What is our primary use case?
The major use case I observe in Trellix Email Security is phishing and anti-phishing capabilities. Spam emails, malware prevention, and anti-spam are mostly implemented because organizations are trying to prevent phishing attacks. Phishing attacks usually come through emails.
To close the gap and ensure that an organization is not open to ransomware attacks and backdoors, the first priority should be to secure emails because users are often the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Users become susceptible when they receive unsolicited emails and click links they should not click, which can cause problems throughout the network.
To uphold due care and due diligence, it makes sense to have Trellix Email Security as a compensating solution to ensure that users are not overly exposed to phishing attacks and ransomware attacks from unsolicited emails, while also improving the overall hygiene of email traffic.
What is most valuable?
One of the standout features in Trellix Email Security is that whether an email infrastructure is on-premises or in the cloud, the solution can protect the email environment. The solution can protect emails whether using Office 365, Gmail, or other platforms. Additionally, even if an organization is still using Microsoft Exchange on-premises, Trellix Email Security can ensure that Exchange on-premises is protected.
This is the biggest advantage because every other email security solution provides similar features: anti-phishing, anti-spam, malware prevention, and anti-spam capabilities. However, not every competitor can protect both on-premises and cloud environments. Most other solutions are either only on-premises or only in the cloud, whereas Trellix Email Security bridges this gap.
What needs improvement?
The biggest area for improvement in Trellix Email Security is the pricing. The solution is quite expensive. I remember last year we lost an opportunity because the quote was far too expensive compared to what the customer was willing to pay. The pricing was not competitive at all. If the pricing were more affordable, the solution would be able to achieve greater sales.
In terms of features, I have not used the solution long enough to advise on future feature changes. However, from my perspective as a distributor trying to sell the solution, the biggest barrier we have encountered is the pricing.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of product stability, I would rate Trellix Email Security between eight and nine because the solution is quite stable. The deployments that have been completed have not resulted in any complaints, so the solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate scalability between eight and nine because Trellix Email Security can be deployed in the cloud or on-premises, and in terms of scale, it can handle any size. This capability places it between eight and nine in terms of scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I struggle to answer this question because I have not ever had to deal with support specifically for Trellix Email Security, so I cannot speak definitively about how the support team responds. If I speak about Trellix support generally, I think support has improved and is much better than it used to be. Obviously, there is always room for improvement. Based on the general support I have received from Trellix, I would rate it at a seven.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before we started selling Trellix Email Security, our company had two other email security solutions. I do not work directly on those products. Other engineers at our distribution company focused on those products, and they did sell a couple of those solutions until we decided to discontinue selling them and then started selling Trellix Email Security.
How was the initial setup?
The installation process for Trellix Email Security is not straightforward. The few deployments we have completed were performed by Trellix, and I was unable to follow the deployments through completely. However, I observed that the installation was not straightforward.
I believe this is partly because the documentation is not readily available. The current Trellix Email Security was a FireEye product, and in terms of product documentation, Trellix needs to improve this for all FireEye products, including HX and other similar offerings. There is little to no documentation available. On the McAfee side, there is clear documentation that walks users through the deployment phase and everything else. Even with minimal interaction with McAfee solutions, an engineer can follow the deployment guide and achieve a successful deployment. With the FireEye products, it is nearly impossible without documentation. This is something that needs improvement.
What about the implementation team?
Regarding other Trellix products like Trellix Collaboration Security and Trellix Email Security, we have sold a few. Currently, I have a customer deploying the XDR solution in Abuja, Nigeria at Jaiz Bank. However, I have not used the solutions hands-on myself. Most often, the professional services deployments are performed by the Trellix team because organizations want their customers to receive value for their money, and having the vendor as the front-line resource during deployments is important.
I have not interfaced with the XDR platform and have not interacted with it directly. I have interacted with the Trellix Email Security platform, but not with the XDR platform.
What was our ROI?
Security should be evaluated from a value perspective. As long as an organization is getting value, there will definitely be a return on investment. The question is what would happen if an organization did not have this security measure in place and got hit by ransomware. How much information would be lost? How much credibility would be lost? How much business time would be lost?
When considering everything that could have been prevented by installing Trellix Email Security, the return on investment becomes clear. Trellix Email Security is quite valuable and definitely provides a massive return on investments.
What other advice do I have?
In terms of popularity, I will be honest about Trellix Email Security. We have sold a few solutions, but the competition in email security is large. Trellix Email Security came after Trellix became Trellix. McAfee did not have an email security solution, so we still face serious competition, and the price is not as competitive as one would imagine. We still lose many opportunities, especially in Africa where price drives sales the most. If customers see a competing solution that is significantly more affordable, they will choose that option instead.
Between Trellix Email Security and NDR solutions, we have sold Trellix Email Security, but we have not yet received a purchase order for NDR. Hopefully in the second quarter we will close the conversation we are having and obtain that purchase order. For now, it is Trellix Email Security that we are actively selling.
One of the standout features in Trellix Email Security is that whether an email is on-premises or in the cloud, the solution can protect the email environment. Whether using Office 365, Gmail, or other platforms, an organization can extend security to it. When discussing anomaly detection across Trellix products, anomaly detection is embedded throughout the product line. From what ATP and EDR provide, the solutions are built to detect anomalies within the environment, showing when an attack starts and what endpoints have been affected. An organization can look at all those trends and identify things that should not be happening on their network.
Trellix EDR, NDR, and similar solutions were built on the MITRE ATT&CK framework. If one is familiar with the MITRE ATT&CK framework, one would understand how the solution tracks anomalous behaviors across the network. Previously, there was the NTB that performed behavior analysis looking for anomalous behavior. Now with NDR, it takes this a step higher because detection and response happens on the network layer, not just on the endpoint layer. Whether looking at HX, NDR, EDR, the endpoint layer with HX endpoint, or Trellix ENS and ETP, there is always anomaly detection embedded in Trellix products.
Regarding GDPR compliance, GDPR is a data protection and regulatory compliance requirement, and encryption is one of the things that helps an organization stay compliant with data protection because it gives the ability to allow only users who should have access to data or files to have access to it. A user who should not have access would only see encrypted data, while only users who should have access would see it. Trellix Email Security definitely helps an organization pass GDPR compliance.
Regarding reporting, I have not interfaced with the solution extensively. I was on one deployment, but I was not the key resource and did not get far into the reporting phase. However, reporting is constant across Trellix. This is evident from the ePO, which has always been one of the best solutions for allowing users to build custom queries and design reports as they want to see them. I would imagine that reporting is also factored into Trellix Email Security. Reporting is definitely important, and Trellix has always been strong in this area, so reporting should still be something one can rely on for Trellix Email Security.
Regarding AWS cloud experience, I have not worked extensively with AWS cloud. It is something I have in my personal pipeline as I am trying to transition into cloud security, so I definitely need to look at AWS. However, at the moment, I am not there yet. The overall review rating for Trellix Email Security is nine out of ten.