chat
expand_more

Modernizing Your Email Security Architecture: Pure API vs Transport Rules

Learn about the distinct functionalities of transport rule-based and API-based solutions to make informed decisions about your security architecture.
June 15, 2023

Today’s organizations face an ever-growing number of cyber threats, making email security an essential part of any cybersecurity program. To protect their systems from the latest threats, organizations must consider the best solutions for their specific security needs and environments. This is why it is so important to be familiar with the distinct functionalities of the tools available.

By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both transport rule-based and API-based solutions, organizations can make informed decisions about their email security architecture that will help them protect their systems from the latest cyberthreats — ultimately allowing them to strengthen their cyberdefenses for maximum protection going forward.

What are Transport Rules and How Are They Used?

In Office 365, a transport rule is a feature that allows you to define and apply specific actions to email messages that pass through the mail flow of your organization. It helps you enforce messaging policies, apply message classifications, and take various actions based on specific conditions or criteria. Transport rules are typically used by administrators to manage email flow, apply compliance policies, and automate certain actions.

Some legacy email security solutions leverage transport rules to reroute mail outside of O365 to themselves for scanning.

Downfalls of Transport Rule-Based Solutions

Transport rule-based solutions have several significant drawbacks. The most egregious is the risk to email availability. If the solution or their hosting provider has an outage, mail is no longer able to be sent back to O365, creating a total mail outage.

API11

Even when mail is being scanned and delivered as it should be, delivery is delayed while each email is scanned. This can lead to a slow inbox experience and can be frustrating for users. Furthermore, transport rule-based solutions typically store a copy of ALL mail that they scan, creating a concern around data residency, security, and potentially compliance if regulatory concerns are at play.

A security approach built on the architecture of transport rules should be evaluated closely for potential impact, and risk, from service delays, availability and continuity, and data privacy/security.

Benefits of Abnormal's Pure API Solution

Abnormal’s pure API solution offers a modern email security architecture and creates a variety of advantages over legacy options. Abnormal installs via a simple API Integration, directly with the mail provider, with no need for the creation of journal and/or transport rules. All mail is scanned via the API and remediated before a user could act on it. This modern approach means that there is no rerouting of mail, no risk of outages, no delay in delivery, and only malicious emails are stored for the purview of analysts.

API2

With Abnormal, you can modernize your email security architecture and strengthen your organization’s defenses against malicious attacks.

Interested in learning more about Abnormal's API architecture?

Schedule a Demo
Modernizing Your Email Security Architecture: Pure API vs Transport Rules

See Abnormal in Action

Get a Demo

Get the Latest Email Security Insights

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on the latest attacks and new trends in the email threat landscape.

Discover How It All Works

See How Abnormal AI Protects Humans

Related Posts

10 Questions to Evaluate CES Cover
Explore 10 key questions to evaluate cloud email security solutions and uncover how AI-native behavioral intelligence can stop today’s most advanced email threats.
Read More
B Scattered Spider
Attacks rarely come through the front door anymore, and today’s actors use normal-sounding communications from legitimate suppliers as entry points. Behavioural AI can spot wider anomalies that legacy defences miss.
Read More
Reclaim the Inbox Cover pptx
Email overload is draining focus, frustrating employees, and distracting from real threats. See how Abnormal restores productivity by removing graymail at scale.
Read More
B Vendor Email Compromise Case Study Blog
See how a real vendor email compromise attack fooled multiple employees. Learn why VEC succeeds and how AI makes these threats more dangerous.
Read More
AI Innovation Using AI to Simplify Cover pptx
Explore how Abnormal's engineering team advances internal development with an AI-driven platform that standardizes infrastructure, reduces setup time, and enables both engineers and AI agents to build and deploy services more efficiently.
Read More
B Flux Panel Ecommerce Checkout Hijacking via Phishing
FluxPanel turns legitimate ecommerce checkouts into live data theft operations. Learn how this dark web tool works, the role phishing plays, and how to stop attacks at their source.
Read More