Abnormal Security vs Cisco Secure Email comparison

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Microsoft Logo
12,659 views|10,155 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
Abnormal Security Logo
2,415 views|1,729 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Cisco Logo
9,374 views|6,133 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 15, 2024

Cisco Secure Email is valuable for its advanced threat protection capabilities, and customization options, but have concerns about complexity, performance, and customization limitations. On the other hand, Abnormal Security is praised for its strong email security, and behavioral AI engine, but users have noted the need for better integration with email platforms.

  • Features: Cisco Secure Email's valuable features include advanced threat protection, data loss prevention (DLP), end-to-end encryption, and secure awareness training. Abnormal Security stands out for its behavioral AI engine, advanced threat detection technology, and protection against phishing attacks.
  • Pricing and ROI: Cisco and Abnormal Security offer fair and competitive pricing with customizable licensing options. Cisco offers a cost-effective solution that protects email systems and data, blocking spam and phishing effectively. In contrast, Abnormal Security provides increased value through improved security, reduced threats, and overall protection effectiveness.
  • Room for Improvement: Cisco users are requesting a simpler user interface, faster performance, more customization options. Abnormal Security users want email analysis to better integrate with the email clients to prevent malicious emails from reaching the third-party systems before being blocked.
  • Deployment and customer support: Cisco users mention up to three months for deployment. Reviews for Abnormal Security indicate a potentially more efficient process, with some users only needing a week for both deployment and setup. Cisco users highlight the efficiency and effectiveness of the customer service team, along with quick response times. Abnormal Security customers commend the team for personalized attention and thorough assistance, emphasizing their attentiveness and fast issue resolution.

The summary above is based on 39 interviews we conducted recently with Cisco Secure Email and Abnormal Security users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Abnormal Security vs. Cisco Secure Email Report (Updated: May 2024).
769,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Defender for 365 is a comprehensive cloud-based solution. The value of the cloud is that you aren't alone. Threat intelligence and analytics are shared in the cloud. We don't have to find the solution alone. If you face an unknown threat with traditional solutions like Trend Micro and Symantec, you need to open a case and send your information to them to analyze forensically and identify the source of the attack.""The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is the ease of use.""Since we have started using the solution, there have been fewer compromises.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance.""The technical support is good and quick to resolve issues.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links.""Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the individuals within our organization who are affected.""It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pros →

"One of the things that I love about them is that the setup and installation are super easy. All you do is give them access to your Microsoft 365 tenant, and through APIs, they are able to do their work. They are doing all this through APIs, so you do not have to install the software and take a month to get it all set up to even see the value of the solution. You could be up and running in less than an hour.""The features that appeal to me most are the combination of auto-remediation and Detection 360.""It does some really cool stuff that other tools aren't doing. We found it to be really effective, and the AI/ML functionality is really what differentiates them.""What I like about Abnormal Security is that it notifies me if any of my partners or suppliers are experiencing a security breach by analyzing their database and identifying potential cyber threats.""Their ability to take things out of the mailbox and catch things much faster than users is excellent.""I have never encountered any stability issues with Abnormal.""Initial auto-remediation allows us to auto-remediate before the email lands in the end user's inbox for a split second.""Ease of use is undoubtedly one of the most valuable features of Abnormal Security."

More Abnormal Security Pros →

"There were detailed logs available. That was a seriously good feature... It turns out these were actually spoof emails that came into our environment. I got to know about them from the log system.""The system provides our service desk with the means to troubleshoot email delivery issues with ease.""It's flexible. There are a lot of rules and policies that can be easily applied for certain employees or certain mailboxes.""Initially, the most valuable feature for us was the SenderBase Reputation, because that reduced the number of emails that were even considered by the system by a huge number...""Capital expenditure is a significant consideration, and the impact on major expenditures prompts a careful analysis before onboarding the new product.""It is a user-friendly product.""Cisco Secure Email's most valuable is email certification.""The most significant enhancement we've gained is in terms of security through the upgrade we received."

More Cisco Secure Email Pros →

Cons
"There is room for improvement with the UI.""The XDR dashboard has room for improvement.""Several simulation options are available within 365, and the phishing simulation could be better.""The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""They have moved features from one console to another. Things have been moved around in the interface and it takes me time to find where certain features are.""In some situations, it has not been able to pick impersonated emails having no attachments. Technical support definitely has a scope for improvement.""It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers.""Too many false positives and lacks an accurate capability to detect malicious SharePoint sites."

More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Cons →

"The pricing for academic institutions and student mailboxes is challenging.""The ideal scenario would be for Abnormal Security to work in tandem with Microsoft to analyze incoming emails.""The biggest pain point for us is the lack of support for on-premise email systems.""There could be room for improvement in enhancing integration with other cybersecurity tools.""One feature I'd love to see is outbound scanning.""I would like to have the ability to customize the auto-remediation feature.""When we're working on something as engineers, and we find an idea or a method of doing something that would be greatly improved by doing it another way, there should be an ability for me to click the ideas button, type in an idea that I have, and submit it to a product review team or developers to have them think through the process a little bit more.""I, as such, do not have anything that I do not like or would like to add, but you could argue that because they are doing it API-based, there is a chance that something could slip through temporarily before they are able to pull it out. In theory, it could happen just because of the nature of the system. They are not in line with the delivery of the mail. They are kind of asynchronous, which is a pro as well as a con. If it is synchronous, then I know it would always stop them, but because it is asynchronous, things could get through temporarily or because of some system issues on the Microsoft side or their side. It is the nature of the beast, but it is a little bit of a con."

More Abnormal Security Cons →

"The solution does not have a strong outbound service. It should also integrate DLP.""We cannot manage multiple devices from a single UI.""The scalability must be improved.""The user interface needs some improvement to become more user-friendly. The graphics could be better. It's designed more for a technical user rather than a business user.""Licensing is quite complicated for a number of customers, including ourselves.""Many smaller businesses opt for more cost-effective solutions, such as Gmail or Hotmail accounts, instead of investing in Cisco Secure Email, given its higher cost.""Better dashboards and more interactive overviews would be nice, but the current functionality is sufficient.""I have some frustrations with the user experience in the interface, specifically with regard to making a list of people for whom I want to allow email access."

More Cisco Secure Email Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The license is based on the user count, so the number of users that have an email address in the organization."
  • "Overall, we'd certainly prefer lower pricing, but Abnormal Security doesn't seem unreasonable compared to similar offerings in the market."
  • "The pricing appears fair, and they demonstrate a genuine willingness to work with us on it."
  • "Abnormal Security, on the other hand, provides the same level of functionality for just over $60,000 – that's half the price!"
  • More Abnormal Security Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "We do annual licensing for Cisco Secure Email Gatewayand SMA together, and possibly SmartNet support. Packaged together, the cost is just under $38,000."
  • "In addition to the standard licensing, there is a cost for SMARTnet as well."
  • "Pricing depends on your environment and which model you want to buy."
  • "Licensing costs depend on how many users there are. It could range between $5 and $7 per month, per user."
  • "The license was not per user, the license model was per feature. You could choose anti-virus, anti-spam, etc. It was feature-based and charged yearly."
  • "There were no other costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
  • "We were using Proofpoint and then we switched to Cisco... reportability was one of the main reasons we switched, but the biggest one was cost. If you can get an equivalent functionality for a better price it's wise to do so. That's what our primary decision came down to: We could get equivalent functionality at a lower price point."
  • "It is not that costly. We pay for the solution through a contractor and pay an annual fee."
  • More Cisco Secure Email Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:The features that appeal to me most are the combination of auto-remediation and Detection 360.
    Top Answer:The pricing appears fair, and they demonstrate a genuine willingness to work with us on it. The media and entertainment… more »
    Top Answer:One feature I'd love to see is outbound scanning. Currently, the system detects malicious outbound messages originating… more »
    Top Answer:The product's initial setup phase was easy.
    Top Answer:The product's price falls on the higher side when compared to the other products on the market. Whether the product… more »
    Top Answer:There are some concerns in the way the architecture is set up, making it an area where improvements are required. When… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Cisco Email Security, IronPort, Cisco Email Security, ESA, Email Security Appliances
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    Abnormal Security is a cloud-based email security platform designed to protect organizations from advanced targeted attacks, such as phishing and business email compromise (BEC), and account takeovers. Their approach is centered on using artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioral data science to detect anomalies in email activity.

    Abnormal Security is specializes in protecting email communications, detecting and preventing threats, filtering out spam and phishing emails, and blocking malicious attachments. Users rely on Abnormal Security to enhance their email security, identify and stop sophisticated attacks, safeguard sensitive information, and improve overall cybersecurity measures.

    Abnormal Security targets sophisticated attacks that traditional email security measures might miss. Their system analyzes various data points to build an understanding of email behavior within your organization. This includes emails themselves, sender and recipient information, and even business context. By understanding these patterns, they can identify anomalies that might indicate a malicious attempt. Their solution is designed for the cloud, offering quick deployment and minimal configuration. This eliminates the need for complex setup processes often associated with security software.

    Abnormal Security customers appreciate the ease of use in setting up and managing the platform, along with its ability to accurately filter out suspicious emails and prevent potential cyber threats. Abnormal Security has been praised for streamlining processes, boosting productivity, improving communication within teams, providing valuable analytics for informed decision-making, and driving success in various projects. Experience the robust security measures and benefits of Abnormal Security to safeguard your sensitive information and maintain a secure email environment.

    Cisco Secure Email is an email security solution that provides advanced protection to safeguard inboxes. The solution includes comprehensive defense from the most damaging threats so your employees and organization can remain secure at all times. In addition, it includes advanced threat defense capabilities that detect, block, and remediate threats in incoming email faster. Simultaneously, it protects an organization’s brand, prevents data loss, and secures important information in transit with end-to-end encryption.

    Cisco Secure Email Features

    Cisco Secure Email has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Advanced threat analysis: Easily identify the malicious techniques used in attacks targeting your organization. Understand the specific business risks and categorize threats to gain insight into the parts of your organization that are most vulnerable to attack.
    • Robust, actionable threat data: The solution’s searchable threat analysis data provides critical contextual insight to the attack scope and breadth and expedites remediation.
    • Real-time URL analysis: With this feature, you can drop emails with risky links automatically or block access to newly infected sites with real-time URL analysis to protect against phishing.
    • Domain-based message authentication (DMARC): Users can prevent brand abuse from attackers using their organization’s domain to carry out phishing campaigns with automation of the domain-based message authentication (DMARC) process.
    • Data loss prevention (DLP): The solution enables users to protect sensitive content in outgoing emails.

    Cisco Secure Email Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Cisco Secure Email. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Optimize your defenses: The solution is designed to protect your organization from threats that can come from multiple sources, including phishing, malware, and ransomware. It can defend against all of them with industry-leading threat intelligence that empowers you to act quickly.
    • More efficient processes: You can use the solution’s orchestration feature to simplify workflows, reduce the burden on your team, and focus on more strategic initiatives.
    • Easy-to-manage tools: The solution is built with tools that are user-friendly and help you spend less time managing alerts. They allow users to quickly detect emerging threats and quarantine suspected threats to prevent their spread.
    • Flexible license options: Cisco Secure Email provides three different license choices: Secure Email Essentials, Secure Email Advantage, and Secure Email Premier.
    • Increase spam catch rates: Cisco Secure Email blocks unwanted emails using a multilayered scanning architecture.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Cisco Secure Email is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it has an intuitive interface, reputation filtering, few false positives, and great protection features.

    Enrique J., Owner at Jolly Security Inc., says, "It has an intuitive, clear graphical interface where you can deploy your policies and understand the overall flow. The most valuable feature is reputation filtering.”

    The solution has a “low rate of false positives, good support, and it integrates well with other Cisco security products,” explains Mark R., IT Admin / Manager at a retailer.

    PeerSpot user Charles N., Network Security Engineer at Galaxy Backbone Ltd., mentions, “It is doing its work. It is doing what it was actually designed to do. They have a lot of features such as Advanced Malware Protection, Email Protection, Advanced Phishing Protection, Antispam, Antivirus, and Outbreak Filters.”

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    Foot Lcoker, Xerox, Liberty Mutual, Mattel, Boston Scientific
    SUNY Old Westbury, CoxHealth, City of Fullerton, Indra
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Energy/Utilities Company13%
    Consumer Goods Company13%
    Media Company13%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Energy/Utilities Company10%
    Retailer10%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Educational Organization16%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Government6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise75%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise55%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise49%
    Buyer's Guide
    Abnormal Security vs. Cisco Secure Email
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Abnormal Security vs. Cisco Secure Email and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    769,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Abnormal Security is ranked 12th in Email Security with 8 reviews while Cisco Secure Email is ranked 2nd in Email Security with 56 reviews. Abnormal Security is rated 9.6, while Cisco Secure Email is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Abnormal Security writes "Provides comprehensive email security management, effective in detecting a wide range of email threats". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Secure Email writes "Has effortless spam control, improves security posture, and frees up our IT department's time". Abnormal Security is most compared with Mimecast Email Security, Egress Intelligent Email Security, Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security, Avanan and Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), whereas Cisco Secure Email is most compared with Trellix Collaboration Security, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Fortinet FortiMail, Proofpoint Email Protection and Mimecast Email Security. See our Abnormal Security vs. Cisco Secure Email report.

    See our list of best Email Security vendors.

    We monitor all Email Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.