News, Tech

Cybersecurity vendor Check Point Software adds email security company Avanan under its belt

Quick Summary

  • This will be the only unified solution on the market to protect remote workers from malicious files, URLs, and Phishing across email, collaboration suites, web, network, and endpoint using patented technology designed and built for cloud email environments.
  • “More and more businesses are moving to cloud-email platforms and with email becoming a major channel to launch devastating cyber-attacks, this acquisition represents a huge potential as organizations are looking for a new approach to email and collaboration suite security,” said Dr.
  • This is the only unified solution that will protect against malicious files, URLs, and phishing across email, collaborations apps, web, network, and endpoint, and it’s all thanks to the incorporation of Avanan technology into the Check Point Infinity architecture.

Editor’s brief: Email and collaboration suites are still some of the most well used tools today, even with the rise of messaging apps and conferencing platforms. And with rising spear phishing and other malware campaigns intruding through incoming emails, there is a need for better email security. Cybersecurity stalwart Check Point Software recently acquired Avanan, a cloud email and collaboration security company. Read more below.

Singapore – Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions to corporate enterprises and governments globally, today announced the acquisition of Avanan, the fastest growing cloud email security company.

When it comes to email and software as a service (SaaS) collaboration suites, the security provided by Avanan technology is unparalleled. To provide the most secure email security solution in the world, Avanan will be integrated into the Check Point Infinity consolidated architecture. This will be the only unified solution on the market to protect remote workers from malicious files, URLs, and Phishing across email, collaboration suites, web, network, and endpoint using patented technology designed and built for cloud email environments.

Email technologies have evolved and transitioned from on premise solutions to the cloud. With 95% of cyber-attacks targeting enterprise networks are caused by successful spear phishing, the cloud email threat landscape has never been wider. The amount of phishing attacks doubled in 2020, with every Microsoft Office 365 user in the world attacked at least once.

Cloud office systems and the use of other collaboration suites beyond email (e.g., Teams, Slack, OneDrive) continue to grow in popularity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work, increasing users’ vulnerability to cyberattacks. Because traditional solutions designed for on-premises email have failed to adapt for the cloud, a new approach is needed to secure email in the modern era. Unfortunately, cloud threats, native security tools, and collaboration suites are all vulnerable to compromise when using legacy email solutions (SEG).

Avanan is the most rapidly expanding cloud email security provider and was founded in 2015. To prevent malicious content from entering the inbox (inline), the company’s developers created a patent-protected application programming interface (API) for internal and external email. It has over 100 employees, and it protects over 2.5 million email accounts for over 5,000 customers. The solution can be installed and configured in a matter of minutes, much like an app.

“More and more businesses are moving to cloud-email platforms and with email becoming a major channel to launch devastating cyber-attacks, this acquisition represents a huge potential as organizations are looking for a new approach to email and collaboration suite security,” said Dr. Dorit Dor, Check Point’s Chief Product Officer. “By integrating Avanan into Check Point Infinity, organizations will be able to modernize legacy solutions with email security as-a-service and protect cloud email and collaboration suites from the most sophisticated attacks.  We’ve been using the Avanan technology as an OEM for the last 3 years and I am confident that with this new addition, customers will enjoy the best email security with the best cyber security capabilities.”

“Avanan’s journey to reinvent email security is starting a whole new chapter. By merging with Check Point Software, we are combining Avanan’s best in class A.I. that catches the sophisticated email-borne attacks everyone else misses, with Check Point Software’s unparalleled security capabilities and threat intelligence,” says Gil Friedrich, CEO and co-founder of Avanan. “With Check Point Software’s global organization, we plan to bring our joint solution to all organizations, of all sizes and geographies, to anyone that needs better security for their email and collaboration suite”.

The deal between Check Point Software and Avanan, which was made official by a definitive agreement, is expected to close soon.

With the highest level of protection against both known and unknown cyber-threats, Check Point Infinity is the first unified security architecture in the industry. This is the only unified solution that will protect against malicious files, URLs, and phishing across email, collaborations apps, web, network, and endpoint, and it’s all thanks to the incorporation of Avanan technology into the Check Point Infinity architecture.

The unified solution will allow organizations to:

  • Modernize legacy solutions (SEG) with email security as a service and protect cloud email in less than 5 minutes.
  • Stop 30% more infected emails than any conventional email security solution with best of breed malware protection and no impact in productivity: preventing phishing attacks and malicious files from landing in the inbox, eliminate hazardous clicks on emails with click time URL protection and prevent attack expansion before any damage is evident with automatic post attack remediation.
  • Protect email data loss (internal and external) with the most secure and flexible solution: security admins have multiple response actions to protect data before it leaves the organization.
  • Protect SAAS collaboration suites such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Teams, Share Point, Slack, Box and more, from Malicious URLs, infected files, and data loss prevention (DLP).

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