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Cisco Secure Email vs Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector 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
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (10th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Cisco Secure Email
Ranking in Email Security
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (7th)
Trend Micro Deep Discovery ...
Ranking in Email Security
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Email Security category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 12.6%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Email is 6.4%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is 0.4%, up from 0.1% 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.
Kostas Karidas - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps prevent security breaches but fails to improve in the area of AI
I have not noticed any impressive advanced threat protection mechanisms in the tool. I don't know if there are any AI features in the product. I don't know if there is any other technology embedded in the solution. Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats. My company has seen plenty of scenarios where Cisco Secure Email successfully mitigated potential email threats, spam emails, and fraudulent domains. The product is good for dealing with spam emails, and it can take care of more than 100 spam emails per day. A huge number of spam emails are monitored with the help of Cisco Secure Email. I would not recommend the product to other businesses because you need to have some kind of expertise in configuring and knowing a bit about the tool's GUI. The tool also lacks in the area of AI mechanics. If I would like to have an overview and review another solution, I would go for another product other than Cisco Secure Email. I can definitely suggest others to look at the product and review it, but I would also recommend that they compare it with the other solutions in the market. I wouldn't prioritize Cisco Secure Email over other tools. Either the support partner of the product or I take care of the tool's maintenance phase by looking into the configurations and doing some fine-tuning. I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.
Bilal Saleem - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliability and threat intelligence make this solution competitive, but AI improvements can further enhance its effectiveness
The best features of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector include its reliability. The second valuable feature is its built-in sandbox feature, allowing for inspection of incoming emails and attachments. The sandbox is an appliance that opens any attachment in an enclosed environment to assess its impact and potential for viruses. This protects the network from harmful threats. Trend Micro has a very large R&D team with excellent threat intel, allowing them to provide better solutions than some competitors. They understand emerging threats based on the information from their EDR. The key strengths can be summarized as reliability, a good integrated one-box solution that includes a sandbox, and their R&D capabilities and good ratings, which lead to better threat intelligence. The detailed threat intelligence provided by Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is valuable in understanding the behavior and tactics of potential email threats.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the valuable features on the email side are anti-phishing, anti-malware, and Safe Links."
"Defender helps us prioritize threats across our organization."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The initial setup was easy."
"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is its spam filter."
"The security features are valuable."
"This solution provides some benefits, like comfortable access to TAC support. You get prompt support when working directly with Cisco."
"Cisco Secure Email is a budget-friendly solution."
"Because we scan products, and there is a lot of critical data, security is very important in these cases."
"The tech engineers are very knowledgeable."
"The most valuable features are Advanced Malware Protection, URL filtering, and of course Reputation Filtering."
"ATP has been the most valuable in improving our email security posture."
"It has an intuitive, clear graphical interface where you can deploy your policies and understand the overall flow. There are a lot of things that you cannot handle on the graphic interface, like message filters. For this, you need to go to a lower level where you have more power, like command line interface. So, this solution has the best of both worlds. There are not a lot of bells and whistles. It is more practical with access to most features that you can configure."
"It can effectively monitor outbound and inbound devices."
"I would rate the solution's stability at ten out of ten."
"I like that it is very user-friendly and easy to install."
"The best features of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector include its reliability."
"The most valuable feature of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is the simple analysis of phishing emails."
"I highly recommend Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector due to its security and scalability features."
"I find Trend Micro to be a good solution for security purposes."
"Trend Micro is a very good product."
 

Cons

"In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
"Microsoft security solutions work as expected. They are constantly updating the solutions to make them better. At the same time, the changes can impact a customer's environment, and we need to adjust settings. Sometimes we aren't aware of the changes, and nothing is pushed from the backend automatically."
"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."
"We need to be able to whitelist data at the backend."
"This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products."
"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."
"We have occasionally had hardware problems because we are using an appliance-based solution, but that might change. We may consider going to virtual systems."
"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 user interface needs some improvement to become more user-friendly. The graphics could be better. It's designed more for a technical user rather than a business user."
"I use the search all the time. Sometimes, it is hard to search for things and things are hard to find. People come to me all the time, saying, "This email didn't get through." Then, I go searching and don't find it on the first search. You have to think about alternative searches. I don't know if there is an easier way that they could help to find things. I don't know how they could simplify it, because now everybody else is using the cloud and everything is coming from Office 365, or whatever. It is just not the same environment from years ago where everybody had their own server and you could search easier."
"In future releases, I would like to see two main improvements come to mind. First, the current solution requires maintaining two separate operating systems for FTD, which can be cumbersome. I'd love to see a single operating system for the FTD box."
"It is not user-friendly, and it is quite complicated. So, it should be more user-friendly."
"The interface is dated. It has looked pretty much the same for 15 years or so. It would be helpful to be able to do everything from one spot. The centralized quarantine and reporting are completely separate from policy administration."
"The product's feature for message processing and blocking devices for bulk emails needs improvement."
"Trend Micro's technical support has room for improvement. More efficient support should be provided, especially for standard support."
"The tool needs to incorporate faster response times for issue detection, more detailed reports, and better compatibility with older operating systems (e.g., Windows 7, 8, Server 2012)."
"Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector could improve by making it easier to use. Microsoft solutions are easier to use."
"To improve Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector, it should have updates with better AI and ML-based integration."
"It could be more user-friendly, easier to install, and lighter on the network. I would say that for all products because you do not need technical expertise to take care of it. When you have a user-friendly solution, it makes it easier for the vendors or companies like us. We do not have to go to the client's site to attend to issues all the time. Because it is user-friendly, they can take care of it after some training."
"The dashboard could be improved to match the quality of Check Point Harmony's dashboard."
"Trend Micro's technical support has room for improvement."
 

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."
"For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
"For large enterprise organizations, they can definitely afford it, but for small and medium organizations, they might struggle to cover the expenses."
"It is much more expensive than using another solution because we have had to include some options and upgrade our license."
"Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive."
"Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
"Microsoft Defender is expensive. I typically recommend it only if clients have the budget. Otherwise, I would suggest an alternative."
"The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users."
"The pricing is good."
"Cisco Secure Email is expensive, but we get what we pay for."
"We were using Proofpoint and then we switched to Cisco... reportability was one of the main reasons we switched, but the biggest one was cost. If you can get an equivalent functionality for a better price it's wise to do so. That's what our primary decision came down to: We could get equivalent functionality at a lower price point."
"There are additional fees for adding features."
"The pricing for the Cisco Email Security Appliance involves recurring costs for licenses based on the contracted time frame, such as one year, three years, or five years. Renewals are required after the license expires."
"The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market."
"It is not that costly. We pay for the solution through a contractor and pay an annual fee."
"Cisco Secure Email is more expensive than other products. I rate it a five out of ten. There are no additional costs. You only need to pay the subscription amounts."
"The price of Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is less expensive than Microsoft solutions."
"It's an expensive solution, and you may not see a return on investment in a short period of time. However, you will see a return over a long period of time."
"The solution's pricing is high, and I would rate it an eight out of ten."
"We pay for an annual subscription for this email security solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Educational Organization
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Performing Arts
9%
Media Company
8%
 

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?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS recor...
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 pricing structure is good as it is user-based or email client-based, which is positive for clients.
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Email?
The user interface of the Email Security Gateway ( /products/security-gateway-reviews ) should be improved. It would ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector?
On the pricing side, Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector is not the cheapest, but it's not the highest either....
What needs improvement with Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector?
To improve Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector, it should have updates with better AI and ML-based integration...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
Deep Discovery Email Inspector
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
Bank Saint Petersburg, CEITEC S.A., Dar Al-Handasah, Mitsubishi Electric Information Systems, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, OKWAVE, Oman Arab Bank, VakifBank
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Email vs. Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
858,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.