Check Point Harmony Email — API Inline Solution vs Secure Email Gateways

✓ Check Point API Inline — Deployment

• No change to MX record — security layer completely invisible to attackers via DNS
• Reduces likelihood of being targeted by threats crafted to evade your gateway
• Still offers in-line pre-delivery protection
• Attacker cannot fingerprint your email security provider

✗ SEG — Deployment

• MX record change required — attackers can see your security provider via DNS records
• Possibility of attackers crafting threats specifically designed to bypass your SEG
• Your email security provider is publicly visible to threat actors

✓ Check Point — Inside Microsoft 365

• Sits within your M365 environment — enhances M365, not a replacement
• No need to disable built-in M365 security features
• Provides two full layers of security simultaneously
• Unified email quarantine across Check Point and Microsoft
• Use Check Point AND Microsoft URL rewriting at the same time if preferred

✗ SEG — Outside Microsoft 365

• Sits outside M365 — some built-in security features must be disabled
• Need to choose which URL rewriting to use — cannot use both simultaneously
• Removes a line of defence against threats
• Creates two separate quarantine systems to manage

✓ Check Point — All Email Flows Protected

• Fully in-line for inbound, outbound AND internal email flows
• Prevents lateral movement from compromised internal users
• Protects end customers and third parties from outbound threats
• Protects data from being exfiltrated outbound via DLP
• Gathers internal context — relationships, nicknames — to improve detection accuracy

✗ SEG — Cannot Protect Internal Email

• Unable to provide in-line protection for internal email
• Can only scan journal copies and remediate post-delivery
• Remediation only is not sufficient — email still reaches recipient inbox first
• Retrospective actions not bound by SLA — emails can sit in inbox indefinitely before action
• Compromised users can send threats laterally to external customers and partners

✓ Check Point — Quick Installation

• 7-click wizard-based integration with SaaS apps
• Consolidated policy configuration and visibility in one place
• Flexibility to make policies granular based on business requirement

✗ SEG — Complex Deployment

• Inbound email protection is the last thing to switch on — a risky process
• Risky changes mean slower deployment progress
• Complex policy set-up requiring careful sequencing

✓ Check Point — Single Pane of Glass

• Patented unified email quarantine within Check Point dashboard
• One place to view and restore emails whether quarantined by Check Point or Microsoft
• Simplified troubleshooting and administration
• Unified end-user digest containing both Check Point and Microsoft quarantined emails

✗ SEG — Multiple Admin Views

• Complex troubleshooting for messages that were quarantined
• Admin must check both SEG and Microsoft to locate quarantined emails
• Two separate end-user digests — one for SEG and one for Microsoft
• Outlook compatibility issues with different plug-in versions

✓ Check Point ThreatCloud AI

• World’s most powerful threat intelligence database
• Contains threat data and IOCs from millions of data points — firewalls, endpoints, web, mobile, cloud — not just email
• Updated instantly for all Check Point customers globally
• Processes 88 billion verdicts daily
• 150,000 connected networks worldwide

✗ SEG — Limited Threat Data Sources

• Mainly protects email — lacks intelligence from firewalls, endpoints, mobile, web and cloud
• Narrow threat visibility compared to a cross-vector platform
• Cannot correlate email threats with network or endpoint data in real time

✓ Check Point Sandblast

• Check Point’s own market-leading sandboxing technology
• Powered by ThreatCloud AI
• Best zero-day protection in the industry
• Revolutionary AI engines built in
• Full threat emulation for all file types
• Threat Extraction sanitizes files pre-emptively before delivery — users never see malicious content

✗ SEG — Third-Party Sandbox

• OEM sandbox sourced from a competitor — not proprietary technology
• Deep URL scanning and attachment sandboxing not done with own technology
• No unified control or intelligence sharing between sandbox and email engine
• Users still receive files during sandboxing delay

✓ Check Point SmartPhish

• AI-first anti-phishing engine — designed with AI from day one
• Multi-layered approach — significantly reduces false positives
• Social graphing built-in for relationship context awareness
• BEC detection based on contextual and linguistic analysis
• 200+ indicators of compromise analysed per email
• Deeper NLP layer built-in for semantic understanding

✗ SEG — Limited Phishing Detection

• Rule-based — initially built on heuristics
• Machine learning was added as an afterthought
• Relies heavily on block/permit lists
• False positives resolved by permitting sender — creates long lists of blocked senders
• Limited or no BEC detection capability

✓ Check Point — Self-Learning AI

• AI model constantly retraining based on vast dataset and individual account behaviour
• Very low false negative and false positive rate
• Admin restore and end-user reports train the AI to continuously improve accuracy
• Anomaly Detection — automatically detects and blocks compromised accounts

✗ SEG — Static or Slow-to-Update

• Still relies heavily on block/permit lists for resolving false positives
• False positives resolved by permitting sender — creating long ongoing lists
• Difficult to manage compromised users — no native blocking without further license and integration

✓ Check Point — Superior Efficacy

• HEC designed with AI first — not as an add-on
• Hundreds of elite threat researchers and data scientists
• Industry’s best catch-rate for phishing and malware
• Leaders in several independent analyst reports
• Around 40× more effective than traditional SEGs

✗ SEG — Falling Behind

• Signature-based detection first, AI and ML added later as afterthought
• Some providers still do not fully utilise AI and ML
• Effective against known malware but SEGs still let through zero-day threats
• Whilst improving, still significantly behind API Inline approach in efficacy

🛡 No MX Record Change

Security layer remains invisible to attackers. Unlike SEGs, your email security provider cannot be fingerprinted via DNS records — preventing targeted bypass attacks designed for your specific gateway.

🤖 ThreatCloud AI Intelligence

88 billion verdicts processed daily from 150,000+ connected networks. Cross-vector intelligence from firewalls, endpoints, mobile and cloud — far broader than email-only intelligence from SEGs.

💣 Sandblast Zero-Day Protection

Best-in-industry zero-day protection with full threat emulation. Threat Extraction sanitizes files pre-emptively before delivery — users never see malicious content even during sandboxing.

🎯 SmartPhish Anti-Phishing

AI-first with 200+ indicators of compromise, social graphing, BEC detection via contextual and linguistic analysis, and deep NLP. Multi-layered to significantly reduce false positives.

📊 Single Pane of Glass

Patented unified quarantine within Check Point dashboard. One place to view, manage and restore emails quarantined by Check Point OR Microsoft — no checking two systems separately.

🧠 Self-Learning AI Model

AI model constantly retraining based on vast dataset and individual account behaviour. Admin restore and end-user reporting trains the model to continuously improve accuracy.

⚠️ Anomaly Detection

Detects compromised users and automatically blocks compromised accounts — preventing lateral movement of threats across your organization and to external customers.

📤 Outbound DLP & Internal

Full DLP for outbound emails prevents sensitive data leaving the org. Internal email protection prevents lateral movement from compromised users — a critical gap in every SEG.

❓ We already have Microsoft Defender — why do we need Check Point?

Microsoft Defender is a good baseline but was not designed to be the only layer of security. Check Point enhances Defender — it does not replace it. You get two full layers of security with unified management, without disabling any M365 built-in protection. The combination is far more effective than either alone.

❓ Why not use a Secure Email Gateway instead?

SEGs require MX record changes (exposing your security provider to attackers), cannot protect internal email in-line, force you to disable M365 built-in security and create complex dual-management overhead. Check Point API Inline avoids all these problems while being around 40x more effective at catching phishing and zero-day threats.

❓ We are concerned about email delivery delays.

Check Point API Inline delivers in-line pre-delivery protection with zero impact on email routing. There is no MX change and no additional delivery hop. Emails flow exactly as before, with threat inspection happening transparently inside M365. No latency is introduced to the email delivery path.

❓ How quickly can it be deployed?

Check Point Harmony Email can be fully deployed in minutes using a 7-click wizard-based integration with Microsoft 365 and other SaaS applications. No hardware, no downtime and no complex policy migration required. Your team can be protected the same day.

❓ What about Business Email Compromise (BEC)?

Check Point SmartPhish specifically addresses BEC through contextual and linguistic analysis, social graphing and 200+ indicators of compromise. It uses a deep NLP layer to understand the semantic intent of an email — far beyond the rule-based approach most SEGs rely on.