Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection review

In the past year, MS Exchange administrators have been really busy. For the first time (at least on a larger scale) malicious actors managed to penetrate Exchange security. Damage? Microsoft rushed with the patches so admins who are actively monitoring security bulletins were able to patch their emails servers quickly, but there are still many MS Exchange servers left unpatched.

Luckily, Microsoft 365 users were not affected. Microsoft 365 has proved again that moving email to the cloud is not just about the cost and better experience. It is also about security. By using Microsoft 365, the IT team has one less service to manage and can focus on other more important things.

Is Microsoft 365 bulletproof? While the Microsoft 365 service has many benefits, it’s not all roses. For example, you are still responsible for the backup of emails and if your company computers are compromised, malicious actors can find a way to your user’s data in Microsoft 365 and even administration. Security is complicated. Having your data in the cloud does not mean that you are protected. There are many ways hackers can break into your company and then slowly move laterally and create damage when the time is right. That’s why it’s important to secure and back up data that is important. In case you are attacked and infected with ransomware, you can recover quickly if your data is available and can be restored quickly. What about Hornetsecurity? Let’s take a look.

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection review

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection is an impressive product.

It’s that type of product that the more you use it, the more you like it. There are 3 editions. 365 Total Protection Business, 365 Total Protection Enterprise, 365 Total Protection Enterprise Backup. They differentiate by the features and price. Depending on your requirements, you can start with the Business and then upgrade to Enterprise and Enterprise Backup. Pricing starts at $2 for Business, which makes it one of the more affordable products for Microsoft 365 protection but fear not. The product is excellent.

Hornetsecurity 365 Features

• Spam and Malware Protection – Hornetsecurity has a great Threat Blocking & Threat intelligence included for all editions. All incoming emails are blocked if they match their algorithms for spam and malicious emails. That way, they can prevent malicious actors to gain access to your company via email, which is a common way of compromise.
• Email Archiving – Automatic Email archiving with GDPR + GoBD-compliant archiving is available for all emails that are sent and received. You can specify retention periods, best of all, users can mark private emails to be excluded from the archiving. That way, you are legally and GDPR-compliant. You can also exclude in-house communication.
• Email Continuity Service – This is my favorite feature and that feature alone is worth every penny. When service providers claim their service is 99.9% reliable…. Perhaps you read some articles around the web. The truth is, Microsoft 365 can go down, and it can be out even for hours. When that happens, you will still be able to access your emails. The feature is activated instantly.
• Automated backups for mailboxes, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint – Microsoft 365 does not offer a native backup solution, so you have to use another product/service if you want to recover your data. Hornetsecurity will reliably back up Microsoft 365 files and Windows endpoints. Included in the backup are Microsoft 365 user and group mailboxes, Teams chats, both – individual and group chats including all files that were shared via Teams and recordings of team meetings, OneDrive and SharePoint document libraries. Data is automatically backed up several times per day. You can also start a manual backup at any time.
• Global S/MIME & PGP Encryption – I find that feature necessary these days. Email is not particularly secure. You find many examples online, how the user’s email was read. Do you remember When Hillary Clinton’s email was leaked at the time of election days? Also, when hackers obtained access to the email of users working in retail companies, they were able to read emails and have sent emails about the payment information which looked just it was from the correct company, it even included correspondence with the exact information so that it was almost legit information. Except for the back information. Hornetsecurity supports global SMIME/PGP encryption so that email can be sent and read securely.
• Company Disclaimer and individual User Signatures– You can buy a product/service that enables company disclaimer / users’ signatures. Luckily, that feature is included in 365 Total Protection. You can standardize and even use group-based disclaimers. You can also centrally monitor signatures throughout your company. With What You See Is What You Get editor you can easily create templates.
• Content Control – Based on users’ requirements, you can limit what email attachments they can receive. Attachment goes to quarantine if they match the rule, and the user is notified about the quarantine. He/She can send a request to an administrator to release those attachments.

In addition, many other features that have not been covered make the product even better. IT security will become much easier, and IT will have less work.

Conclusion

365 Total Protection by Hornetsecurity is one of the best products for Microsoft 365 security & protection. Artificial Neural Network keeps evolving threats at bay, AI-driven security is improved every hour and backup ensures that your data is safe.

The onboarding process is simple, you can start in 30 seconds, and the user interface is very intuitive. Pricing starts at $2 which is a great price even for budget-oriented companies. Additional services that are included also enable you to cut the cost as you don’t need other products.