Advanced Threat Protection

Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection VS Mimecast M2A License

Recently we looked at why someone might choose 365 Advanced Threat Protection vs Mimecasts Spam Protection

A table of some of the added Features Mimecast can give you over Office 365 with ATP

POLICY 365 with Advanced Threat Protection 365 with Mimecast M2A
Impersontation Protection ✓ ✓
Spam Filtering ✓ ✓
URL ReWrite / Safelinks ✓ ✓ Uses AI to scan webpage for malicous content
Archive ✓ ✓ 7 second search SLA
Email Continuity ✗ ✓ ( C1 Product )
Signature Software ✗ ✓
Disclaimer Software ✓ ✓
DKIM ✓ ✓
Attachment sandboxing ✓ ✓ ( SLA for Speed )
Safe File Conversion ✗ ✓
Email encryption ✓ ✓

 

Conclusion

Mimecast adds the following security protection

  • Safe File conversion ( ability to convert Office and PDF files to a safe file format for immediate delivery to employees )

  • Email Continuity ( a service so employees can still send and recieve email with Calendar in the case of an office 365 outage )

Mimecast adds the following functionality

  • Signature software - to Tag signatures on all employee emails

  • Mimecast had an Outlook add In , so users get notified in real time and can release quarantine items using this instead of waiting for a scheduled Quartine Email ( which cannot be customised like it can be in Mimecast )

There is some talk about 365 Attachment Sandboxing adding 5 minute delays , this really depends on the attachment size etc , however Mimecast have an SLA on this sandboxing unlike 365

I'd also add that Mimecast's Technical support and help is much better than 365!

 

Office 365 - Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) similiar and complimented well with Exchange Online Protection (EOP) , is a service that helps you prevent zero-day malicious software attacks in your email environment. It does this with clever analytics, the same as webroot antivirus uses, where it puts attachements into sandboxed enviroments and tests what they do before forwarding them to you once they know it's safe

Safe Links

It also uses Safe Links technology to rewrite each external link through 365 ( acting like a web proxy ) to block any Phishing sites or websites that have been marked as unsafe due to malware or blocked file extensions. This means that even home users will get the protection they need via Webmail or via their Mobile device

Protect against unsafe attachments

All suspicious content goes through a real-time behavioral malware analysis that uses machine learning techniques to evaluate the content for suspicious activity. Unsafe attachments are sandboxed in a detonation chamber before being sent to recipients. The advantage is a malware free and cleaner inbox with better zero-day attack protection.

Reporting

A rich reporting dashboard gives you realtime stats to see what user clicked what link and where milianious links where sent from enabling you to stop future attacks and mitigate risks of existing attacks

This service comes bundled with the E5 Package in Office 365 and can be purchased as an add on for 1.50/User/Month