Top 9 Types of Email Security Solutions

Email security is still one of the biggest pressure points in cybersecurity because email remains the easiest path for phishing, business email compromise, malware delivery, and the spread of sensitive information outside approved channels.

For organizations evaluating email security solutions, the challenge is not finding one category. It is understanding which type solves which risk. This guide covers the eight common types of email security software, what each one does, where it helps most, and where it falls short.

1. Secure Email Gateways

A secure email gateway acts as a first line of defense against inbound and outbound email threats. It inspects messages before delivery to help block malware, malicious attachments, suspicious URLs, spam, and impersonation attempts.

Best fit: Mimecast

Mimecast is a strong example here. Its advanced email security combines AI-driven threat detection, cloud native delivery, and key features such as:

• Adaptive detection
• Threat intelligence
• Flexible deployment options

These capabilities are built for both emerging threats and advanced threats. It also offers both gateway and API based protection, so organizations can choose the model that best fits their environment.

2. Email Encryption Solutions

Email encryption protects message content so only authorized recipients can access it. That matters when organizations send regulated data, confidential material, or sensitive information to external recipients. Email encryption is especially relevant in industries where privacy, legal confidentiality, or policy requirements make message exposure a serious risk.

Best fit: Virtru

Vitru is a strong example of an email encryption focused provider. Its approach centers on message level encryption and granular access control, including features such as revocation, expiration, and forwarding restrictions in supported environments.

That said, encryption only solves one part of email security. It protects content confidentiality, but it does not by itself stop phishing threats, malicious links, or a broader email threat landscape.

3. Email Archiving Solutions

An email archive supports compliance, investigations, and long term recordkeeping. A strong archive should preserve messages in a searchable, tamper resistant format while supporting retention policies, hold requirements, and discovery workflows.

That is why archiving is both a compliance capability and a security capability. If you cannot reliably preserve or retrieve email, legal readiness and incident response both suffer.

Best fit: Mimecast and Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Purview and Mimecast are both relevant here, but they play slightly different roles. Microsoft Purview offers strong native integration in Microsoft environments, including archive mailboxes, retention, audit, and eDiscovery capabilities.

Mimecast, on the other hand, emphasizes independent archiving, resilience, and security focused use cases like continuity and access beyond the core Microsoft stack. Mimecast can also be layered on top of Microsoft Purview for more complete protection and resilience.

4. DMARC Authentication and Certification

DMARC helps prevent domain spoofing and impersonation by telling receiving mail systems how to handle messages that fail authentication checks. It works with SPF and DKIM to improve visibility into who is sending mail on your behalf and to enforce stricter policies over time.

For brand protection, DMARC matters because it reduces the success rate of fraudulent messages pretending to come from your domain.

Best fit: DigiCert

DigiCert provides Verified Mark Certificates and Common Mark Certificates that work alongside DMARC and BIMI to display trust signals like authenticated brand indicators in supported inboxes. This is not the same thing as full email protection, but it supports brand trust and reinforces legitimate sender identity at the inbox level.

5. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions

Data loss prevention solutions help stop sensitive data from leaving through email. They typically monitor for policy violations involving PII, financial information, regulated content, or internal data types, then apply actions such as blocking, warning, encrypting, or rerouting. A good DLP policy helps reduce accidental leaks and gives teams more control over how information moves.

Best fit: Mimecast

Mimecast is a strong fit in this category because it embeds data loss prevention into email workflows instead of treating DLP as a disconnected standalone process. That can make management easier for teams that want protection inside the communication layer itself.

Compared with separate DLP tools that may be harder to operate, an integrated approach can reduce administrative overhead while improving consistency across email security services.

6. Phishing Protection

Phishing remains the most common email threat because it targets people, not just systems. Credential harvesting, executive impersonation, and business email compromise all rely on tricking users into trusting the wrong message.

As such, phishing protection has to go beyond static rules. It needs adaptive threat detection that can spot shifting language, sender anomalies, and signs of fraud.

Best fit: Mimecast

Mimecast emphasizes AI-driven phishing protection, impersonation defense, and advanced threat protection for modern phishing attempts. Key features include:

• Adaptive detection
• Impersonation analysis
• Faster response to emerging threats that do not follow predictable patterns

This matters because today’s phishing attack is often subtle, personalized, and designed to bypass older filters. Static blocklists alone are not enough.

7. Spam Filtering Services

Spam filtering reduces inbox noise and helps cut off one of the most common delivery mechanisms for malicious content. Spam is not only an annoyance. It can also carry malicious email links, malware, and low grade phishing attempts that distract users and increase risk.

Best fit: Abusix

Abusix plays an important role in IP reputation and blocklist services. That kind of intelligence is useful for filtering obviously bad senders and improving baseline hygiene.

At the same time, basic spam filtering is not the same as advanced threat protection. It helps reduce volume and risk, but it does not replace a broader email security platform with richer detection and response features.

8. Anti-Virus Software

Traditional anti-virus software still has a role as a best practice for email security, especially at the SMB level. It is useful for signature based detection and basic malware blocking, and it can help stop known malicious files after delivery. That makes it a valid entry level security solution for smaller organizations that need foundational protection quickly.

Best fit: Norton

Norton is a recognizable example of an anti-virus solution for SMB settings with features like malware scanning, real-time threat detection, firewall protection. However, anti-virus should be understood as a limited layer, not a complete email protection strategy.

It does not address most phishing attacks, insider threats, social engineering, business email compromise, or the collaboration security problems that now shape modern email attack patterns. It helps, but it is not enough on its own.

9. On-Premise Mail Servers

On-premise mail servers still matter in some email security architectures because they give organizations direct control over mail flow, infrastructure, and policy enforcement. Some businesses prefer them for compliance, data residency, legacy infrastructure, or internal governance reasons.

That control comes with responsibility. The organization must handle patching, hardening, uptime, access control, and threat monitoring internally.

In other words, on-premise mail servers can support secure email if they are well managed, but they also increase operational burden. For many teams, especially those without large in-house security resources, cloud email security is easier to scale and maintain.

Find the right email security solution for your business

Each type of email security solution plays a different role. Secure email gateways help block inbound and outbound threats, email encryption protects confidential messages, and archiving supports compliance and investigations. DMARC helps prevent spoofing, DLP reduces the risk of sensitive data leaks, phishing protection helps stop social engineering attacks, spam filtering cuts down unwanted and risky email, and anti-virus software adds a basic layer of malware protection.

The bigger lesson is that email security works best as a layered strategy, not a collection of isolated point solutions. Organizations should align tools to their maturity, threat profile, and operational reality.

Mimecast stands out because it brings together gateway security, data loss prevention, phishing defense, and archiving in a unified, scalable email security platform built for modern threats and real world administration.