Spam & malware filtering: Consolidate to O365 Exchange or add Sophos Email protection

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getontoit99

56 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#255883 4-Sep-2019 13:47

A small business I look after gets their email via Freeparking.

Too much (in my view, but I don't expect perfection) spam and malware are getting through. (One user was burned by file encrypting ransomware, albeit four years ago. I've put the fear of ... into them since wrt spotting suspicious emails😁)

There are 12 mailboxes. Five users' emails are stored in O365 Exchange Online for easy access on the road. The remainder go to files on their PC hard drives or on a file and print server.

The two options under consideration are:

1. Consolidate all mailboxes to Exchange Online and move the domain to O365

2. Stay with Freeparking and add something like Sophos Email Protection in front.

The incremental annual costs are about the same but the work required for option 1 will be higher (moving the mailboxes). Having said that, having all mailboxes in one place is very attractive from a support and consistency perspective. It would also reduce the likelihood of mailboxes & emails being accidentally, permanently deleted.

I would appreciate input on any other pro's and con's of each option, particularly views on Exchange Online's spam and malware filtering capabilities as compared to a specialist service.

I am not asking for a list of everyone's favourite email filtering service😀😀

Thanks in advance

Scott

1101

2286 posts

Uber Geek

#2310649 4-Sep-2019 14:28

From my experience

Spam & malware will get through. You can block most of it, but some gets through.

Ive seen it get past Pro offsite spam filtering service & then past 2 AV filters .
All you can do is minimize it.
We have several companies email running through an offsite spam filtering service that also has Enterprise Level AV. Some spam & malware gets past it . Its better than nothing and
I'd still recommend a Professional spam filter service . It does block a lot of spam/malware emails .

Also ,you will NEVER be able to 100% block detect or stop zero day malware . There will be up to a 24hour period untill AV vendors update AV Sig's to detect that new malware .

The best defense still is to treat every email as suspicious & not click on links or attachments , unless 100% sure its legit . Thats not they way things are in real life
unfortunately , stressed out or in a hurry its very easy to click on emailed malware links .

I would move your email to Exchange Online regardless. Keep in mind you'll want a 365 email backup service , Veeam have a free one (I havnt tried it yet), but you may be over the user count for the free version .

Lias

4228 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2310820 4-Sep-2019 22:45

If you want really good protection in 365 you need to factor in the price of ATP on top.

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

danielfaulknor

663 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Prodigi

Subscriber

#2310833 4-Sep-2019 23:16

We're using Sophos Email protection in front of Office365 because too much was getting through with the standard spam filtering.

On the other hand, consolidation is always a good thing from a management overhead perspective.

Disclaimer: We're a Sophos partner

Prodigi - Optimised IT Solutions
WebOps/DevOps, Managed IT, Hosting and Internet/WAN.

getontoit99

56 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2314975 11-Sep-2019 13:32

Thanks all for your valuable input.

The customer has agreed to migrating email to Office 365 and adding Sophos Email Protection in front.

A good outcome and just what I was hoping for😃

Any implementation gotcha's you'd like to share will gratefully received.

Cheers

Scott