic functions, which surely is ideal for a small company."
"The cost is competitive with other security products on the market."
"Choosing the correct set of licenses is essential because, without the additional software blade licenses, the Check Point gateways are just a stateful firewall."
"Reasonably priced solution."
"I rate the pricing as an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"The licensing was all transferred."
"There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"In addition to the standard licensing, there is a cost for SMARTnet as well."
"Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
"I rate the pricing a ten out of ten on a scale where one means it is less cost-effective, and ten means it is the most cost-effective solution."
"Cisco Secure Email and the support are priced well. It's not cheap, but there are other solutions that offer less and cost so much. For example, Microsoft is more expensive than Cisco."
"It is a relatively expensive option compared to other alternatives."
"The price is significantly high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Security Firm
33%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Educational Organization
17%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of variou...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
What needs improvement with Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade?
Installation time could be improved as it takes too long to install. With the software footprint, it should be taking...
What do you like most about Cisco Secure Email?
Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Email?
The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market. Whether the product w...
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
I am not satisfied with the solution's reporting and logging.
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
SF Police Credit Union (SFPCU)
SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Anti-Spam and Email Security Software Blade vs. Cisco Secure Email and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
787,817 professionals have used our research since 2012.