Email Security & Filtering
Fewer Threats Reaching Your Inbox
Email is still the main route for phishing and malware. Pulsar IT configures filtering that checks messages, links and attachments before they reach your team, and helps stop criminals impersonating your domain.
What is Email Security & Filtering?
Email security and filtering checks incoming email for spam, phishing, malware and impersonation before it reaches your team's inboxes, based on policies we configure with you. Suspicious messages are blocked, quarantined or marked, and links and attachments are checked for known threats.
If you use Microsoft 365, you already have built-in mailbox protection from Exchange Online Protection. Microsoft 365 Business Premium adds Defender for Office 365 Plan 1, with impersonation protection, Safe Links and Safe Attachments. Depending on your licences and risk, we either configure and tune those built-in features or add an additional filtering service, and agree the approach with you first.
We also help protect your domain from being used in fake emails, by advising on and configuring SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.
Key benefits
- Fewer spam, phishing and malware emails reaching staff
- Links and attachments checked for known threats
- Protection against emails impersonating colleagues or suppliers, where supported
- Your domain made harder to spoof with SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- Filtering policies tuned to your business, not left at defaults
How does it work?
Every incoming email passes through filtering before it is delivered. Messages are checked against the sender's reputation and authentication, their content, links and attachments, and the policies we agree with you.
Review
We review your Microsoft 365 licences, current filtering and quarantine settings and your domain's SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, and agree whether built-in protection or an additional filtering service fits best.
Configure
We set up anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-malware, impersonation, link and attachment policies, decide what is quarantined and who can release it, and configure email authentication for your domains.
Tune and maintain
We adjust policies as false positives or new threats appear, help with release requests and missing emails within the agreed scope, and tighten DMARC once legitimate mail is passing.
- Incoming emailFrom anyone on the internet
- Sender checksReputation, SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- Content checksSpam, phishing, impersonation, links and attachments
- Inbox or quarantineDelivered, held or blocked under your policies
Filtering capabilities
- Anti-spam and bulk mail filtering
- Anti-phishing policies, including impersonation protection for key staff and domains where your licence or filtering service supports it
- Anti-malware scanning of attachments
- Link checking when links are clicked (Safe Links), where Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 is licensed
- Attachments opened in a sandbox before delivery (Safe Attachments), where Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 is licensed
- Quarantine policies and an agreed release process
- Allow and block lists, kept short and reviewed
- Automatic forwarding to external addresses kept blocked
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration and advice
Threats it helps against
Fake invoices
Emails that copy a supplier's style and ask for payment to new bank details. Impersonation checks and staff awareness work together here.
Credential phishing
Links to fake Microsoft 365 login pages. Link checking can block known malicious sites, and MFA limits the damage if a password is entered.
Malicious attachments
Documents carrying malware are scanned and, where licensed, opened in a sandbox before they reach the inbox.
Your domain spoofed
Emails sent to your customers pretending to come from you. A DMARC policy lets receiving servers reject them.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained
These three DNS (domain name system) records help receiving mail servers decide whether an email that claims to come from your domain is genuine.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
Lists the services allowed to send email for your domain, such as Microsoft 365 and any marketing or invoicing platforms you use.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
Adds a digital signature to your outgoing email, so receiving servers can check it came from an authorised sender and wasn't altered.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance)
Tells receiving servers what to do with email that fails these checks, and sends reports. We start in monitoring mode, then tighten it once legitimate mail is passing.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC protect your domain from being impersonated in email sent to other people. They don't filter what arrives in your own inboxes; that is the job of your filtering policies.
Problems solved
Inboxes full of spam
Tuned filtering policies cut the noise, so staff can focus on genuine email.
Convincing phishing emails
Link and attachment checks and anti-phishing policies stop many of these before anyone sees them.
Someone impersonating a director
Impersonation protection, where supported, flags messages that pretend to come from key people in your business.
Your domain used in scams
SPF, DKIM and DMARC make it harder for criminals to send email that appears to come from you.
Genuine emails stuck in quarantine
Clear quarantine policies and an agreed release process mean legitimate mail can be found and released without guesswork.
What's included
Included as standard
- Review of your current email protection, licences and domain records
- Configuration of anti-spam, anti-phishing and anti-malware policies
- Link and attachment checks using the features in your licences or filtering service
- Quarantine policies and an agreed release process
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration advice
- Ongoing policy tuning within the agreed scope
Optional or scoped
Available on request and confirmed in your proposal; not part of the standard service.
- An additional third-party filtering service, where built-in protection isn't enough
- DMARC report monitoring and staged enforcement
- Security Awareness Training for staff
- Phishing Simulations to see how staff respond to realistic emails
What's not included
- Microsoft 365 licences, including upgrades to Business Premium
- Third-party filtering subscriptions, unless agreed in your proposal
- Changes at a DNS or domain provider we don't have access to; we supply the records for you or your provider to add
- Backup of email, covered by Microsoft 365 Backup
No filtering service stops every phishing email. Some well-crafted or brand-new attacks will get through, so staff training, MFA and an easy way to report suspicious emails remain essential.
Impersonation protection, Safe Links and Safe Attachments depend on your Microsoft 365 licence or an additional filtering service. We explain what your current licences include before recommending anything extra.
Who it's suitable for
- Businesses receiving high volumes of spam or phishing
- Finance teams handling invoices and payments by email
- Organisations on Business Basic or Standard that want stronger filtering
- Businesses whose domain has been used in scam emails
- Organisations without SPF, DKIM or DMARC in place
Pricing
This service is tailored to your business, so we confirm the price after a short conversation about your requirements. There is no charge for the conversation.
Use the quote builder to add Email Security & Filtering to an indicative quote, or book a free security review and we'll recommend what fits.
Price
On Application
Tailored price on application, based on your mailboxes and the filtering approach we agree.
Included in the Advanced IT & Security plan (£35 per device per month).
What affects the price
- Number of mailboxes
- Your Microsoft 365 licences
- Whether an additional filtering service is needed
- Number of email domains
- Your current SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup
All prices exclude VAT.
Add to Your QuoteFrequently asked questions
Isn't Microsoft 365's built-in filtering enough?
For some businesses it is, once properly configured. Exchange Online Protection is included with every Microsoft 365 business plan, and Business Premium adds Defender for Office 365 Plan 1. We review your licences, risk and the threats you are seeing, and only recommend an additional service if it adds something you need.
Will this stop all phishing emails?
No. Filtering reduces how many reach your team, but some will get through. That is why we pair it with MFA, staff training and an easy way to report suspicious messages.
What happens to emails that are quarantined?
They are held rather than delivered. We agree who can review and release them, whether users are notified, and how release requests are handled.
What is DMARC and do we need it?
DMARC tells other mail servers what to do with email that claims to be from your domain but fails authentication checks, making your domain harder to impersonate. We publish it in monitoring mode first, check that services such as invoicing or marketing systems are set up correctly, then tighten it.
Does this protect the email we send?
Filtering mainly protects incoming email. SPF, DKIM and DMARC help protect the email you send by allowing receivers to check it is genuine, which makes it harder for others to send fake email in your name.
Let's Secure Your Business
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