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Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs SonicWall Email Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Sponsored
Ranking in Email Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Cisco Secure Email Threat D...
Ranking in Email Security
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SonicWall Email Security
Ranking in Email Security
33rd
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2024, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 16.2%, down from 20.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense is 1.3%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonicWall Email Security is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Security
 

Featured Reviews

Luis-Brown - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 8, 2023
Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 lacks proactivity in assisting us with preparing for potential threats before they occur. While they employ a substantial amount of threat intelligence to preemptively prevent incidents, their effectiveness diminishes when it comes to delivering proactive threat intelligence alerts from Microsoft. Their focus primarily revolves around managing the internal environment. On the other hand, my other vendor, Check Point, along with my membership in MS-ISAC, supplements me with this type of information. The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement. It is adequate, but it doesn't match the quality of Proofpoint or Mimecast. However, it comes close in effectiveness. Plus, if we're obtaining it for free, investing in the other products seems impractical.
Karthik Venkataraman - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 27, 2022
Easy to deploy and configure with excellent support
We are using the solution as a secure mailbox. We do provide this solution to customers. The main use case is for email protection The product offers very good documentation and guides. It's very easy to deploy and configure. Their intelligence is pretty competitive when compared to other email…
Jasmit Singh Juneja - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 11, 2024
Easy-to-deploy platform with efficient cyber security features
The primary use case for SonicWall Email Security in your environment is to protect customers from spam, phishing attacks, and other email-borne threats. The solution scans both inbound and outbound emails, blocking any identified threats at the source level before reaching the end-users…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Our customers are satisfied with Defender for 365 because Microsoft products are easy to use and customize to meet the client's needs. Everything is in one place, so we can adjust policies as needed for phishing, DLP, ATP, or any other security features that our clients want to apply."
"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"It gives us visibility into threats and, for endpoints, it helps us to prioritize threats. We used to have a lack of visibility, but now our time to detect and respond has decreased."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has improved my organization's security. It makes it easier to manage the infrastructure without the help of third-party applications."
"Defender for 365 is a comprehensive cloud-based solution. The value of the cloud is that you aren't alone. Threat intelligence and analytics are shared in the cloud. We don't have to find the solution alone. If you face an unknown threat with traditional solutions like Trend Micro and Symantec, you need to open a case and send your information to them to analyze forensically and identify the source of the attack."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
"Defender helps us prioritize threats across our organization."
"The solution is stable."
"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."
"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."
"Secure Email Threat Defense's scalability is good."
"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."
"It's very easy to deploy and configure."
"It has an efficient email filtering feature."
"Beside a few issues with specificity in the email protection controls, this product is very good at handling email security."
"The anti-spam aspect of the solution is its most valuable feature."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"According to our customers, the product's most valuable feature is the ability to detect spam and reduce phishing emails."
"The most valuable feature of SonicWall Email Security is the blocking of emails using keywords. If there are any particular keywords in the subject, that we want to block from receiving from a particular person we can do it. Additionally, the blocking of emails is easy. we can release that one and we can block some of the keywords also like that."
"The most valuable features are the anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-virus, and anti-spoofing."
"There are no wasted extras and the interface is really simple."
"Setup was easy. It took about 30 minutes."
 

Cons

"We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
"They have moved features from one console to another. Things have been moved around in the interface and it takes me time to find where certain features are."
"The certification training for Defender for 365 needs to be deeper and incorporate Sentinel. I took all the security courses except one, and Sentinel isn't included."
"The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement."
"Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."
"From a technical point of view, Cisco is far behind in terms of cybersecurity, and it has to improve very much."
"Cisco's multiple product lines and verticals made this just one of their many verticals, and we could see a shift in focus."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"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."
"We encounter issues while searching for missing emails."
"This solution could be improved by integration with Sandbox."
"Customers will benefit greatly from monthly billing because the majority of customers today use the cloud, be it Office 365, or Google Cloud."
"The search area has room for improvement. When you go to the next page, it remains at the bottom of the current page that you're on. Also, under the reports section, it allows you to see any "convictions," but if you want to search for those convictions you have to remember when they all came in and go back and edit the search accordingly. You cannot click on the list of convictions to actually see if you had a spike at a certain time."
"They should integrate the solution with third-party platforms."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"Updates could be released more frequently."
"The technical support from the company is not always very good at solving issues, but they offer access to a good community of users where problems are easily solved."
"We would like to see more information on a dashboard about what is happening when it comes to spamming and malware."
"There could be definition updates included in the subscription."
"They need well-trained partners in Nigeria."
"SonicWall Email Security could improve by making the file blocking and the release feature easier to use"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"I was working in the government and it was too expensive for us to use our Microsoft products."
"The product is very expensive."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"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."
"The pricing is normal. Considering its popularity, it's not overpriced."
"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 feedback from vendors and customer is that it is expensive."
"It is expensive compared to other vendors."
"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."
"The solution’s pricing is manageable."
"The overall price of SonicWall Email Security should be reduced and there should be an option to purchase one or two licenses more instead of their current policy of bulk increases only. There should be more flexibility in the licensing model. Each license cost approximately $33 annually."
"The cost is cheaper than Sophos. I would rate it as five out of ten."
"The platform offers a yearly license."
"I rate the application’s pricing a five out of ten."
"When compared with Cisco, it is very well priced. Cisco is very expensive."
"Our customers purchase the solution's yearly license."
"We have a two-year license subscription and the price is very high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
41%
Healthcare Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

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?
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offe...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a very good solution that allows you to use a single port or tool to control eve...
What do you like most about Secure Email Threat Defense?
Secure Email Threat Defense's scalability is good.
What needs improvement with Secure Email Threat Defense?
Cisco is a multi-product, diverse organization. Before it was acquired by Cisco, the company that developed Email Thr...
What do you like most about SonicWall Email Security?
According to our customers, the product's most valuable feature is the ability to detect spam and reduce phishing ema...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonicWall Email Security?
The platform offers a yearly license. I charge additionally for deployment services. I rate the pricing a six out of ...
What needs improvement with SonicWall Email Security?
The platform's control panel needs enhancement. At present, many control options are allotted to individual users. It...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox, Cisco CMD, Cisco Cloud Mailbox Defense
Dell SonicWALL Email Security Platform, SonicWall Hosted Email Security
 

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
Star Kay White, Locala Community Partnerships
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense vs. SonicWall Email Security and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
812,651 professionals have used our research since 2012.