Cloudflare Email Security offers strong protection for email systems, providing advanced security features like threat intelligence, anti-phishing, and anti-spam measures. In this review, we’ll explore how it enhances email security and safeguards organizations from emerging email-based threats.
There are many threats to businesses in the digital age. Though you might worry about sophisticated ransomware attacks, straight out lying in emails is far more effective as a method for extracting money from businesses. The FBI calls email scams “business email compromise” (BEC), and the Bureau estimated that this is the most profitable cyber threat in the world today, with a total haul of $1.8 billion in 2020.
Email scams can trick your employees into disclosing system credentials, downloading malware, and performing damaging actions, thinking that they are following the orders of a superior. Unfortunately, spotting what an actual business email is and a scam is difficult for human eyes, and it is a complicated issue for automated systems. This is why it takes a very sophisticated and specialized tool to block spam emails.
About Cloudflare Email Security
Cloudflare Email Security was introduced in 2021 as the Advanced Email Security Suite, offering organizations a comprehensive set of tools to protect their email systems from evolving cyber threats. With email becoming a primary vector for cyberattacks like phishing, malware, and ransomware, Cloudflare’s suite was designed to provide enhanced security through advanced threat intelligence, real-time protection, and automated remediation.
The system uses AI-driven algorithms and machine learning models to detect and block malicious emails, ensuring users are protected from emerging attacks while minimizing false positives. The platform also integrates seamlessly with other Cloudflare security products, providing a unified approach to email protection.
In April 2022, Cloudflare acquired Area 1 Security, a leading email security company known for its sophisticated phishing protection capabilities. This acquisition significantly bolstered Cloudflare’s email security offerings, integrating Area 1’s advanced phishing detection technology into the Cloudflare Email Security suite.
The integration of Area 1’s expertise further strengthened Cloudflare’s ability to detect and prevent threats before they reach end-users. With this acquisition, Cloudflare has created an even more powerful email security platform, offering enhanced protection against phishing, business email compromise (BEC), and other advanced email-borne threats, ensuring that organizations can safeguard their communication channels more effectively.
The platform is specifically designed to protect Microsoft 365 and Gmail email accounts.
How does Cloudflare Email Security work?
Cloudflare Email Security deploys a combination of advanced threat intelligence, machine learning, and AI-driven algorithms to provide comprehensive protection for email systems. The service is based on the cloud – it is a proxy that receives all emails on behalf of a protected client. It continuously scans incoming email traffic for suspicious activity, including phishing attempts, malware, spam, and other malicious content.
The platform employs real-time analysis of email headers, content, and attachments to detect potential threats, blocking harmful emails before they can reach end-users. Cloudflare’s solution is designed to integrate with existing email platforms, providing automated threat detection and response without requiring significant configuration changes or added complexity for users.
One of the key components of Cloudflare Email Security is its integration with Area 1 Security’s technology, which strengthens its ability to identify and stop sophisticated phishing and social engineering attacks. By using machine learning models that analyze email behavior, sender reputation, and contextual clues, the system can predict and flag even the most advanced phishing attempts that traditional filters may miss.
Cloudflare Email Security uses continuous threat intelligence updates, ensuring that the platform is always aware of the latest attack tactics and can quickly adapt to new threats, providing proactive protection for email communications.
The package makes it possible to customize security policies. This enables organizations to tailor their email filtering rules to suit their specific needs. Users can set up granular controls to manage different types of email threats, from spam and malware to impersonation and BEC. The platform offers detailed reporting and analytics, allowing security teams to review threat data, investigate incidents, and gain insights into potential vulnerabilities.
Cloudflare Email Security plans
Cloudflare Email Security offers three primary plans: Advantage, Enterprise, and Enterprise & PhishGuard, each designed to provide varying levels of protection and features to meet the needs of different organizations.
Advantage Plan
The Advantage plan is geared toward small and mid-sized businesses. Team subscriptions are capped at 5,000 users, so very large corporations will need to look at the two higher plans. This edition provides comprehensive email protection while being considered the entry-level option for the platform.
This edition includes features like advanced threat detection, malware protection, and customizable security policies. The Advantage plan offers improved protection against phishing, spam, and other common email-borne threats, making it suitable for businesses that require strong, automated email filtering.
Enterprise Plan
The Enterprise plan is a step up from the Advantage plan, offering enterprise-level features for larger organizations with complex security requirements. This plan includes all the capabilities of the Advantage plan, along with additional features such as integration with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, advanced threat intelligence, and more sophisticated policies for managing email security at scale.
The Enterprise plan adds on analytics services and is ideal for large organizations needing deep visibility into email traffic, extensive threat protection, and the ability to manage email security across multiple domains, teams, or geographies.
Enterprise & PhishGuard Plan
The Enterprise & PhishGuard plan is the most comprehensive offering, combining the full suite of Enterprise-level security features with the specialized PhishGuard service. PhishGuard is an advanced solution specifically designed to provide enhanced phishing protection, leveraging AI and machine learning to detect and block phishing attempts more effectively. The PhishGuard package includes the services of human security experts. This is a managed security service.
This plan is designed for organizations that want a remote team of security experts included with the email protection software. Clients get the system’s security policies aligned with their own defined requirements. The edition includes active fraud notifications but all security responses are implemented by the Cloudflare team. It provides protection against highly sophisticated, targeted threats. Organizations get an additional layer of defense, safeguarding email communications from even the most advanced phishing campaigns.
Cloudflare Email Security prices
Cloudflare does not publicly list specific pricing details for its Email Security plans (Advantage, Enterprise, and Enterprise & PhishGuard) on their website. Instead, the pricing is typically customized based on the size of the organization, the volume of email traffic, and specific security requirements. Cloudflare tends to offer flexible pricing based on these factors, and businesses are encouraged to reach out to the sales team for a tailored quote.
For more information on pricing, you can visit Cloudflare’s website or contact their support and sales teams directly to get a personalized offer.
Cloudflare Email Security free trial
Cloudflare offers a highly automated sign up process and a free edition for its core services, such as its DDoS protection for websites. However, this is not the case with the Email Security system, which is a highly tailored package. Interested buyers are offered a Phishing Risk Assessment.
Cloudflare offers a 14-day free trial of the Email Security package. This opportunity follows on from a consultation that is centered on a guided demo of the system.
Cloudflare Email Security strengths and weaknesses
While being presented as a Cloudflare product, the Email Security system is a much more bespoke service than the regular Cloudflare product list.
Pros:
- Advanced Threat Detection: Protection against a wide range of email threats, including phishing, malware, and spam, using machine learning and AI-based detection methods.
- Comprehensive Protection: Blocks malicious emails and also safeguards against spoofing and impersonation attacks.
- Easy Integration: Connects to existing email infrastructure for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace without requiring complex configurations.
- Real-Time Threat Intelligence: Up-to-date threat intelligence feeds ensure that email systems are protected from emerging threats. The system adapts to new attack vectors quickly.
- Customizable Policies: Users can fine-tune security settings to match their organization’s specific needs, providing more control over email security.
Cons:
- No Public Pricing: Cloudflare doesn’t provide transparent pricing on its website, making it difficult for potential customers to assess costs.
- Relatively New Service: While Cloudflare has built a strong reputation with its other services, its email security service is not as well established as rivals such as Proofpoint and Mimecast.
Alternatives to Cloudflare Email
Cloudflare Email is very comprehensive. It blocks spam, phishing attempts, impersonation, and malware delivery by email. However, this is not the only email security system available on the market. Therefore, no matter what method you are looking for, it is always good to trial a few alternatives before committing to a specific service.
We have searched through the current market for email protection systems and found several services that you should consider.
Here is our list of the best alternatives to Cloudflare Email.
- N-able Mail Assure This package aims at MSPs who can add email protection as a service to their clients. The system operates as a proxy server that channels all incoming and outgoing emails. It scans all incoming emails for spam, malware, and phishing attempts. The system uses AI methods to identify zero-day attacks, operating as an anti-malware system. The outbound checks offer an opportunity to enhance your on-site data loss prevention strategies. You can get a 30-day free trial of N-able Mail Assure.
- Trend Micro Email Security This edge service scans all incoming emails and looks for malicious content. It will isolate attachments suspected of containing malware, and it verifies links in emails as uninfected before allowing them to become active. The cloud-based service also acts as a continuity service. If your leading email service goes out of action, users on your network can still send and receive corporate emails by accessing the Trend Micro server instead. Trend Micro offers its Email Security service in two plans: Standard and Advanced. Email Security Advanced is available for a 30-day free trial.
- Proofpoint Email Protection Suite One of the leading providers in SaaS-delivered system security, Proofpoint offers an email protection service that can be used as a standalone system or taken in conjunction with its threat protection products. This system identifies malicious emails but passes them through with an indicator rather than blocking them entirely. The purpose of this strategy is to educate users. The service also includes a spam filter and a bulk email spotter. There is a 30-day free trial available for the Proofpoint system.
- Mimecast Secure Email Gateway This is a cloud-based email filtering system that offers the option to allow phishing emails through but flagged for user awareness training. The system will block malware as attachments as well as spam and phishing emails. The system uses DNS authentication to spot spoofed source email addresses, and it is also able to spot impersonation attacks. The Mimecast system has a huge subscriber base. This gives the company a large internal source of shared attack information to identify common hacker strategies and harden detection systems. Unfortunately, the pricing structure of Mimecast is not so friendly towards small businesses as Area 1 Security’s pricing strategy. There is no free trial for the Mimecast service.
- Symantec Email Security .cloud Broadcom now owns the Symantec brand, and its email security system is part of a more comprehensive network of system security products. As well as providing a spam filter, this system can detect impersonation fraud and tricks such as source address spoofing. In addition, the content of emails from infrequent correspondents is sandboxed, and all links in emails are verified before they become active. This system will also scan email attachments for malware, including ransomware. Unfortunately, Broadcom doesn’t offer a free trial for Symantec Email Security.cloud.
- FortiMail Fortinet is a leading firewall provider, and the company also produces an email protection system. This is a SaaS platform that pre-screens all emails before forwarding them to your actual mail server. The service blocks spam, BEC, phishing attempts, and malware in attachments. The FortiMail service can be acquired on a network appliance as part of the Fortinet security fabric, including a SIEM system. It is also possible to take out the FortiMail system as a service on AWS and Azure. You can request a demo of FortiMail.
