Check Point Acquires Avanan to Expand Cloud Email Security

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SAN CARLOS, Calif. and NEW YORK — Check Point Software Technologies is expanding its security for cloud email by acquiring Avanan.

Check Point, a cybersecurity company, acquired Avanan, a cloud email and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security company, as the email threat landscape becomes wider every year, according to Check Point last month.

The integrated Check Point and Avanan offering will deliver cloud email malware protection and security for SaaS collaboration suites.

The deal is expected to close “imminently.”

New York-based Avanan, founded in 2015, developed a patented API solution to stop email threats before arriving to the inbox for both internal and external emails, using artificial intelligence (AI)-based engines. 

The company, with over 1,000 employees, protects more than 5,000 customers and 2.5 million inboxes. The solution deploys “in minutes” and is configured “in a few clicks.”

Email technologies have transitioned from on-premises solutions to the cloud, according to Check Point.  

During the transition, the cloud email threat landscape has grown: 95% of cyber attacks targeting enterprise networks are caused by successful spear phishing, according to Kratikal; meanwhile, the amount of phishing attacks doubled in 2020, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG).

The move to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fuel the adoption of cloud office systems and the use of collaboration suites beyond email, expanding user exposure to cyber attacks, according to Check Point. 

Conventional security solutions built for on-premises email have “failed to adapt for the cloud,” Check Point said. 

Avanan will integrate into the Check Point Infinity, a consolidated security architecture. The unified solution will protect remote workforces from malicious files, URLs, and phishing across email, collaboration suites, web, network, and endpoint.

Unified Check Point-Avanan solution 

• Modernize legacy solutions with email-security-as-a-service and protect cloud email
• Stop infected emails with malware protection; prevent phishing attacks and malicious files from landing in inbox; eliminate hazardous clicks on emails with click-time URL protection; prevent attack expansion before any damage is evident with automatic post-attack remediation
• Protect email data loss: security admins have multiple response actions to protect data before it leaves organization
• Protect SaaS collaboration suites from malicious URLs, infected files, and data loss prevention (DLP)