Executive Summary
This test examined the effectiveness of four email security solutions. Two were built into the Microsoft and Google email platforms, the other two being third-party ‘add-on’ services designed to provide additional security.
SE Labs used advanced targeted attack techniques, as seen in devastating real-world attacks, to assess how well these services handle email cyber threats.
Legitimate messages were also sent through the services to ensure that security settings were balanced with reasonable usability.
Perception-Point achieved a remarkable 100% Total Accuracy rating, meaning that it allowed all legitimate messages through to the user, while detecting and protecting against all of the threats.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 had strong protection but misclassified some of the legitimate messages, to the degree that it dropped to third place.
Fortinet FortiMail occupies second place with its well-balanced approach to handling unwanted and wanted email.
Google Workspace Enterprise was strong at allowing legitimate messages through but detected less than half of the threats. This pushed its Protection rating very low.