Spam filters were built for spam.
Today’s attacks
aren’t spam.
your IT provider won’t tell you which email security brand to buy. Here’s what actually separates real protection from a filter that only catches the obvious stuff.
Find your protection layer before you talk to a vendor
A few quick questions. We'll highlight the closest fit below, then you can read why.
Three protection layers, three different jobs
Vendors bundle these differently and brand them however marketing wants that quarter. The underlying job each one does is what actually matters.
Secure Email Gateway (SEG)
Filters mail before it ever reaches the inbox.
- Blocks the bulk of spam and known malware
- Blind to threats that change after delivery
- Well understood, widely deployed
API-Based / Post-Delivery
Scans mail after it’s delivered, catching threats that activate later.
- Catches links that turn malicious after delivery
- No mail flow changes or delays
- Reacts after delivery, not before
Layered (Gateway + API + Training)
Filtering at multiple points plus ongoing employee training.
- Closest thing to comprehensive coverage
- Addresses the human layer, not just technical
- Highest cost and most moving parts
12 questions to ask any email security vendor
Click each one off as you go. Bring what's left to the sales call, a vendor who gets defensive about any of these is telling you something.
Does it catch attacks that arrive clean and turn malicious later, after delivery?
Can it detect Business Email Compromise not just spam and malware?
What happens to a phishing email already delivered before it was caught?
Does it protect internal-to-internal email not just inbound traffic?
How are false positives handled and who unblocks a real email fast?
Is DMARC/DKIM/SPF actually enforced or just reported on and ignored?
Does coverage include collaboration tools Teams or Slack links, not just email?
What’s the real catch rate versus what Microsoft already blocks alone?
Is phishing training built in or a separate purchase nobody mentioned?
How fast can a malicious email be pulled from every inbox after delivery?
Does it flag look-alike domains registered to impersonate your company?
Can you get a straight answer to all eleven questions above, in writing?
6 signs your email security is a liability, not a defense
These show up constantly in businesses that thought they were covered.
DMARC is set to "none," so spoofed email in your name isn’t even reported.
Employees were trained once, years ago, and never again.
Wire transfer requests are approved over email with no callback verification.
Nobody can say how many phishing emails got through last month.
A compromised inbox quietly forwarded copies of every email for weeks.
The "report phishing" button doesn’t actually do anything with the reports.
The buzzwords, decoded
We’ll look at what you actually have, then tell you the truth about it.
No vendor commission riding on the answer. Just a straight read on whether your inbox is actually covered.
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