What is our primary use case?
We needed it for mail relay and phishing awareness training.
We use the IRONSCALE solution on all our email platforms, including mobile apps, web access, and Outlook on computers.
Our deployment model is hybrid. Our private environment is in Microsoft 365 and we also have SaaS through BDO.
Since we are using Microsoft 365 and everybody is basically connected to that infrastructure for their emails, all we had to do was implement IRONSCALES into 365 and that covered my whole organization. There are about 175 email boxes. We expect that to at least double that amount in the next couple of years
How has it helped my organization?
There is buzz around phishing awareness training. When I make a campaign, all of a sudden people in our organization are talking, thinking, and wondering about it. Therefore, it keeps people on their toes. That is perfect because it does exactly what we want it to do.
Everything seems fine with the mail relay. I can't complain.
What is most valuable?
Monthly, we have been using the campaigns. Besides that, the actual work that it does as a mail relay, protecting our email infrastructure, is valuable. Also, the ease of integration into Microsoft 365.
The artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities of the solution are very important because we don't know what we don't know. The fact that I can use the community for artificial intelligence based on other case studies is perfect. Why not learn from other people's experience?
We use the AI to determine if an email is phishing or dangerous.
For email security effectiveness, I would give it 8 out of 10. As far as the mail relay is concerned, we haven't had major attacks, concerns, or phishing emails. So, we can't complain. Thank God everything has been working fine, but we never really tested IRONSCALES to its fullest. We have been using its automatic features where it gives me advice that some email might be phishing and so on. As for that, it does work really well. However, I can't tell you that it is battle-tested. That is why I am not giving it more than 8.
What needs improvement?
As far as training awareness, I would give it 6.5 to 7 out of 10. In regards to phishing awareness training, I have been having some issues with the Hebrew aspects of IRONSCALES since most of our company's employees need the Hebrew language, and the phishing awareness in Hebrew is so-so. In addition, the biggest problem that I have is with people who fail since most of them just don't do the training, and IRONSCALES doesn't have some sort of reminder feature.
When someone fails, if they open up the email and push on the link, then they get to a dedicated website which is supposed to give them basic information, e.g., what they could have noticed, then some sort of link to an instructional video, and in the end, training. I just noticed that 95% of the people who click on the email are flunking. For the awareness training, they don't continue to watch the video or do the training. Instead, they just exit the screen and move on.
I would like it if IRONSCALES had some sort of reminder mechanism, meaning IRONSCALES knows if a user completed the training or not. As long as it hasn't been completed, it keeps reminding every so often, alerts the manager, etc. Right now, it is all in the hands of the employee, and not all of them continue the process, which is a shame.
I would like to have more of an ability to intervene in the landing page for phishing awareness, e.g., more design options, change logos, color, and fonts. Right now, it is a template.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using IRONSCALES since February 2022.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability as 10 out of 10. It is always up and running. I have never seen downtime.
It requires someone from my help desk team to keep watch on the logs and see if there are any alerts or events. Besides that, there isn't much maintenance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It seems to me that it is really easy to scale up or down, meaning I just need to add licenses. 365 is already implemented. So, as long as I just add email boxes, they are automatically within the system. Therefore, I just need to be up to par as far as licenses are concerned. It scales within seconds.
How are customer service and support?
Since I have it as a SaaS, I never really need to talk to IRONSCALES. I just talk to BDO who just does whatever needs to be done. I would rate the support from BDO as nine out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
My organization didn't use another solution before IRONSCALES.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It took 10 minutes and then the product was up and running.
It provides an easy installation. It is a matter of minutes, which makes a big difference. Imagine the difference if you had to install a server or physical product. This solution is all software.
We started as a PoC. We implemented IRONSCALES as a trial version into our 365. From that point, we purchased it, then it became a non-evaluation version.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment took one person and someone from IRONSCALES.
What was our ROI?
We realized the solution's benefits within the PoC.
IRONSCALES has enabled us to spend more time on other activities because it is just install and forget. Our main goal was not to deal with it, meaning I can implement it and it does what it's supposed to do without a lot of intervention on our side unless some sort of case or event happens. That is exactly what it did. I have a fully functioning mail relay that basically takes care of itself. Obviously, we have to view all the logs and everything, and that is something our SOC also does. It just takes a burden off my shoulders. I can let it run.
If we can prevent a phishing attack or ransomware attack, then the ROI will be immense. At this point in the game, when everything is okay, I can't really see an ROI. However, when time comes, it will be there.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They are pretty much the same as all the other competitors in the market.
There is an installation cost. Since we have this as a managed service, we pay for licensing and the managed service itself. Other than that, there are no additional costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We were looking for some sort of platform that we could use to do phishing awareness training. We were looking into Cisco and different solutions. Eventually, we came upon IRONSCALES because we also needed a mail relay. This actually gave us both solutions in the same spot.
We evaluated Cisco's trainee portal and Fortinet FortiMail. In the end, we went with IRONSCALES because it was both products in one solution. Another reason being that we wanted a managed solution. Our provider in Israel, BDO, is an official retailer of IRONSCALES. They work with IRONSCALES and offer this service as a service. Therefore, we got a managed IRONSCALES solution.
Microsoft 365 offers standard anti-phishing functionality, but nothing beyond that.
What other advice do I have?
Try it. It takes seconds.
I would rate the product as nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud