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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs Perception Point Advanced Email Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (11th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Ranking in Email Security
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Perception Point Advanced E...
Ranking in Email Security
14th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Internet Security (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.9%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perception Point Advanced Email Security is 2.3%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
Mike Bulyk - PeerSpot reviewer
Can quickly identify, track, tag, and categorize internal emails. Reporting accessibly via the main dashboard would be a great addition.
If Cisco could continue to develop integrations, whether it's internal tooling, Threat Grid, or AMP reporting which could be accessible via a single web page, that would be helpful. This would essentially add additional context on messages as well as files or links being detected. Potentially adding additional context on why certain messages are tagged as spam or malware. In our case, malware hasn't been detected yet, but spam certainly has been. Knowing what engines or which components of the message make it identifiable as spam, that could be useful. Additional context and reporting accessibly via the main dashboard would be great. There is still room for improvement in terms of integrations with other Cisco tools and non-Cisco tools. There is also some room for improvement needed in terms of the reporting.
Jijin Joseph - PeerSpot reviewer
Gives in-depth analysis reports to end users for any malicious content found in emails
Our users would like the solution to scan outgoing emails. So, if my system is compromised, and I have malicious content in my system, then there is a possibility that I send malicious email to my colleague. There is a dependency on AWS cloud.This means if the cloud service is down, which may impact the perception point's email delivery.So it would be great if there is any HA for the solution. I would like a user-friendly configuration, like APIs. This solution is API-friendly configuration by following the steps provided. It would be great if it could be automate it, like the Avanan.Also, it would be good if Perception Point Advanced Email Security could have an MSP model. During the early stages of working with this solution, there were some constraints and issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."
"The benefit that stands out to me is the ability for multiple individuals to collaborate simultaneously within the same document. Additionally, there is the option to save the document directly in the integrated OneDrive or SharePoint."
"The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning."
"Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected."
"Defender is a SaaS platform, so it offers more flexibility. Managing the permissions is easier. The solution's automated detection and response features are scalable."
"One of the best features of the tool is its capability to aggregate insights from different workloads, basically from the Office 365 and endpoints part."
"Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises."
"The good part is that you don't have to configure it, which is very convenient."
"The ability to see east-west traffic is its most valuable feature. Traditionally, email defense focuses on north-south, inbound-outbound, egress-ingress traffic. With Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, it's able to quickly identify, track, tag, and categorize emails that are internal. That can typically give us visibility into if there's an internal compromised account (for example). Someone can then use that internal compromised account to email additional accounts with either malicious software or links, but internal within that Office tenant. Effectively, that email message never leaves the tenant. Any of the mail gateways really do not have any method or way of seeing this traffic since it's not leaving the environment."
"The product offers protection, email security, anti-spam, and antivirus."
"The features and functionalities are much better than Microsoft's in-built Defender plan."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox can handle a complete portfolio, which is required to protect any kind of attack coming from emails. However, it does not have advanced phishing, but it is available through Cisco. If you compare Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox with the competition, in the competition you have to have one or two solutions together to address the customer's requirement, whereas Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox is addressing everything, such as web domain and email protection. If there is any kind of challenge it will come across through email."
"I highly recommend it as one of the best choices."
"I would say it's very comprehensive, with multiple antivirus OEMs, virus encrypt features, encryption, and more."
"Cisco has a threat mechanism called cloud-based Talos, where all the threats are inbuilt."
"The solution is stable."
"The solution’s effectiveness when it comes to detection is very good. It has a very good mechanism. It scans our emails. It identifies any threat or phishing attempts and phishing campaigns as well as any bad reputation, servers, or links, then it blocks them. This is what I find to be very good about this system."
"It really works well on SharePoint when you upload a file or save a file. Advanced Email Security scans if it is malicious and identifies issues. It can do some forensics on its console, which is nice."
"We haven't had a client, who uses their protection, have an email security breach. That is the best thing about what they do. We don't have to think too much. Their product just works and keeps bad emails away."
"The solution is used to block malicious items hidden inside a document or PDF file."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"After integration, the tool is very easy to use. I had a problem with scripts for one customer, but my team did the integration for other customers without issues. So, I think I made a mistake in my integration. Both inline and API work fine."
"Their security engines are very effective at stopping malware and potential attacks before they reach a user's mailbox. They have the best detection engine."
"The Perception Point Incident Response team acts as an extension of our SOC team. This is very important for us. This is a benefit provided for their main product of scanning our emails. If Perception Point can give me IR, this is really good versus other products that do not provide this kind of service. Perception Point's service is great. They are very professional. That reduces the time that my internal SOC has to deal with my internal IT person. They just send an email to the IR team at Perception Point, who continues the investigation and blocks any emails, if necessary. This is very good because it can reduce a lot of time and effort from my team. It is like an extension of my SOC, but external."
 

Cons

"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The only thing they should improve is the licensing model. They should stop changing it. A year ago, the five features I mentioned were included in one product. Now, three of them are bundled into one product, and you have to pay extra for the other two. I don't mind paying extra, but I don't want them to change it every year or every six months. I need to know what I'm looking at and not worry about it next year."
"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."
"Microsoft should provide more documentation for users so they can self-educate. I would like to see more documentation for advanced security features."
"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"We still see many false positives from time to time with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, so it would be good if we can reduce those false positives and provide better workflows for our end users, as sometimes they may not know what to do when they encounter a false positive."
"In the areas of improvement for Microsoft Defender for Office 365, the console is the biggest challenge for me."
"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."
"The pricing could always be better."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox can improve by adding advanced phishing, then the solution would become the best in the market. However, this could increase the price even more. Additionally, if CES with domain protection could be added it would be an even better solution."
"This solution could be improved by integration with Sandbox."
"The physical appliance has been discontinued, although the platform still exists."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Customers will benefit greatly from monthly billing because the majority of customers today use the cloud, be it Office 365, or Google Cloud."
"There is still room for improvement in terms of integrations with other Cisco tools and non-Cisco tools. There is also some room for improvement needed in terms of the reporting."
"From a technical point of view, Cisco is far behind in terms of cybersecurity, and it has to improve very much."
"I think the interface could be improved in the next release."
"Email alerts should be available in real-time."
"To improve the solution, maybe a portal for end users to consult their emails would be helpful. The end user could access the portal and see their emails or events. They could also refresh the names."
"The only thing that can be improved in Perception Point is the in-depth analysis and attribution to cyberattack groups."
"From a forensics point of view, it could improve a bit more from a threat intelligence aspect. So, if I find a malicious email, they could have more investigations about sources, headers, where it comes from, if they have seen it in other campaigns before, etc. I would like a little bit more from a threat intelligence point of view so I can understand who else might be affected and attacked as well as the vectors of attack."
"They could provide additional data loss prevention features as we encounter different kinds of attacks in today's scenario."
"Our users would like the solution to scan outgoing emails. So, if my system is compromised, and I have malicious content in my system, then there is a possibility that I am sending a colleague that malicious content."
"They can do better on the spam. Today, Perception Point is not our only solution. We have two solutions, and they are the second in line because the spam filtering is not yet the best."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
"I know that the product is incredibly expensive."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
"The feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox does not have any competition with Sophos, Trend Micro, or other vendors of the world. However, there is a pricing premium for the solution. One has to look at it from that angle that while they are buying Cisco, there will be a premium, and Cisco justifies that premium value. That's why they're charging a high price."
"It has very reasonable pricing. Normally, the end user is paying. Perception Point is already in the Amazon marketplace, so we cannot sell it as a distribution partner. For example, we cannot take more than that margin of what they offer in the marketplace. Whatever the end user is paying, it is definitely worth it and it is not that high."
"There is room for improvement for them with an MSP partner. The pricing is good and fair. Our customers don't complain. The only thing is that it's a little bit old school. They don't have a system that automatically checks the number of users that our customers have so we can just update the licenses ourselves through a website. It is still done manually. They have a person who checks invoicing monthly to determine if there have been any changes. A nice improvement would be if they could get automated licensing counts."
"The solution is neither cheap nor expensive. There are no additional costs to the standard license."
"Pricing is lower in comparison to Proofpoint."
"In Brazil, the dollar price affects the cost. Perception Point Advanced Email Security is about 50 percent less expensive."
"The price of the solution is high."
"It fits every budget. It has a low price. I can't go ahead and sell it for any price I want. They are quite strict. They say, "This is the price that you can sell it for and this is the price for you as a reseller." That is it. It is not a lot of money. I will not become rich from it, but I like that they keep a standard for everyone. They are a fair company."
"We would always like it to be cheaper and save more money. However, we are getting the value from it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
36%
Healthcare Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
5%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 ( /products/office-365-reviews ) suite, making it slightly more expensive ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process. There are many conditions to be ...
What do you like most about Secure Email Threat Defense?
Secure Email Threat Defense's scalability is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Secure Email Threat Defense?
Cisco's closest competition is Proofpoint. Both are in the same range in terms of pricing. Pricing is on the higher s...
What needs improvement with Secure Email Threat Defense?
The physical appliance has been discontinued, although the platform still exists. Improvements here and there could b...
What do you like most about Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
The most valuable feature is the technical support services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
In Brazil, the dollar price affects the cost. Perception Point Advanced Email Security is about 50 percent less expen...
What needs improvement with Perception Point Advanced Email Security?
There are always places for improvement, but this needs deeper thought and planning. Integration and end-user interac...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Luiss University, Lone Star College, T-Systems, Magyar Telekom
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. Perception Point Advanced Email Security and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.