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Cybersecurity
10 min

Egress vs Mailock: Secure Email Comparison And Review

Choosing the best email encryption solution for your business is crucial. In this review, we will be comparing Egress and Mailock secure email.

There are many ways to review and compare secure email or email encryption solutions.

Each company will have different priorities in terms of security, user experience, and integration with other tools.

In this review, we compare Egress and Mailock for their secure outbound email capabilities, based on:

  • Outbound Email Security: The most important features to consider when you're looking at secure email solutions are encryption strength, data loss prevention prompts, and authentication capabilities.
  • User Interface and Experience: Any system you use to communicate with customers must prioritise user experience, avoid unnecessary friction, and keep operations smooth.
  • Integrations and Ecosystem: How a solution integrates with your current infrastructure, along with other tools available in its ecosystem, will help you see if it can be deployed easily and for the long term.
  • Cost and Customer Support: Cost should never trump security, but it's a factor, and so is the ongoing support you'll receive.

⬇️ Download The Fact Sheet

Egress vs. Mailock: Secure Email Comparison and Review at a Glance

In this review, we compare Egress and Mailock based on key features:

Egress Intelligent Email Security

  • Outbound Email Security: End-to-end AES 256-bit email encryption, limited recipient authentication (Q&A or Egress account sign-in), and a 'black box' approach to data loss prevention prompts (machine learning).
  • User Interface and Experience: Unregistered recipients must register to read. Configurable privileges (for example, 'do not forward' or 'disable download') and 25 credits per month for free users (1 credit = 1 recipient).
  • Integrations and Ecosystem: Integrates with Microsoft Outlook and 365 for desktop functionality; no single sign-on (SSO) available (users must log in with Egress credentials); a multi-product ecosystem with 296 outbound and inbound email and data security products.
  • Cost and Customer Support: User or volume-based pricing, negotiable at scale, with a guide cost of £90 per user per year, and a combined support desk for its 296 security tools.

Mailock

  • Outbound Email Security: End-to-end AES 256-bit email encryption, flexible recipient authentication (Q&A, SMS, Unipass ID), and a 'clear box' approach to data loss prevention prompts (trigger words).
  • User Interface and Experience: Unregistered recipients can read without signing up; simple access privileges (works like a normal email) and 5 send credits per month for free users (1 credit = 1 send).
  • Integrations and Ecosystem: Integrates with Microsoft Outlook and 365 for desktop functionality; integrates with Unipass ID single sign-on (SSO) for financial services users; a tri-product ecosystem specialising in secure communications, with Mailock as the flagship.
  • Cost and Customer Support: User or volume-based pricing, negotiable at scale, with a guide cost of £84 per user per year, and a dedicated support desk for Mailock secure email.

 

Overview of Egress and Mailock Solutions

What Is Egress?

Egress' Intelligent Cloud Email Security Suite uses patented self-learning technology to detect inbound and outbound threats and prevent data loss.

It is designed to reduce human-activated risk.

Its Prevent and Protect tools make it possible to send encrypted emails from Outlook or M365, preventing email mistakes and misfires.

It also offers some automation capabilities for the delivery of secure email to customers at scale.

What Is Mailock?

Mailock empowers businesses and customers to exchange sensitive information using email with the confidence that only the right people can gain access.

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By combining high-strength encryption with the ability to authenticate recipients, organisations can record proof of delivery while taking advantage of all the benefits of email.

Mailock works as a web app, Outlook integration, or secure email gateway (cloud or on-premise) and is designed to support high-volume delivery using automation.

Egress Email Security

Egress is a solid tool for encryption and data loss prevention with basic authentication capabilities.

Egress email security (1)

Outbound Email Security

Egress uses military-grade end-to-end AES-256 encryption to protect confidential emails from interception.

You can apply this by individual users, from their Windows Outlook ribbon bar, or by administrators using M365 rules.

Egress also offers limited email recipient authentication.

Users can set question-and-answer challenges (the example on their website is "What's your date of birth?") that recipients must answer correctly to gain access.

However, no SMS challenge is available for securing individual messages.

Instead, administrators can require accounts accessing information in their company's workspace to use SMS authentication when signing in to an Egress account.

Creating or signing into an Egress account is a requirement for anyone who wants to read, download, or reply.

Egress focuses on human-activated risk through a machine-learning program that analyses email contents and recipients to detect anomalies that could present a threat.

It then prompts users to send an email securely if it contains confidential information.

This 'black-box' approach is similar to how your email provider (for example, M365) detects suspicious activity and works out of the box.

Of course, this approach could create a false sense of security if users come to rely on the machine to tell them whether their email needs to be secured.

Administrators have no way of knowing what and how the machine is learning, which might make it difficult to relinquish control over data protection behaviour.

If an email is sent unsecured when it should have been secured, users and administrators can revoke it using their audit log.

This is unilateral and works regardless of a recipient's infrastructure.

Audit logs also show send and access timestamps for each securely sent email.

User Interface and Experience

Egress offers configurable access privileges (for example, 'do not forward', 'do not print', and 'disable download'), which M365 users might recognise.

As with M365's email access privilege settings, users and administrators can configure access for recipients of secure emails.

For organisations with complex security policies that require it, this feature could check the right box.

However, most people know there are relatively easy ways to bypass these controls.

They should be seen more as a lightweight barrier than a complete prevention measure.

Recipients of an Egress secure email must create an Egress account to read it and download attachments.

If a question-and-answer challenge has been set, recipients need to pass that challenge after they sign into their account before they can access the secure email.

This requirement to create an Egress account might be frustrating for people who prefer easy access to important information. Still, it comes with benefits.

A free Egress account lets recipients send secure emails to 25 people each month (note that cc'd recipients of a single email use multiple email send credits).

This could help them keep the information you send protected if they need to share it.

Looking at Trustpilot, it's clear there have been some frustrations with Egress' user experience.

Although the interface has improved, the restriction on end recipients to create an account may be too much of a barrier.

Another potential issue is the use of the .htm format for attachments, which often leads to emails being blocked by filters or marked as junk.

As Egress grows in usage, email filters may learn to trust this format when sent with Egress security.

Integrations and Ecosystem

Egress integrates with Microsoft 365 and offers a Windows Outlook add-in for desktops.

This is straightforward to deploy, though the configurable access privileges may confuse some users, so a training session is helpful.

The Outlook add-in functionality includes:

  • Secure compose option
  • Auto-decrypt for secure emails
  • Audit trails and revoke function
  • 'Before-you-send' warnings
  • Access privilege config
  • Settings

Currently, Egress offers no single sign-on (SSO) integration for simpler ID authentication in particular industries.

In terms of its ecosystem, Egress is a multinational security company with a range of products built around data security.

Secure email is one of many offerings, ranging from inbound to outbound protection.

The ability to integrate seamlessly with its secure workspace, form, and phishing products is a strong reason to consider Egress.

However, because secure email is not the organisation's main focus, feature requests might be addressed less frequently.

Cost and Customer Support

Egress provides a guide cost of £90 per user per year.

The cost per user reduces with scale.

You can contact the team for an estimate.

Egress has a combined support desk for its product suite, receiving enquiries from across the globe.

Its customer review score on Trustpilot is 3.3 out of 5 stars.

It's not entirely clear how much of this is due to users' experience of Egress' products versus its service.

"We are an Egress Partner (Reseller).

If our experience is bad, I hate to think what it is like for an end user.

I can never get hold of anyone over the phone."

— Jason, Egress Partner (Trustpilot)

Mailock Secure Email

Mailock is perfect for organisations that need to send confidential information securely to the right recipients without friction.

Mailock secure email homepage

Outbound Email Security

Mailock uses military-grade end-to-end AES-256 encryption to protect confidential emails from interception.

Users can secure individual emails sent from the Windows Outlook client, and administrators can use keywords and M365 rules to apply outbound security across the company.

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To make sure sensitive information always reaches the right person, Mailock offers multiple authentication challenges, including:

  • SMS: Send a one-time code to your recipient's mobile device.
  • Q&A: Ask a question only they could answer correctly.
  • Unipass ID: Allow financial professionals to verify their ID using Unipass.

These identity challenge processes can be applied by users or administrators.

They offer robust protection that makes sure sensitive misdirected emails remain encrypted, even if an unauthorised party gains access to a recipient's inbox.

Mailock provides default sets of keywords that trigger emails to be encrypted or prompt 'before you send' warnings.

Administrators can edit these default sets to customise Mailock to their information security policy and set further rules using M365.

This transparent, or 'clear box', data loss prevention (DLP) approach gives organisations direct control over how secure email is initiated.

Administrators should review keyword sets regularly to keep them up to date.

For misfired emails, Mailock provides the ability to audit and revoke secure emails at both the user and administrator levels.

Like Egress, Mailock's revoke function is immediate and unilateral.

User Interface and Experience

A key reason businesses choose Mailock is that recipients can read secure emails and download any attachments without registering for an account.

If an authentication challenge has been set, the recipient will need to complete it.

After that, they can read their message and download attachments as if it were a normal email.

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Recipients can create a Mailock account to reply securely.

This quick process gives them 5 free secure emails each month to send to anyone else (note that one email with multiple people cc'd uses one credit).

Mailock prioritises a smooth user experience over complex tiered access privileges.

Once recipients have access, they have full access, just like a normal email.

Attachments arrive in their original format, and Mailock is already used widely in the financial sector, so its secure emails bypass junk and 'suspicious email' filters reliably.

Integrations and Ecosystem

Mailock integrates with Microsoft 365 and offers a desktop Outlook add-in for user controls.

It's easy to deploy, and most desktop users can navigate its options without trouble.

The Outlook add-in functionality includes:

If you're an organisation that deals with financial services professionals, you'll be happy to know there's an integration with Unipass ID.

This makes it easy for financial services advisers (for example, investment advisers) to verify their identity.

Unipass Mailock Hero Images

Mailock is the flagship product in a tri-product ecosystem from Beyond Encryption, which includes authentication and smart admin solutions.

At Beyond Encryption, we have built a reputation for making secure customer communications straightforward.

If you're a customer-facing organisation, the ability to integrate seamlessly with our other engagement tools could benefit you if you choose Mailock.

Cost and Customer Support

Mailock starts at £9.30 per user per month for an individual account and £84 per user per year for an enterprise organisation.

The cost per seat reduces with scale, and volume-based pricing is also available.

"Your representative was very friendly and helpful.

She was willing to do that bit extra to make sure my issue was resolved."

— Sasha, Financial Adviser

Beyond Encryption has a dedicated Mailock support desk based in Hampshire, U.K., with an average rating of 4.9 stars out of 5.

Just email it (securely)! CTA

Egress vs. Mailock

Every organisation has different requirements when picking a secure email solution.

But in a nutshell...

Egress offers Q&A authentication only and requires recipients to create an account.

It takes a 'black box' approach to DLP and has a combined product support desk.

Mailock offers Q&A, SMS, and Unipass authentication and is easy to use for senders and recipients.

It takes a 'clear box' approach to DLP and has a dedicated U.K. support desk.

FAQs

Why Should My Business Use Secure Email?

Secure email helps protect sensitive data and prevents accidental data loss.

It also makes sure you stay compliant with regulations.

Which Is Better, Egress Or Mailock?

It depends on your needs.

Egress offers a broader product suite, while Mailock focuses on making secure email simple for both senders and recipients.

Is It Hard For Recipients To Access Encrypted Emails?

Mailock lets recipients read encrypted emails without creating an account, which can simplify processes.

Egress requires recipients to register.

 

Reviewed by

Sabrina McClune, 20.12.2024

Sam Kendall, 23.12.2024

 

Originally posted on 13 01 23
Last updated on December 23, 2024

Posted by: Sabrina McClune

Sabrina McClune is a Women in Tech Excellence 2022 finalist who writes extensively on cybersecurity, digital transformation, data protection, and digital identity. With a postgraduate degree in Digital Marketing (Distinction) and a First-Class Honours degree in English, she combines a strong academic foundation with professional expertise. At Beyond Encryption, Sabrina develops research-led content that supports financial and technology sectors navigating the complexities of the digital age.

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