Security Insights: Is Hybrid Email Security Right For You? Mar 6, 2010 – By Joseph Blankenship
Enterprises are bombarded with choices for email security—on-premise
appliances, hosted appliances, software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
Traditionally, on-premise solutions, both hardware and software, have
dominated the email security space. Hosted and SaaS solutions have become
more appealing, especially as organizations pay closer attention to their
bottom lines and look for areas to streamline and outsource. Hybrid email
security is another deployment option for enterprises considering their
options.
Hybrid email security combines the strengths of a cloud-based SaaS solution
with the strengths of an on-premise appliance solution. In a typical hybrid
deployment scenario, inbound email filtering for anti-spam and anti-virus is
handled in the cloud. Only filtered email actually makes it to the corporate
network, saving on bandwidth and infrastructure costs. Appliances may also be
placed on-premise to provide secondary filtering for inbound email and to
provide for more complex routing and policy development.
Outbound email in the hybrid scenario is filtered by an on-premise appliance
before it leaves the network. There, the email security appliance can scan
emails and attachments to identify sensitive data and take policy-based
action on that data. Policy-based actions can include alerting, re-routing,
quarantining, message altering, blocking, encrypting and other custom
actions. Encrypting sensitive data on-premise helps to ensure that protected
information does not leave the network in clear text and supports regulatory
compliance efforts.
McAfee is a leader in the email security market and delivers flexible
solutions to meet the needs of most any organization. Each McAfee
solution—SaaS, on-premise-appliances or hybrid—delivers
industry-leading anti-spam, anti-malware and reputation intelligence.
Join McAfee and IDC analyst Brian Burke on Tuesday, March 9 at 2 pm ET for a
live webcast to learn how hybrid email security can help you:
• Protect email systems from email-borne threats
• Prevent data loss via email
• Reduce costs and administrative overhead
