Assessing the ROI of Your Email Security Solution

Email is the preferred attack vector for cybercriminals looking to exploit enterprises. Over 90% of attacks begin with spear phishing emails or other email-borne attacks, making it clear that a robust email security platform is necessary for every organization.

Cybercriminals have all the information they need regarding Return On Investment (ROI): cyberattacks are cheap and highly profitable. Unfortunately, assuming you can easily protect your company against cyberattacks is not reasonable. Despite historical data and forward-looking risk assessments, it still needs to be improved to establish cyber defenses' cost/benefit ratio. This article will discuss the importance of measuring ROI for email security, what factors go into making this decision, and the benefits of investing in email security software.

What Are the Benefits of Robust Email Security?

Businesses of any size can suffer from various successfully produced phishing attack types, putting them at risk of serious downtime, reputation damage, and financial loss if they don't have a security plan. Email security is designed to protect organizations from cyber threats via email. Phishing emails can trick users into downloading malware, compromising sensitive information, and even approving fake bills. 

Email security is a boardroom issue due to increased exposure risks and the growing number of high-profile cyberattacks, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity tools and data privacy. 

Small businesses absolutely need to prioritize email security, as many companies send sensitive information through email accounts, and confidential data loss can have severe consequences, including financial loss, image destruction, and data damage. Many small businesses need to pay more attention to the importance of email security but lack the resources or time to manage cyber threat protection technicalities, often forcing them to take the chance and give up basic email security measures.

Today, businesses struggle to maintain their email security, as protecting a diverse environment and workforce is much more challenging. The complexity of this evolving landscape leads to more varied solutions that can better use modern methods for phishing prevention and malware protection. Sophisticated, stealthy mechanisms, such as zero-day attacks and fileless malware, allow hackers to position themselves to exploit new trends, leaving traditional security technology vulnerable. Small and large businesses would benefit from having a multilayered, proactive email security system that can protect them against threats, known as Guardian Digital EnGuarde Cloud Email Security software.

EnGarde is fully managed by our IT team, so you don't need to maintain any equipment on your site. The security team at Guardian Digital keeps your email defense up-to-date,  monitors your system's health to ensure it works effectively, and provides the best protection possible. Guardian Digital's email security system has a Dashboard that you can access to make your email security software easier to manage while saving you time and providing adequate email protection. EnGarde’s ongoing expert system management limits your exposure risk and eases pressure on your business's limited resources, simplifying administration, enhancing security, and reducing costs.

The EnGarde Dashboard offers valuable, real-time information about your email security by helping you identify threats to your business, figuring out which individuals are most likely to be affected, and allowing you to make better cybersecurity decisions without investing additional money. These features integrate reporting that simplifies administration, increases operational efficiency, reduces overhead for all companies, and is user-friendly, regardless of size.

Inaction Leads to Significant Losses

There's no doubt that email security is an investment. Cybercrime was once seen as a hobby but is now a serious business. Malicious actors continue to evolve their tactics, such as using AI to generate more sophisticated phishing email attacks, indistinguishable from real ones or links that include malware, which can cause significant problems if your employees open them.

Not investing in email security fails to take into account external factors that can eventually lead to the following:

• Theft of sensitive data: where identity fraud is often an additional problem
• Reputation damage: due to the loss of trust of your customers
• Loss of profit: lost sales opportunities and disrupted operational activities

The cost of email security breaches has increased nearly 13% over the last two years, suggesting these incidents could also contribute to the rising prices of other products and general economic inflation. 60% of organizations studied raised their product or service prices because of a breach resulting in data loss. 

IC3 discovered that social engineering scams are not just the most prevalent but the most expensive. In their latest study, Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks cost U.S. companies an average loss of around 2.34 billion dollars. According to APWG, the average BEC wire transfer request was $93,881. Even more so, a report by IBM found that 83% of organizations have experienced more than one breach in their lifetime. Half of the costs at the expense of a breach occur more than a year after the violation occurs.

Email security leaders are pressured to make more innovative investments that provide tangible business value. Our solution can save your business money and time with a fast and straightforward deployment that displaces other technologies and integrates with cloud email solutions like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Companies should focus on solutions that reduce overhead and provide security teams the space to protect instead of reacting. Cloud-based email filtering and security management platforms can help CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) improve productivity and simplify email management using only one interface. This increases efficiency and simplifies email management, allowing faster responses to potential threats. Cloud email security management allows CISOs to quickly identify and solve issues so that they can focus on more pressing email security issues by automating repetitive tasks such as spam filtering and cyber threat protection.

The Impact and Importance of ROI

Using a tool to calculate ROI can help security decision-makers simplify the process. Some of the impacts of ROI calculation specifically for email security solutions include:

Point Solutions vs. Holistic Solutions

The difference between point solutions and holistic solutions is valuable to understand when considering email security systems. An organization must calculate how features of different ROI solutions can help its company with the protection required. While point solutions might focus on specific attacks like Business Email Compromise or phishing email attacks, holistic solutions cover everything, starting with simple virus and spam filtering and ending with the most advanced threat protection. Justifying the cost of multiple-point solutions would be difficult compared to deciding on one comprehensive, holistic solution you can utilize.

A holistic email security software solution provides more encompassing protection for all threats by addressing different pain points with a single, versatile solution. Such solutions use multilayered content and reputation analysis, sandboxing malware to detect and block advanced malware, malicious malware URL scanners for attachments, malware ransomware prevention, and polymorphic malware protection. A secure URL defense, such as Guardian Digital URL Protect, can create a safe user environment. This reduces the possibility of employees downloading malware, ransomware, or other executable data.

Justifying the POC Process

A Proof of Concept (POC) evaluates a vendor's solution and is a great way to determine if it meets its expectations. However, it can be difficult for security decision-makers to justify the time and effort required to execute a POC. Organizations need to select the best email security software solutions to evaluate. The ROI calculation can quantify the differences between multiple options before an organization commits to a POC. 

The first step is to define the project's scope and ensure you have the right team to ensure success. Guardian Digital is committed to the process and meeting your requirements to create an effective plan. Our expert guidance will provide you with the necessary insights to make an informed decision on whether or not the POC warrants additional money, time, and resources based on technical implementation at the desired scale and performance.

Cost Calculations

The bottom line cost is the most crucial factor for a CISO, including vendor fees, deployment costs, and ongoing resource costs. This can help security leaders understand a solution's actual price before deciding.

Why Should You Invest in Email Security?

When a CISO considers the importance of email security for their company, there are two main concerns: minimizing email security risks that could cause significant damage to their organization and finding a solution that fits within their budget. Finding a balance between these two is difficult without relying on intuition or sales pitches. Multiple products can be difficult to test if you don’t have sufficient IT and security personnel resources. An interactive tool such as a Return on Investment (ROI) calculator can aid your decision-making. This will simplify the process. 

Security decision-makers can streamline the purchasing process by using a tool that calculates ROI. Professionals can assess the potential value of an email security solution and make informed decisions about which tools to choose with insight. Some ways ROI calculations can help with the buying process include:

• Quantifying the importance and value of security initiatives
• Illustrating how security projects are connected to the larger strategic goals of an organization
• Crediting an informed selection process, ensuring reliability
• Optimizing vendor selections and pricing

According to a report by IBM, the average data loss breach cost is significantly higher than the previous year, demonstrating that the price of these attacks is increasing. Most of the cost is divided between detecting and escalating a breach and losing business. The study also showed a growing gap in the price of a breach among organizations with better email security systems, meaning that even though the costs of a breach are lower for organizations with formal security infrastructure, it can cause irreparable harm to organizations without this protection.

Keep Learning About Email Security ROI

Email is one of the leading channels cyber attackers use, and the need to protect from threats coming through continues to grow. Calculating ROI is critical to help you identify the best options for your organization.

• Prepare your business for cyberattacks to make sure employees stay safe online.
• Improve your security posture by following best practices for email security to protect against phishing attacks and breaches.
• Keeping the integrity of your email safe requires securing the cloud with spam filtering and enterprise-grade anti-spam services.
• Learn more about the consequences of modern phishing attacks in our Phishing eBook.