MimeCast Email Security: What It Does and Why It Matters

What MimeCast Provides

MimeCast is an advanced email security service that sits in front of your mailbox, scanning incoming and outgoing email for threats before they ever reach your inbox or leave your organization. It goes beyond basic spam filtering, addressing more sophisticated threats that standard filtering alone often misses.

If you have not yet read Understanding SPF, DKIM and DMARC (Email Authentication), it covers the foundational authentication standards that work alongside advanced security services like MimeCast.

Threats Standard Spam Filtering Often Misses

Basic spam filtering catches obvious junk mail, but sophisticated phishing attempts, malicious attachments disguised as legitimate documents, and impersonation attempts mimicking a trusted colleague or vendor often slip through standard filtering. These more targeted threats are specifically what advanced email security services are designed to catch.

Key Protection Features

MimeCast scans attachments and links in real time, checking them against continuously updated threat intelligence before a user ever clicks or opens them. It also provides impersonation protection, specifically designed to catch messages attempting to appear as though they come from an executive or trusted contact, a common tactic in business email compromise attempts.

Protection Against Business Email Compromise

Business email compromise refers to attacks where a criminal impersonates someone within or connected to your organization, often requesting an urgent wire transfer or sensitive information. These attacks are particularly dangerous because they often do not contain a malicious attachment or link at all, relying instead purely on social engineering. Advanced email security services analyze patterns and sender behavior to flag these attempts even without an obvious technical indicator like a malicious file.

Archiving and Compliance Features

Beyond threat protection, services like MimeCast often include email archiving capabilities, useful for businesses with compliance requirements around record retention, as well as continuity features that keep email accessible even during an outage affecting your primary email service.

Is This Level of Protection Necessary for Your Business

Advanced email security becomes increasingly valuable as your organization grows, as you handle more sensitive information, or as your team becomes a more attractive target for sophisticated attacks. Businesses in regulated industries, or those that have previously experienced a phishing or impersonation attempt, often find this level of protection well worth the additional investment beyond standard email hosting security.

Getting Started

Ask our team whether MimeCast or a comparable advanced security add-on is available for your current email hosting plan, and whether your team's specific risk profile would benefit from this additional layer of protection.