Top Email Security Tools and Services to Protect Against Phishing

Best Email Security Solutions for Anti-Phishing Protection

Strengthening your organization’s cybersecurity posture is an ongoing effort. You must add new security layers or modify existing deployments. This will help address the rising sophistication of modern threats.

It is predicted that global information security expenditure will reach $212 billion in 2025 [1]. This figure covers security software, security services, and network security. The growing spending illustrates the enormity of the problem – cyber threats.

Email security is now one of the fastest-growing categories within cybersecurity. This category is in high demand due to the rapidly evolving email threat landscape. Organizations must adapt quickly and dynamically to strengthen their email security posture.

The Evolution of Phishing Emails Demands Smarter Tools

Phishing emails have shed the sloppy grammar and obvious mistakes of the past. The ones landing in inboxes today are perfectly designed to encourage a bad decision. They borrow the tone of internal memos and mimic trusted suppliers. They also match the professional look and tone we expect from senior executives.

This sophistication is a result of AI. It has changed how phishing attacks are created and delivered. Mass generic messages are a thing of the past. Attackers now use AI to generate emails. This shift is exposing a growing security gap. Spam filters or traditional secure gateways aren’t built to detect evolved threats.

Organizations need to rethink their strategy. Point tools alone won’t cut it. Layered defenses combining threat intelligence, behavioral analysis, and security awareness training are the way to go. These solutions are designed to detect and stop evolving email phishing tactics before they reach users.

This article provides a clearer understanding of the various email security tools available on the market. These tools can be used to enhance your organization’s cybersecurity posture.

Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) & Email Security Platforms

A secure email gateway (SEG) is designed to protect your organization’s email ecosystem from cyber threats. These threats include phishing, malware, and other email attacks. SEG addresses these threats using content analysis, heuristic analysis, sandboxing, URL filtering, TLS encryption, and more.

Modern SEGs add real-time threat intelligence and advanced detection techniques to the security mix.  Here are some of the platforms available on the market:

Mimecast

This email security platform provides robust threat protection supported by anomaly detection, powered by social graphing to identify suspicious patterns linked to social engineering.

How this platform detects and responds to threats:

• Sandboxing & click-time protection block phishing links and malicious attachments before delivery.
• Warning banners and auto-removal for threats like QR phishing and BEC.
• Flexible integration works with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and hybrid setups.
• SIEM & XDR Integration improves visibility and speeds up incident response.

Abnormal

The Abnormal Behavior Platform for email security adopts a behavior-led approach, tailored explicitly for modern threats and their kill chain.

How this platform detects and responds to threats:

• Security APIs gather identity and activity data from Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, learning typical user and vendor behavior.
• Detects deviations in communication patterns or login activity and flags them for review.
• Removes malicious emails instantly, allowing SOC teams to focus on higher-value security tasks.
• Provides detailed timelines and the ability to trace anomalies across apps, users, and devices.
• Continuously adapts to evolving threats by learning from user behavior and trends across its customer base.

FortiMail

Your organization’s inboxes have to ward off advanced attacks like phishing, BEC, and account takeover. FortiMail brings together ML, heuristic analysis, and visual scanning to address such threats, protecting your inbox from volume-based attacks.

How this platform detects and responds to threats:

• Antispam & antimalware filters out known spam, malicious content, and harmful attachments before they reach users.
• Outbreak detection identifies and responds to new, emerging threats as soon as they appear in the wild.
• Impersonation protection spots spoofed senders, suspicious identity cues, and other social engineering attempts.
• Sandboxing examines risky attachments and links in a secure, isolated environment to prevent payload execution.

Check Point

Check Point delivers end-to-end email security addressing zero-day threats and malicious attachments. With advanced NLP, this security solution not only scans the text but also understands the intent behind the words and flags unusual patterns. Threats are blocked before they reach the inbox.

How this platform detects and responds to threats:

• Offers complete visibility into all data entering and leaving your organization.
• Delivers unified visibility into emails quarantined by both Microsoft and Checkpoint.
• Detects and automatically blocks unauthorized account takeover attempts.
• Identifies signs of past compromises within user accounts.
• Continuously refines filters to reduce misclassified safe emails.

Threat Intelligence Platforms

A Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) provides critical information on known malware and other threats. This enhances threat detection, investigation, and response. Threat analysts review this intelligence to assess potential security risks. They can implement remedial measures before risks become a problem.

Security intelligence is shared with various systems across the security framework. These systems include SIEMs, firewalls, and email security platforms. A TIP helps identify phishing emails by matching them against known malicious domains, IP addresses, and URLs. These platforms detect emerging threats by analyzing global attack patterns and behavioral anomalies.

CrowdStrike Falcon Adversary Intelligence

CrowdStrike has a flair for creating impressive product names. But that’s not why it’s a reputable name in cybersecurity. Its reputation is a result of its robust security suite.

Its Threat Intelligence Platform provides access to advanced threat intelligence. The TIP covers over 200 adversary profiles. This platform also includes context-aware indicators, vulnerability intelligence, and dark web monitoring. Automated threat modelling identifies high-risk threats and recommends ways to close security gaps. They are all working together to strengthen your defense.

Key features include:

• Advanced sandbox for context-rich, outcomes-driven decision-making.
• Rapid sharing of Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) to speed up threat response.
• Scans attack surfaces to detect attacker domains and risky infrastructure.
• Enables proactive defense by identifying vulnerabilities before exploitation.

Palo Alto Networks – WildFire

Palo Alto Networks is a name synonymous with cybersecurity. It offers a cloud-based malware analysis solution, ‘Wildfire’. This solution perfectly captures the company’s forward-looking approach to security.

Key features include:

• ML and crowdsourced intelligence prevent known and unknown threats and accelerate threat investigation.
• Dynamic, static, and machine learning analysis techniques detect and prevent file-based threats.
• Rapid analysis of malware samples and the ability to halt malware evolution.
• Pattern recognition analyzes large structured datasets.
• Deep learning manages unstructured data to identify abstract patterns.

All features come together to enable precise detection and blocking of malicious and evolving threats.

Phishing Simulators and Awareness Tools

Did you know that nearly three out of four new hires are at risk of phishing or social engineering attacks within their first 90 days on the job? [2] With 45% receiving no security training, it’s no surprise that employees easily become phishing victims. They struggle to distinguish between phishing messages and legitimate emails.

A phishing simulation trains your staff to spot social engineering threats. Its goal is to reduce human errors that could cause data breaches. Hackers are developing new techniques every day to lure employees into sharing sensitive data. These techniques include phishing emails. Phishing simulations campaigns help employees recognize these attempts and report them. This makes employees a vital part of the phishing defense framework.

Phishing simulation tools help organizations set up mock cyberattacks. They test and strengthen the security decision-making skills of employees. Therefore, it should be a key element of every organization’s cybersecurity strategy.

Here are some tools to help your organization establish a security awareness routine.

Arctic Wolf – Managed Security Awareness

This tool educates and influences employee behavior towards security. This happens through simple, understandable, and digestible security content. Experienced security professionals create security awareness training modules. They bring their knowledge of the latest threats and modern attack techniques to these modules.

The learning sessions delivered in bite-sized pieces are engaging and can be completed quickly. This boosts participation.

Proofpoint – Security Awareness and Training

This tool allows you to engage with at-risk individuals in a targeted manner. Security awareness training matches their roles, responsibilities, skills, and threat profiles.

You can also train employees by launching mock targeted phishing campaigns. These are tailored to exploit a particular individual’s propensity for risky behavior.

Sophos – Phish Threat

This tool helps you place employees in simulated real-world attack scenarios. Create (simulate) different types of realistic and hard-to-spot phishing attacks. These are based on data from SophosLabs that monitors millions of threat-specific data points every day.

An organization can select from a range of simulation templates. These cover various scenarios and levels of difficulty. Campaigns can be translated into nine languages. This helps extend training to every employee across regions.

Authentication Protocols

Authentication protocols verify that emails genuinely originate from the claimed domain. The focus is on preventing fake messages from entering users’ mailboxes. These protocols cross-check sender details against published records. This ensures only authorized servers deliver mail for a domain.

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) verifies DNS. This confirms whether the server that sent the message is on the domain’s approved list.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a cryptographic signature to each message header. The recipient verifies this signature using a public key in DNS. This process confirms that no parts of the message have changed en route.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) links the two checks. It guides receiving servers on how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM. Reports are then sent back to the domain owner to facilitate easier detection of abuse.

Blueprint for Building a Modern Email Security Posture

Teams should adopt a layered, integrated strategy aligned with today’s threat landscape by following proven email security practices. These include:

1. Strengthen the Perimeter with Secure Email Gateways

   Begin by implementing a robust email security platform that employs advanced detection techniques. These include sandboxing, link inspection, impersonation analysis, and behavior-based filtering.

2. Activate Threat Intelligence for Faster, Contextual Response

   Deploy a Threat Intelligence Platform to bolster your email and security systems. It will provide real-time, contextual data on global threats, both known and unknown. Use TIP outputs to inform phishing response techniques that reduce response times and improve detection accuracy. It will also provide situational awareness across your entire IT environment.

3. Build a Human Firewall Through Awareness and Phishing Simulation

   Train employees with engaging, role-based programs and phishing simulations. Utilize analytics to identify high-risk user groups and tailor learning modules accordingly. This empowers users to spot threats and reduces reliance on technical controls alone.

4. Enforce Sender Authentication to Block Spoofed Emails

   Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. These protocols verify sender identity and prevent domain spoofing. Organizations can further enhance brand authenticity with a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), which works alongside DMARC to display a verified logo in recipients’ inboxes and build visual trust against phishing.

Multi-Layered Email Security Model

Conclusion

Phishing attacks have evolved rapidly. Security measures are playing catch-up. Today’s campaigns are difficult to detect, personalized, and AI-driven. They bypass traditional filters by perfectly mimicking professional communication.

As multiple industries are fighting against phishing on multiple fronts, overcoming these threats requires developing a flexible and responsive email security approach. Organizations should regard phishing as an ongoing, multi-layered challenge. This helps block attacks by building a reliable and robust cybersecurity posture.

References:

[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-08-28-gartner-forecasts-global-information-security-spending-to-grow-15-percent-in-2025
[2] https://keepnetlabs.com/reports/new-hires-phishing-susceptibility-report