Secure email gateways were designed to defend against basic attacks that rely on known indicators of compromise—attacks that are high in volume but low in impact. But in today’s threat landscape, these solutions regularly miss advanced attacks, like business email compromise (BEC), invoice fraud, account takeovers, and more. They also fail to detect emerging threats that go beyond email into adjacent channels like collaboration applications.

For years, there was little that could be done to stop modern attacks, but that is no longer the case. Abnormal looks at email security differently, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a known baseline of good behavior and using that baseline to detect anomalous activity and block malicious emails. And by combining it with the power of native Microsoft security functionality, organizations no longer have to rely ‌on a third-party SEG to stop email attacks—both known and emerging types.

But you don’t have to take our word for it! Here are ten security leaders who share why they opted to replace the SEG and the advantages they’ve experienced since making the switch. From improved visibility into network traffic to reduced operational costs, of Abnormal.

“Traditional legacy email security solutions weren’t cutting it for us. We didn’t want a cumbersome solution that required constant management. We wanted AI, ML, and automation so that we could be proactive, secure, and flexible. Abnormal has helped us bring our security to the next level. It’s easy to use, and it’s saving us time and money, so we can invest in even more security improvements and focus on scaling up.”

—Milos Pesic, CISO, Accelleron

“We've employed cutting-edge technologies such as Abnormal because we found that the legacy security email gateways don't always keep up with the evolution and the advanced techniques employed by the bad threat actors.”

—Vincenzo Baldin, Executive Director of IT Infrastructure, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment

“Abnormal is definitely an A-level player, because the artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the user interface is very simplistic. It gives you reasons why things have happened, where normal, old-school secure email gateways don't do that.”

—George Insko, CISO, Rubicon

“I was skeptical because it was so easy—three clicks per tenant. Then I saw how many advanced threats Abnormal caught due to its behavioral AI capabilities. The SEG was missing more attacks than I had realized. With Abnormal, we could see that we had stronger protection.”

—Robert Crowther, IT Manager, Atomic Cartoons

“Abnormal provides a new level of precision with insights on email categorization based on the language in the email, whether it’s someone we’ve worked with before, and the request they’re making. It’s been eye-opening compared to the static methods a lot of SEG vendors use.”

—Peter Mueller, Systems Programmer, Saskatoon Public Schools

"Without the SEG, email delivery no longer has an up to seven-minute delay. That speed matters for our loan officers and customers, especially at closings.”

—Jason Thorn, Director of Security Operations and Incident Response, Rate

“We employed two SEG solutions in sequence, and that still wasn’t solving our email security problems. Abnormal frees us from inbox cleanup, so we can proactively identify and address other security threats before they become problems.”

—Jason Stead, CISO, Choice Hotels

“The total cost of ownership for our SEG and the other API-based solution was very high because they weren’t set-it-and-forget-it tools. We'd had four to five analysts spending 90% of each day on email-related tasks; Abnormal allowed us to get away from that manual work.”

—Corey Kaemming, Senior Director, Information Security, Valvoline

“With the SEG, there were so many repetitive maintenance tasks. Abnormal saves our SOC a substantial amount of time, so our analysts now do a lot of proactive threat hunting. Our environment is safer and we have a greater chance of catching threats in the act instead of after attacks.”

—Alec Lessard, Senior Manager, Information Security, Revolution Medicines

“Before Abnormal, our SEG let almost every executive impersonation email through, and the spam settings either quarantined too many emails or let too much junk through. We needed something that could learn and do more than analyze headers. With Abnormal, anything identified as malicious gets stopped and pulled from all accounts, and Email Productivity works with M365 to handle individual graymail preferences. Abnormal helped us fix our email and reduce our security costs.”

—Steve Tieland, Senior Director, Corporate Security Operations, Pegasystems

It’s clear that legacy solutions just aren’t cutting it anymore, because advanced threats require advanced protection. Abnormal's native email security capabilities provide extensive protection and make your cloud email architecture easier to manage.

We know transitioning from the SEG can be a daunting challenge for security teams. To make the move smoother, Abnormal has a straightforward migration process that comes with guidance from experts and comprehensive documentation. Customers who migrate to Abnormal will receive help at every step of the way.

Wondering what's getting past your SEG and how it impacts your organization? Try out our interactive calculator today!