Armorblox Recognized as a Representative Vendor in 2023 Gartner® Market Guide for Email Security

Armorblox, an email security and data loss prevention company, today announced that it has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2023 Market Guide for Email Security report by Gartner [1] within the Integrated Cloud Email Security category. Armorblox has been named a Representative Vendor for three consecutive years in the report, having been recognized twice in the Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) category and once in the Cloud Email Security Supplements (CESS) category. Armorblox was also recognized in the Gartner 2022 Market Guide for Data Loss Prevention and the 2021 Gartner Hype Cycle™ for Midsize Enterprises.

The Gartner report is compiled based on research conducted by Gartner analysts and their interactions with clients. The report focuses on the email security market and looks to recognize vendors who are offering email security capabilities in ways that are unique, innovative and/or demonstrative of forward-looking product strategies.

The report states that “The migration to cloud email platforms continues along with a significant increase in the number of phishing attacks.”

In addition, the report reveals that “40% of ransomware attacks are taking place through email” and that email continues to be a significant attack vector. These findings are in line with research highlighted in the Armorblox 2022 Email Security Threat Report that found Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks have risen more than 53% year-over-year and that almost 75% of BEC emails use language as the main attack vector.

The Gartner Market Guide highlights a growing shift away from the traditional Secure Email Gateway (SEG) tools as more organizations are opting for Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) tools that can easily integrate with their cloud email providers (e.g. Microsoft and Google). With 70% of all organizations using cloud email solutions [1], many organizations are relying on the built-in security capabilities of these email providers. The Gartner Market Guide suggests that security professionals should “evaluate the native capabilities offered by their cloud email systems and ensure that they are adequate to prevent sophisticated attacks.”

Gartner recommends security professionals look to augment these native email security capabilities with an Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) solution. This combination allows for faster deployment and improved protection against threats that can easily bypass SEGs and native functions alone, such as BEC, credential phishing, social engineering, and other types of language-based email threats.

Gartner recognizes that a shift away from SEG also means a shift toward AI-based solutions.

Armorblox leverages AI detection techniques that can understand the context and contents of emails through natural language understanding (NLU), the same language model found in ChatGPT. Armorblox also utilizes ML models, pattern recognition, and computer vision to protect users from sophisticated attacks and data loss.

“Findings in this report highlight a growing shift in email security towards API-based solutions that use AI and language-based techniques,” said DJ Sampath, Co-founder & CEO of Armorblox.

He continued, “Organizations can no longer rely on legacy security solutions to protect them from today's sophisticated attacks. With tools like ChatGPT, attackers can easily execute payroll fraud, executive impersonation, phishing, and other types of social engineering attacks. Armorblox is able to detect and stop these types of attacks, protecting business workflows and end-users from compromise.”

Gartner recognizes the value of utilizing AI to protect against human error and sensitive data loss, stating that “Inbound threats are the main driver for implementing email security, but outbound data loss, especially accidental data loss (misdirected emails), is increasingly a concern. Indeed, human error remains the most common reason for email data breaches. Solutions that use ML to analyze communication patterns to prevent inbound phishing are also being used to detect potentially misdirected emails.”

Gartner recommendations for security leaders include evaluating email security solutions that can detect anomalies in email conversations for improved BEC and email account compromise protection. Gartner recommends security professionals look for ICES solutions that provide “account takeover protection which analyzes user behaviors and various other factors such as login behavior, locations, authentication methods, etc. They detect and alert which account has been compromised and take remediation actions if required.”

To combat the rise in phishing attacks, Gartner recommends security professionals “use email security solutions that include anti-phishing technology for targeted BEC protection that use AI to detect communication patterns and conversation-style anomalies, as well as computer vision for inspecting suspect URLs. Select products that can provide strong supply chain and AI-driven contact chain analysis for deeper inspection and can detect socially engineered, impersonated, or BEC attacks.”

[1] Gartner, Market Guide for Email Security, 13 February 2023, By Analyst(s): Ravisha Chugh, Peter Firstbrook, Franz Hinner

Resources

• Download a complimentary copy of the 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Email Security
• See Armorblox in action by taking our product tour
• Learn more about the Armorblox platform

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About Armorblox

Armorblox secures enterprise communications over email and other cloud office applications with the power of Natural Language Understanding. The Armorblox platform connects over APIs and analyzes thousands of signals to understand the context of communications and protect people and data from compromise. Over 58,000 organizations use Armorblox to stop BEC and targeted phishing attacks, protect sensitive PII and PCI, and automate remediation of user-reported email threats. Founded in 2017, Armorblox is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and backed by General Catalyst and Next47.

To learn more about Armorblox, visit www.armorblox.com.

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