Mimecast extends cyber resilience vision

The cloud-based service is designed to guard against malicious activity initiated by user action or malware while blocking access to websites deemed unsafe or inappropriate based on each organization’s policies.

Mimecast Web Security is engineered to be managed with the same administration console that customers use to manage Mimecast’s existing email services. This offers an easy-to-deploy and manage defense against advanced phishing and malware attacks being delivered to employees by both email, web, instant messaging systems, social network sites, and ad networks.

During the early adopter program, customers around the world tested the service which is now immediately available globally.

Jamie Fernandes, director of product management for web security at Mimecast, said: “Commonalities between email and web threat intelligence and detective analytics help improve the security defenses against both vectors whether used by attackers separately or together. The new web security service is designed to allow customers to broaden and improve their protection from attacks occurring via email and the web, using a single integrated service. We’re excited about our ability to significantly expand our customers’ defense systems by extending the power of our Mime|OS threat detection technologies and the global grid powered by 30,000+ customers we’re protecting around the globe.”

Vanson Bourne research* found 32% of organizations were not confident that their employees could spot and defend against malware or ransomware attacks via direct web downloads. Only 25% were completely confident their security defenses would stop targeted spear-phishing with malicious links.

Ascend Learning, a network of K-12 public charter schools serving 4,800 students in 12 schools across Brooklyn, were a member of the customer early adopter program. Emeka Ibekweh, managing director of technology at Ascend, commented: “It’s critical to our primary educational objectives that our staff and students are protected from malicious email attacks and web sites or inappropriate web content.”

Scott Crawford, research director of Information Security, 451 Research, commented: “Organizations often struggle to enforce security for two of the most common attack vectors: email and the web. Many security professionals seek to consolidate and use integrated cloud services that make management and operation simpler and more effective. Mimecast’s move to expand outside of its core email focus mirrors the growing need for a more integrated defense to combat advanced attacks.”

The combined cyber resilience offering is also supported by the Mimecast Security Operations Center (MSOC) team and is enriched with all the global threat intelligence, analytics, and infrastructure that supports Mimecast’s current services.   

Mimecast’s CEO, Peter Bauer, added: “We can now protect our customers with a more complete threat detection offering that will work the way organizations do—anytime and anywhere, doing business through the email and web at global scale. Our homegrown research and development into the high-growth web security market is designed to apply our recent acquisitions of Solebit for advanced malware detection and Ataata for a new approach to employee risk scoring, training and awareness. Together, these strategic investments are helping us move toward our vision of providing an integrated super-category of cyber resilience solutions from a global, cloud-based service.”