Understand the ROI of Email Security and Its Benefits for Businesses

 Cybercriminals possess all of the data needed to assess Return On Investment (ROI): Cyberattacks are cheap and highly profitable investments. Unfortunately, assuming you can cheaply protect your company against cyberattacks is not reasonable. Despite historical data and forward-looking risk assessments, our metrics still need to be improved to establish the exact cost/benefit ratio of cyber defenses. This article will discuss the importance of measuring ROI for email security, what factors go into making this decision, and the benefits of investing in email security software.

Benefits of a Robust Email Security Solution

Email security is designed to protect organizations from cyber threats via email. Any businesses, large or small, can fall prey to cyberattacks like spear phishing and business email compromise (BEC). Without preemptive security measures, they placeyuh` themselves at serious financial risk. An individual ransomware attack, for instance, can cost millions in terms of downtime, reputational damage, data recovery costs, and stolen funds. Phishing emails often encourage users to download malicious programs, provide sensitive data, or approve fraudulent bills. Cybercrime risks have become a pressing concern in the boardroom, driven by rising losses. There is an undeniable need for cost-effective cybersecurity tools and protection measures.

Email Security Prevents Small Business Losses

More small businesses are prioritizing email security because their email accounts hold valuable data that cannot be lost. Unfortunately, due to limited IT resources, smaller firms often forgo these precautions and make themselves a target for hackers.

Costs of Inaction: Risks of Not Investing in Email Security

There's no doubt that email security is an investment. Cybercrime was once seen as a hobby, but is now a multi-billion-dollar business. Cybercriminals continue to evolve their tactics, such as using AI to quickly and economically generate more malicious messages than before, including precisely targeted spear phishing email attacks, practically indistinguishable from legitimate ones. 

Not investing in email security fails to take into account external factors that can eventually lead to the following:

• Theft of sensitive data: where identity fraud is often an additional problem
• Reputation damage: due to the loss of trust of your customers
• Loss of profit: lost sales opportunities and disrupted operational activities

The cost of email data breaches has increased nearly 13% over the last two years, suggesting these incidents could also contribute to the rising prices of other products and general economic inflation. 60% of organizations studied raised their product or service prices because of a breach resulting in data loss.

How to Measure ROI of Email Security Solutions

The clearest measure of ROI in cybersecurity is the value of losses that are prevented. IC3 discovered that social engineering scams are not just the most prevalent but also the most expensive. In their latest study, BEC attacks cost U.S. companies an average loss of around $2.34 billion. According to APWG, the average BEC wire transfer request was $93,881. Moreover, a report by IBM found that 83% of organizations have experienced more than one breach in their lifetime. Half of the costs associated with a breach occur more than a year after the violation.

Email security leaders are pressured to make more innovative investments that provide tangible business value. One thing companies can do is to focus on solutions that reduce overhead and provide security teams the space to protect instead of reacting. Cloud-based email filtering and security management platforms can help CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) improve productivity and simplify email management using only one interface. This increases efficiency and simplifies email management, allowing faster responses to potential threats. Cloud email security management allows CISOs to quickly identify and solve issues so that they can focus on more pressing email security issues by automating repetitive tasks such as spam filtering.

Maximizing the ROI of Your Email Security Investment

Using a tool to calculate ROI can help security decision-makers simplify the process. Some of the impacts of ROI calculation specifically for email security solutions include:

Point Solutions vs. Holistic Solutions

The difference between point solutions and holistic solutions is valuable to understand when considering email security systems. An organization must assess how the features of different email security solutions can help its company with the required protection. While point solutions focus on specific attacks like BEC or spear phishing, holistic solutions are comprehensive,  covering everything from simple virus and spam filtering to the most advanced threat protection. It is difficult to justify the cost of several separate point solutions compared to the choice of a single, holistic solution.

A holistic email security software solution provides more encompassing protection for all threats by addressing different pain points with a single, versatile solution. Such solutions use multilayered content and reputation analysis, sandboxing malware to detect and block advanced malware, malicious malware URL scanners for attachments, malware ransomware prevention, and polymorphic malware protection. A secure URL defense, such as Guardian Digital URL Protect, can create a safe user environment. This reduces the possibility of employees downloading malware, ransomware, or other executable data.

Justifying the POC Process

A Proof of Concept (POC) evaluates a vendor's solution and is a great way to determine if it meets its expectations. However, security decision-makers may struggle to justify the time and effort required to execute a POC. Organizations need to select the best email security software solutions to evaluate. The ROI calculation can quantify the differences between multiple options before an organization commits to a POC. 

The first step is to define the project's scope and ensure you have the right team to be successful. Guardian Digital is committed to the process and meeting your requirements to create an effective plan. Our expert guidance will provide you with the necessary insights to make an informed decision on whether or not the POC warrants additional money, time, and resources based on technical implementation at the desired scale and performance.

Cost Calculations

The bottom line cost is the most crucial factor for a CISO, including vendor fees, deployment costs, and ongoing resource costs. This helps security leaders understand a solution's actual price before making a decision.

Why ROI Matters in Email Security

When considering email security for their company, CISOs typically focus on two main issues: mitigating business losses and finding solutions within their budget. Balancing present financial constraints against future losses is difficult without turning to intuition or sales pitches for guidance, and testing multiple products can be a taxing process for IT departments with limited security personnel.

Security decision-makers can streamline the purchasing process by using a tool that calculates ROI. Professionals can assess the potential value of an email security solution and make informed decisions about which tools to choose with insight. Some ways ROI calculations can help with the buying process include:

• Quantifying the importance and value of security initiatives
• Illustrating how security projects are connected to the larger strategic goals of an organization
• Crediting an informed selection process, ensuring reliability
• Optimizing vendor selections and pricing

According to a report by IBM, the average data loss breach cost is significantly higher than the previous year, demonstrating that the price of these attacks is increasing. Most of the costs are divided between detecting and escalating a breach and losing business. The study also showed a growing gap in the price of a breach among organizations with better email security systems, meaning that even though the costs of a breach are lower for organizations with formal security infrastructure, it can cause irreparable harm to organizations without this protection.

Monitoring Email Security Threats With Guardian Digital Engarde

Today, businesses struggle to maintain their email security, as protecting diverse devices and a dispersed workforce is challenging. Sophisticated, stealthy mechanisms, such as zero-day attacks, spear phishing, and fileless malware, leave traditional security technology vulnerable. Everyone, from small teams to large enterprises, can benefit from having a multilayered, proactive email security system to protect them against evolving email-based threats.

Guardian Digital EnGarde Cloud Email Security software is a fully-managed security platform for businesses. Our IT experts will keep your email defense up-to-date, monitor your system's health to ensure it works effectively, and provide the best protection possible. 

EnGarde’s email security dashboard offers valuable, real-time information and also makes your software defenses easier to manage, so you can focus on your essential tasks while taking care of email protection. EnGarde’s ongoing expert system management limits your exposure risk and eases pressure on your business's limited resources, simplifying administration, enhancing security, and reducing costs.

Identify threats to your business and make better cybersecurity decisions with our affordable solution.

Email Security ROI FAQ

What does ROI mean in the context of email security?

Email security ROI is how much businesses can save by investing in a security solution to reduce potential losses from email-based cyberattacks.

What are the hidden costs of not investing in email security?

Without investing in adequate email security, organizations are liable for the wide-reaching financial and reputational losses that result from successful cyberattacks and data breaches.

How can businesses calculate the ROI of their email security solutions?

ROI calculations must consider how much time and effort is spent researching security solutions, whether they are looking for point solutions or a holistic solution, the IT resources necessary to implement their email security plan, vendor fees, and long-term maintenance.

How does managed email security improve ROI for small businesses?

Small businesses often have small IT departments, so a managed email security solution makes it more affordable and practical to maintain their security by reducing the burden on their staff.

Key Takeaways on Email Security ROI

Email is the leading channel for cyberattacks, and the need to protect from threats coming through our inboxes continues to grow. Calculating ROI is critical to help you identify the best options for your organization.

• Don’t get caught unprepared for cyberattacks - make sure employees stay safe online.
• Improve your security posture by following best practices for email security to protect against phishing attacks and breaches.
• Keeping the integrity of your email safe requires cloud-based spam filtering and enterprise-grade anti-spam services.
• Learn more about the consequences of modern phishing attacks in our Phishing eBook.