Cybersecurity Leader Tesserent Protects Customers and Its Own Organization With Proofpoint
The Challenge
- Maximize email security for a mobile workforce on diverse devices
- Offer comprehensive, proven security solutions to clients
- Continuously update security best practices to keep pace with change
The Solution
- Proofpoint Email Protection
- Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protection (TAP)
- Proofpoint Threat Response Auto-Pull (TRAP)
- Proofpoint Closed Loop Email Analysis and Response (CLEAR)
The Results
- Robust email security protects organization and improves efficiency
- Proofpoint partnership helps Tesserent differentiate with complete solutions and services
The Challenge
Protecting and differentiating a security-focused organization
Robust cybersecurity is essential for any organization, but for Tesserent it is critical not only to minimize its own risk, but to demonstrate its market leadership to customers.
“We need to provide the best advice to our customers in terms of cybersecurity, across a number of different areas,” said Michael McKinnon, CIO at Tesserent. “From a reputational standpoint we have to make sure that we’re doing things in the best way possible before we can tell our clients what they should be doing. We are a Proofpoint customer as much as we are a partner, where we’ve got our customers relying on our knowledge of security as well.”
Tesserent supports a diverse group of over 300 employees, who use a variety of devices in different locations. This meant the company needed a complete solution to safeguard its employees however and wherever they were working. The organization was not only seeking to protect its own email communications, but offer a solution to its end customers as well, as part of a one-stop technology and consulting experience.
“People realize that having a single security partner that has an overview of your environment, your technology stack, and your gaps, puts you at an advantage,” said Linda Li, partners and programs manager at Tesserent.
Michael McKinnon, CIO, Tesserent
The Solution
Proofpoint provides complete, nimble email protection
After considering a variety of products, the Tesserent team chose a comprehensive bundled Email Protection solution from Proofpoint. Proofpoint not only provided the sophisticated email filtering and protection features the firm required, but it applied the insights learned from serving a broad customer base. This delivered a unique perspective into the very latest threats.
“I often do MX record lookups as I’m responding to security incidents, and I began to notice that Proofpoint mail filtering was appearing frequently at really large organization domains,” said McKinnon. “It became clear that Proofpoint was processing and gaining insight into a large volume of email transiting the planet. When I look at all of the vendors in the market, Proofpoint is clearly at the top in terms of its critical mass of that visibility.”
Tesserent also chose Proofpoint because it was the solution best able to meet the requirements of its end customers, and an ideal complement to its own security service offerings.
“We went to different clients with two or three options, and what was obvious from very early on is just how easy Proofpoint was to work with,” said Li. “You want to make sure that every partner relationship is easy, but also that the customers prefer the product as well. That shaped our decision to the point where we don’t even need to present any other options now.”
Proofpoint Email Protection captures both known and unknown threats that other solutions miss, including phishing, malware, bulk email, imposter threats, and others. The firm also implemented Proofpoint Threat Response Auto- Pull (TRAP), which enables administrators to analyze and move malicious email to quarantine after delivery.
“Integration of email filtering with TRAP functionality is absolutely a must-have for me,” said McKinnon. “To bypass mail filtering systems, attackers choose to weaponize their links after the email has been delivered. Proofpoint provides a fully integrated mail filtering solution that lets us reach in and pull those emails out, at scale. If we have a phishing report, we can take action to address the issue across the organization, because it’s never just a single phishing email in one inbox.”
To empower employees with the tools and best practices to further strengthen email security, Tesserent also implemented Proofpoint Closed-Loop Email Analysis and Response (CLEAR), which makes it easy for employees to report suspected phishing emails.
“The alarm button gives people the ability to close the loop and report emails that they come across,” said McKinnon. “It’s important that humans play a big part in this solution. If you don’t give them a clear method for how they can report these things, then you’ve already lost them.”
The Results
Maximizing efficiency while delivering a superior solution to clients
With its efficient processing capabilities and intuitive experience, Proofpoint frees the Tesserent IT staff from the day-to-day hassles of manually mitigating email threats.
“Before Proofpoint, users might send me something in Slack or forward me an email, which interrupts your flow and takes you out of whatever you’re doing,” said McKinnon. “Sometimes people were not exactly sure who they should be dealing with it, so then you’ve got half a dozen people whose time is impacted. By having a clear process in place, it’s guaranteed you’re saving massive amounts of time. Proofpoint frees me up to focus on the other things we need to prioritize in the business.”
Proofpoint has also been highly effective at minimizing the amount of malicious or unwanted email that actually reaches users.
“Under our previous email filtering solution, my quarantine or junk folder had so much stuff in it,” said McKinnon. “Under Proofpoint, I might get one quarantined email every couple of days. It’s much more effective on the filtering side of removing stuff that there is no reason for the user to see.”
The Proofpoint solution also gives their end users a highly accessible security foundation. And it provides a smooth point of entry into a comprehensive cybersecurity solution.
“I find Proofpoint and what we do around our consulting business go hand-in-hand, to ease customers into security,” said Li. “The insight that Proofpoint offers, paired together with our assessments and consulting, provides a strong foundation for their security journey.”
As its deployment has matured, Tesserent has appreciated the Proofpoint quarterly business reviews and continued engagement to ensure that the solution was fully aligned to its requirements.
“We were impressed by the dedication to follow up and on- boarding,” said McKinnon. “The on-boarding was incredible. When dealing with Proofpoint we realized the depth of complexity and technicality that’s involved with email filtering. Something that on the surface might seem simple, but really when you get down to it, it’s quite a detailed thing.”
With its future-proof solution in place, Tesserent remains confident that it has partnered with a leader that will continue to deliver the outcomes that the firm and its clients require well into the future.
“It’s not going to be something you have to replace,” said McKinnon. “If you can make the jump to an enterprise platform like Proofpoint—even though you might not feel it’s the right choice yet—just do it, because you won’t regret it.”