Cisco Secure Email and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are leading competitors in email security. Cisco is favored for its robust threat prevention capabilities, integrating well with existing systems, while Microsoft stands out for its seamless integration within its wider product ecosystem, offering a broader protection reach.
Features: Cisco Secure Email offers Advanced Malware Protection, anti-spam features, and granular filtering. It also provides real-time threat intelligence and integrates well with existing systems. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides strong anti-phishing capabilities, comprehensive information protection, and seamless integration with Microsoft's suite of products, offering overall visibility in threat protection.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Email could enhance user-friendliness, simplify its management, and adjust pricing. Users also face challenges in harmonizing email log data for reporting. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs improvements in licensing clarity, threat visibility, and dashboard usability, as well as enhanced proactive threat intelligence.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco offers multiple deployment options, including on-premises and hybrid, requiring significant configuration often demanding technical expertise. Users report solid but sometimes inconsistent technical support. Microsoft Defender is primarily cloud-based, allowing straightforward deployment within Microsoft ecosystems, with support integrated, though sometimes criticized for interface changes.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Email is perceived as costly, with complex licensing, but offers ROI through strong threat prevention, reducing phishing costs. Microsoft Defender's pricing, bundled with Office 365, is considered high but sometimes offset by its value in integrated security. Both solutions effectively prevent costly breaches, though Cisco is seen as a more expensive option.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Cisco's tech support can be hit or miss, depending on the engineer you get.
The support is pretty decent, with a rating of eight out of ten.
Any issues are addressed quickly by Microsoft's support.
Customer service and support have been fantastic.
The on-premises hardware is not very scalable, but switching to the SaaS offering is expected to improve scalability.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Based on my experience, the stability of Cisco Secure Email is very strong.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
The solution should better analyze the actual content rather than only focusing on the email header or origin.
It would be beneficial to have the functionality of the Email Threat Defense integrated into the Email Security Gateway so customers don't have to buy two products for full email protection.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
I would reduce the cost.
Its cost is bundled with other Cisco products.
The licensing is a mess and needs sorting out.
The pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
It also possesses multiple modules for spam detection, malware detection, and threat intelligence, which are valuable in categorizing emails and determining actions.
It is highly effective in catching phishing and spam emails.
It covers everything through email, like antivirus, IDS, and IPS.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group.
Cisco Secure Email ensures email traffic security, acting as a checkpoint before emails enter environments like Office 365. It filters out spam, phishing attempts, and malicious content, scanning emails for threats. It offers both inbound and outbound email security with features like URL filtering, spam filtering, and encryption.
Cisco Secure Email functions as an email gateway in cloud, on-premise, and hybrid deployments. Offering capabilities such as Advanced Malware Protection, URL and Reputation Filtering, and real-time threat intelligence from Talos, it efficiently safeguards email traffic. Detailed logging, reporting, and quarantine management features provide robust security while being highly configurable. Its integration with SecureX and customizable rules enhance its effectiveness. Though strong in malware protection, improvements in reporting, phishing detection, user-friendliness, and integration with Office 365 are areas of focus. Scalability, cost-effectiveness, and AI-driven features are also areas where it can advance.
What are the most important features of Cisco Secure Email?Cisco Secure Email integrates effectively in sectors like finance, healthcare, and education that need stringent data protection and compliance. Financial institutions favor it for its encryption and data leak protection features ensuring secure transactions. Healthcare organizations use it to adhere to compliance requirements like HIPAA, safeguarding patient data with advanced threat detection and email security. Educational institutions rely on it for protecting student data and intellectual property from phishing and malware attacks, ensuring a secure communication environment.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.
With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.
This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.
Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.
We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.