Three defences against one fake email
A fake email has to get past three defences, one after another.
Box 1 checks every email before it reaches the inbox. Box 2 works inside the inbox and flags emails that do not fit the usual pattern. Box 3 trains the employee to spot an email that got past both. Tap a title in the diagram to jump to its companies.
Email gateways 5 companies
A company's incoming email goes first to an email gateway, which checks every message before it reaches anyone's inbox. The gateway blocks malware, dangerous links and emails that pretend to come from a sender they do not come from.
Gateway companies
Filters that check every incoming email, and the tools around them.
MimecastIncludes DMARC AnalyzerMimecast, from London, sells an email gateway, an email archive and security training, the same three products as Proofpoint, on a smaller scale. It also includes DMARC Analyzer, a tool that stops other people from sending email in a company's name.BengaluruHiring now
BarracudaBarracuda is best known for its email gateway. It also sells the other security products a small business needs, such as a network firewall and a firewall for websites.BengaluruHired recently
Secure document exchange
Sending sensitive documents without ordinary email.
Concord TechnologiesConcord Technologies sells secure cloud fax and document exchange: a way to send a scanned document over the internet without email. American hospitals use it to send patient records, because ordinary email is not trusted with them.See alsoHealthcare data platforms and interoperabilityAI that reads the email in the inbox 2 companies
Some fake emails contain no malware and no link, only a request, so a gateway lets them through. This software learns who usually writes to whom, and about what. It flags an email that does not fit that pattern, such as a first-ever request from the CEO to send money.
Security training for employees 1 company
Some fake emails get past every filter, so the last defence is the employee who reads them. Companies train their staff with short lessons, and test them by sending harmless fake emails to see who clicks.
What's changing
Attackers and defenders both use AI now.
Attackers now use AI to write fake emails with no spelling mistakes, in the voice of a real colleague, and even to fake a phone call or video from the CEO. Defenders use AI too, to learn how each person normally writes and to flag what does not fit.
Companies: ingrid's company map. Hiring signals: postings feed of 5 Nov 2026.