API Email Security Weaknesses

API email security services, like any technology, can have weaknesses that can potentially compromise their effectiveness. Here are some common weaknesses of API email security services:

1. False positives: API email security services may generate false positives, meaning that legitimate emails may be flagged as spam or malicious, resulting in important emails being blocked or diverted to the spam folder.
2. False negatives: Conversely, API email security services may also generate false negatives, meaning that malicious emails may be missed and delivered to the recipient’s inbox. This can leave the user vulnerable to phishing attacks or other email-based threats. As API and in-line security applications rely on the gateway perimeter to detect and deter malicious activity first and foremost, API services will lack intelligence to understand the full threat vector for each of the customer’s domains and end-user accounts.
3. Dependence on configuration and tuning: The effectiveness of API email security services may be highly dependent on how they are configured and tuned. This can make them vulnerable to misconfigurations or configuration errors that can compromise their effectiveness.
4. Limited protection against advanced threats: Some API email security services may not be effective against advanced email-based threats, such as spear-phishing or zero-day attacks, which can exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities. Ultimately these services still rely on the same malware detection engines as perimeter gateways, they just gather less information regarding the full threat vector due to limited visibility.
5. Dependence on third-party services: Many API email security services rely on third-party services for their functionality, which can introduce additional vulnerabilities or dependencies. This can also result in slower response times or downtime if the third-party service experiences issues.
6. Cost: API email security services can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals. This can make them inaccessible for some users who may rely on less effective, free email security options.
7. Email Continuity – Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery very much include corporate email. As we have witnessed recently with the M365 outages, a business cannot operate in the modern age without email. Microsoft services are now core to many businesses and when an outage occurs, there is no access to email. API and In-Line email security services sit behind the perimeter gateway and therefore cannot provide an MX backup or email continuity service by design. Most leading email gateway services such as Spambrella offer a full email continuity service to catch all email that cannot be delivered to M365 (or other mail servers) and allow users to send and receive email in a DR situation.

Overall, while API email security services can provide a valuable layer of protection against email-based threats, they are not foolproof and can have limitations and weaknesses. It is important to consider these weaknesses when selecting and configuring an API email security service.