Secure Email Gateway

Securing Your Business Data and Automating Privacy Compliances For All Users

As technology has advanced, so has the sophistication of cyberattacks. One of the most common methods cybercriminals use to gain unauthorized access to a company's data is email. Secure Email Gateway (SEG) is an email security solution that helps businesses protect their email systems from these threats.

What Is a Secure Email Gateway (SEG)?

A Secure Email Gateway (SEG) is an email security solution (software or hardware) that acts as a layer between a business email server and the internet. It filters incoming and outgoing email traffic for malicious content, such as viruses, phishing attacks, spam, and other types of malwares.

The SEG functions as a filter, ensuring that only legitimate emails reach their intended recipients while blocking harmful content. SEGs also provide additional security features, including email encryption, data loss prevention, and email archiving.

How Does a Secure Email Gateway Work?

A Secure Email Gateway analyzes email traffic for malicious content and filters out harmful emails before they reach their intended recipients. SEG acts as a mold between the company's email server and the internet and performs several checks when an email is received to see if it is genuine or malicious.

The first check is to ensure that the email is from a legitimate source. The SEG compares the sender's email address to a list of known legitimate email addresses. And if the email address is not on the list, the SEG will flag the email as suspicious.

The SEG also checks the email's content as well as attachments for any signs of malicious activity by scanning the email for viruses, malware, and phishing attempts.

If the SEG detects any suspicious activity, the email gets quarantined (holding it in a secure location until verified as safe) or blocked (preventing it from reaching its intended recipient) entirely.

Features of a Secure Email Gateway

Secure Email Gateways provide several features designed to protect businesses from email-based threats. Here are some of the most common features:

1. Anti-Virus Scanning: The SEG scans incoming and outgoing emails for viruses, malware, and other types of malicious content.
2. Spam Filtering: SEGs use advanced algorithms to filter out spam emails. They identify and block emails that contain unsolicited content, such as advertisements or phishing attempts.
3. Email Encryption: SEGs use encryption technology to ensure that emails are transmitted securely to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, such as customer data or financial information.
4. Data Loss Prevention: SEGs have data loss prevention features that prevent sensitive information from leaving the organization. These features can detect and block emails with sensitive information, such as credit card details or social security numbers.
5. Email Archiving: SEGs can archive emails for future reference. Archiving ensures businesses have access to all of their email communications, even if the original email is lost.

Why Is a Secure Email Gateway Important?

Secure Email Gateway is an essential tool for businesses that rely on email communication. Here are some of the reasons why SEGs are vital:

1. Protection Against Cyberattacks: Email is one of the most common entry points for cyberattacks. SEGs protect businesses from phishing attacks, social engineering, business email compromise (BEC), and other email-based threats.
2. Compliance: Many industries have strict compliance requirements for data security. SEGs help businesses comply with these regulations by ensuring the safety of email communications.
3. Reputation: A simple security breach can damage a company's reputation. By implementing a Secure Email Gateway, businesses demonstrate their commitment to safeguarding customer data and protecting sensitive information.
4. Productivity: Spam emails waste employees' time and can become an entry point for cyberattacks that might spread to the entire organization. SEGs filter out spam, reducing the number of unwanted emails that the employees have to sift through, leading to improved productivity.
5. Preventing Data Loss: Businesses exchange sensitive information through emails, including financial data, intellectual property, and customer records. A Secure Email Gateway can help protect against data leaks by monitoring outgoing emails and stopping any sensitive information from being sent.
6. Enhanced Security Awareness: SEGs play a crucial role in raising security awareness among employees. Many email security solutions use AI to provide real-time alerts about potential threats.

Limitations of Secure Email Gateways

While Secure Email Gateways offer significant protection against email-based threats, it's noteworthy to be aware of their limitations:

1. Advanced Phishing Attacks: Cybercriminals keep evolving their tactics, making it challenging for SEGs to detect sophisticated phishing attacks. Some attacks may bypass the gateway's filters and reach the user's inbox, requiring employees to be cautious and exercise skepticism.
2. Zero-Day Exploits: Zero-day exploits are vulnerabilities that are unknown to security vendors. SEGs rely on known threat signatures. They may not detect zero-day exploits until they are identified and patched by security vendors.
3. User Awareness and Education: SEGs can help pre-empt threats using advanced features like AI but cannot prevent human error. Employees still need to be educated about email security. Best practices include avoiding clicking on suspicious links or downloading attachments from unknown sources.
4. False Positives and False Negatives: SEGs strive to find a balance between blocking malicious emails and allowing legitimate ones. However, there is a risk of false positives (legitimate emails wrongly identified as malicious) and false negatives (malicious emails that go undetected). It's crucial to regularly review the quarantine and ensure that legitimate emails are not blocked.
5. Other Attack Vectors: While SEGs focus on email threats, they do not address attack vectors such as websites, social engineering, or insider threats. A comprehensive cybersecurity strategy should include multiple layers of protection to cover all potential vulnerabilities.

In conclusion, a Secure Email Gateway is an indispensable tool for businesses looking to safeguard their email communications. Be it internal emails or outbound emails. By leveraging advanced filtering and security features, SEGs protect sensitive data, enhance productivity, and ensure regulatory compliance.