Deploying Email Protection Solutions

Applies to:
  • Forcepoint Email Security, v8.5.x
  • Forcepoint Appliances, v8.5.x

Forcepoint Email Security provides maximum protection for email systems to prevent malicious threats from entering an organization’s network. Forcepoint Email Security provides comprehensive security hosted on a Forcepoint physical or virtual appliance, or in a Microsoft Azure cloud environment. Email system management functions reside on a separate Windows server in the Forcepoint Security Manager.

Forcepoint Email Security may be deployed on the following appliances:
  • Forcepoint V Series
  • Forcepoint X Series chassis security blade
  • Virtual appliance
  • Microsoft Azure virtual appliance

The virtual appliance deployment uses a VMware platform (ESXi v6.x). The appliance image is available for download from the Forcepoint My Account page in an open virtualization format (OVF) package. A virtual appliance may not be clustered with a hardware appliance. See the Forcepoint Appliances Getting Started Guide for complete information about setting up and configuring a Forcepoint appliance.

Each email message is processed by a robust set of analytics to prevent malicious threats from entering a network. Custom content filters allow Forcepoint Email Security to analyze messages based on administrator-specified message attribute conditions. Commercial bulk email analysis can determine whether a message has been sent from a third-party bulk email management company or directly from a business. Inbound, outbound, and internal email policies can be applied to user-defined sets of senders and recipients.

The option to deploy in Microsoft Azure was added in version 8.5. See the Release Notes for Forcepoint Email Security in Azure for more information. In version 8.5.3 and 8.5.4, you have several options for a Microsoft Azure deployment:
  1. Only Forcepoint Email Security components reside in the cloud; email system management functions remain on-premises. Deploying Forcepoint Email Security in Azure requires an active Azure account and a virtual network in Azure with site-to-site connectivity to on-premises resources. This is the only option for version 8.5.
  2. Both Email Security and Security Manager reside in the cloud, with no functions on-premises. Deploying Forcepoint Email Security and Forcepoint Security Manager in Azure requires an active Azure account. This option is available for versions 8.5.3 and 8.5.4.
  3. Some Forcepoint Email Security appliances reside in the cloud and some are installed on-premises. Forcepoint Security Manager can either be deployed in Azure or on-premises. Deployment requires an active Azure account and a virtual network in Azure with site-to-site connectivity to on-premises resources. This option is available for versions 8.5.3 and 8.5.4.

    For more information as well as installation and configuration instructions, see Installing Forcepoint Email Security in Microsoft Azure.

    Including the Forcepoint Email Security Hybrid Module in your deployment adds support for an email hybrid service pre-filtering capability in the cloud, which analyzes the characteristics of incoming email against a Forcepoint database of known threats.

    Enhance your security by adding a set of cloud-based functions to your subscription:
    • URL sandbox
    • Advanced file analysis
    • Phishing education

The URL sandbox function provides real-time analysis of uncategorized URLs that are embedded in inbound mail.

The advanced file analysis capability may be deployed in one of two ways:
  • Forcepoint Advanced Malware Detection - Cloud
  • Forcepoint Advanced Malware Detection - On-Premises

Either advanced file analysis deployment inspects email attachment file types that commonly contain security threats (for example, .exe, .pdf, .xlsx, .docx, .ppt, and archive files). See Advanced file analysis in Forcepoint Email Security Administrator Help for information.

Phishing education provides cloud-based analysis of an inbound message for phishing email characteristics. Options for handling suspected phishing mail include blocking the delivery or replacing the mail with a phishing education message. See Phishing detection and education in Forcepoint Email Security Administrator Help for details.

Add the Forcepoint Email Security Encryption Module to your subscription to use Forcepoint advanced email encryption capabilities, in conjunction with the email hybrid service.

Integration with Forcepoint DLP provides valuable data loss prevention (DLP) features to protect an organization’s most sensitive data and facilitate message encryption. Policies configured in the Data Security module of the Security Manager can detect the presence of confidential company data and block the unauthorized transmission of that data via email. Forcepoint DLP can also determine whether an outbound message should be encrypted and pass the message to an encryption server.

If your network includes Forcepoint Web Security or Forcepoint URL Filtering, you can also use its URL analysis function. Forcepoint Email Security queries the Forcepoint URL category master database and determines the risk level of a URL found in an email message.

Logging and reporting capabilities allow an organization to view system and message status and generate reports of system and email traffic activity.

A Personal Email Manager facility allows authorized end users to release email messages that an email policy has blocked but that may be safe to deliver. End users can maintain personal Always Block and Always Permit lists of email addresses to simplify message delivery. User account management capabilities allow multiple email account control and the delegation of email account management to other individuals.

The Secure Message Delivery feature lets you configure delivery options for a secure portal in which your organization’s customers may view, send, and manage encrypted email. For example, you may wish to include sensitive personal financial information in a message to a client. The portal provides a secure location for the transmission of this data, while your sensitive information is maintained on your secure server.

System requirements and deployment options are discussed in the following topics:
  • System requirements
  • Single-appliance Forcepoint Email Security deployments
  • Multiple-appliance Forcepoint Email Security deployments
See the following topics for email protection solution upgrade information:
  • Upgrading Email Protection Solutions
  • Upgrading the management server