2024 SC Awards Finalists: Best Secure Messaging Solution

Egress has been named a finalist in the SC Awards’ Best Secure Messaging Solution category for its Intelligent Email Security platform. This platform offers the first adaptive security architecture for cloud email, designed to protect against a wide range of email threats. Egress leverages AI and machine learning to continuously assess human risk, adjusting security controls and educating users in real-time through behavioral nudges.

The platform delivers comprehensive protection against phishing, misdirected emails, and intentional data exfiltration by inspecting every inbound and outbound email. Egress integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and all mobile email clients, providing zero-trust security without the administrative overhead of traditional secure email gateways. Over the past year, Egress has seen a 45% growth in its customer base, including significant gains in the financial services, legal, and healthcare sectors.

Egress’ recent acquisition by KnowBe4, a leader in security awareness training, is expected to further enhance its capabilities. The integration of these platforms aims to deliver AI-based email security tailored to human risk. Egress is known for its high customer satisfaction, with a 95% gross retention rate and consistent CSAT scores above 9/10. The platform’s effectiveness and efficiency in preventing email threats have been validated by Forrester, which calculated a 359% ROI for Egress customers.

Mimecast’s Email and Collaboration Security platform provides advanced protection for a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, legal, education, and government. Designed to combat email threats such as phishing, malware, ransomware, and business email compromise, the platform also offers data loss prevention and brand protection. Mimecast’s solution is particularly effective as an additional layer of security for Microsoft 365, addressing the security gaps that Microsoft’s built-in solutions often leave open.

The platform’s AI-powered threat detection capabilities block sophisticated email attacks, providing a robust defense against evolving cyber threats. Mimecast’s integration with major workplace collaboration platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace ensures that organizations can maximize their existing technology investments while maintaining security and compliance.

In FY 2024, Mimecast reported record revenue growth, with its platform now protecting over 42,000 global customers and 26 million end users. The platform’s success is reflected in its high customer satisfaction ratings, including a 4.5 out of 5 rating on G2 and a 4.4 out of 5 on Gartner Peer Insights. Customers consistently praise Mimecast for its reliability, ease of use, and exceptional customer support, making it a trusted choice for email and collaboration security.

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. has been named a finalist in the SC Awards’ Best Secure Messaging Solution category for its Post-Quantum End-to-End Encryption (PQ E2EE) feature. Recognizing the emerging threat of quantum computing, Zoom has proactively upgraded its encryption algorithms to protect against potential “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks. This forward-thinking approach ensures that even if adversaries capture encrypted data today, they will not be able to decrypt it in the future when quantum computers become more advanced.

The PQ E2EE feature, currently available for Zoom Meetings and soon expanding to Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms, utilizes the Kyber 768 algorithm, which is being standardized by NIST as a Module Lattice-based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM). This enhancement aims to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of communications, ensuring only meeting participants have access to the encryption keys.

Zoom has seen growing demand for secure communication solutions since the launch of E2EE in 2020, with users increasingly prioritizing privacy. The company offers robust customer support, including resources to help users understand and implement encryption in their meetings. PQ E2EE is available to all Zoom Workplace users at no additional cost, reflecting Zoom’s commitment to secure, private communication.

As quantum computing technology evolves, Zoom remains dedicated to strengthening its platform’s security, with regular updates and enhancements planned for PQ E2EE to address emerging threats and maintain its leadership in secure communication technology.

Proofpoint has been recognized as a finalist in the SC Awards’ Best Secure Messaging Solution category for its People Protection Platform. Targeted primarily at enterprises, Proofpoint’s platform addresses the critical security needs of industries such as finance, healthcare, education, and government by offering robust email security, insider threat detection, and data loss prevention. The platform is designed to mitigate a wide range of digital threats, including phishing, malware, ransomware, and identity-based threats, helping organizations safeguard sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance.

The platform’s multi-layered detection stack utilizes advanced technologies like threat intelligence, behavioral AI, and URL sandboxing to monitor and analyze email delivery from pre-delivery to click-time. This comprehensive approach is complemented by data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities that monitor collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace to prevent data leaks. Additionally, the platform’s identity threat protection and deception techniques detect and neutralize attackers before they can escalate privileges or move laterally within the network.

Proofpoint is the global leader in email security, with 32.4% market share according to Gartner, and its solutions are trusted by over 510,000 customers worldwide, including 87% of the Fortune 100. The company offers robust customer support with 24/7 global service and a comprehensive virtual support center, contributing to a 90% customer satisfaction rate and a Net Promoter Score of 61. Proofpoint continues to innovate, recently expanding its platform with AI-powered threat detection and acquiring Tessian to enhance its behavioral analytics capabilities.

The platform is continuously updated, with on-premises solutions maintaining a connection to the Proofpoint Cloud for automatic updates, while cloud-based solutions receive real-time enhancements. Proofpoint’s commitment to flexible, comprehensive solutions has resulted in a high net retention rate, exceeding 90%, reflecting the platform’s value in protecting against the evolving threat landscape.

SlashNext’s Next Gen AI Email+ Security platform has emerged as a finalist in the SC Awards’ Best Secure Messaging Solution category. SlashNext’s platform is engineered to protect against sophisticated phishing and social engineering attacks across email, mobile/SMS, and web messaging apps. The platform extends its protection to over 3,000 messaging platforms, including popular applications like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and personal Gmail.

The platform leverages a combination of advanced AI technologies such as natural language processing, computer vision, and relationship graphs to predict and stop emerging threats in real-time. According to SlashNext, this approach enables their solution to achieve up to four times better detection of advanced phishing and BEC threats compared to other competitors, offering nearly 99.99% accuracy and a false positive rate of just one in a million.

Customers of SlashNext include global organizations protecting over eight million mailboxes and endpoints. SlashNext’s recent growth, fueled by the release of its Gen AI solution for BEC, has attracted several Fortune 100 companies. The company claims a 30% year-over-year growth, with clients citing the platform’s comprehensive protection across email, mobile, and web messaging as a key reason for their adoption.

SlashNext provides a subscription-based service that seamlessly integrates with enterprise tools, offering cloud-native solutions that reduce total ownership costs. The platform is designed for rapid deployment, high accuracy, and minimal ongoing maintenance, making it a cost-effective choice for enterprises. SlashNext continues to evolve its platform with regular updates and new features, such as the upcoming VirtualVision URL Analyzer and mSOAR automation, to further enhance threat detection and response capabilities.