Some common questions about comparing Avanan to other types of solutions for email security: 

API-Based Solutions

Avanan differs from the other API-based solutions in a lot of ways (securing the entire suite, scanning for malware with best-of-breed security). The biggest difference is the fact that the platform protects the inbox via a patented approach . Other solutions require a separate layer of defense like an MTA to truly protect the inbox (as Gartner discusses).  Further, Avanan is the only API-based solution that's a Gartner Peer Insights 2019 Customers Choice for Email Security. 

MTA-Based Solutions

Mail Transfer Agents (MTAs), also called Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) based solutions sit in front of the email infrastructure (e.g, Microsoft Office 365) as the first layer of defense. They are designed for the security of on-premises email and as a result, natively lack key capabilities such as internal-to-internal email protection, compromised account monitoring, SharePoint/OneDrive security, and clawback/ Search and Destroy^TM capabilities, to name a few. Further, they generally bypass the default anti-spam capabilities which drastically reduces overall security capabilities.

The Avanan platform, as a solution that's embedded within the cloud email environment (i.e. Office 365), is an additional layer of protection after default security, such as Exchange Online Protection (EOP) Again, the emphasis is on PREVENTION. 

EOP & ATP

85% of Avanan customers have tried or used Microsoft's Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) without success.  The key reasons they left ATP was because it missed the highly targeted and more sophisticated spoofing attacks. It's commonly considered that threat actors have purchased their own Office Licenses, and hone their attacks to evade EOP and ATP.  In a recent study, we found ATP to have missed over 30% of the confirmed phishing attacks were blocked by Avanan. 

Avanan Attack Briefs are a good resource, were Avanan Security Researchers diagnose how these attacks bypasses the default and advanced security layers in Office 365.  The zWasp Attack, for example, targeted those vulnerabilities to bypass safelinks. 

Learn More 

Start a free trial assessment today, which includes a detailed report of threats currently hiding in your inbox. It will also detail which attacks were missed by default and advanced security layers to demonstrate immediate ROI.