No need to call the fashion police, Mimecast boosts threat detection at Forever New

Challenge

Three years ago, following the implementation of Microsoft Office 365™, Forever New, a global fast-fashion brand, started receiving large volumes of spam, phishing and impersonation attacks directed at both its staff and C-Level executives.

Forever New needed a robust email protection and archiving system designed towork hand-in-hand with Microsoft’s offering. Initially, the company’s security and risk advisory committee elected to work with the existing Office 365 spam protection policies, however this did not resolve the problem of malicious inbound messages.

As a rapidly growing company with more than 30% of retail transactions shifting online either directly or through its network of retail partners, Forever New relies heavily on cloud-based email communication. In addition, there are the inherent risks associated with global supply chains and suppliers in emerging countries not having the same level of IT maturity that Forever New aspired to.

“During the migration we quickly recognized that we required an enterprise grade security solution that would sit in front of Office 365 to provide the level of protection we needed without compromising on the customer experience with Forever New online,” said Ben Tobgui, Group IT Operations Manager, Forever New.

Solution

Forever New investigated a number of email solutions in the marketplace and selected Mimecast’s Secure Email Gateway with Targeted Threat Protection. One aspect ofthe product that appealed to Tobgui was that Mimecast was more than an email and spam solution. It also provided disaster recovery in the event of an Office 365 outage, as wellas URL rewriting, to combat malicious URL attacks on its staff.

Forever New began the implementation by using Mimecast to email the company’s suppliers and customers. In doing so, Mimecast learned who the company communicated with, improving the mail filtering function.

“If you are using Office365 you can’t assume enterprise grade threat protection. You need Mimecast in front to give you the level of protection you need. ”

Ben Tobgui, Group IT Operations Manager, Forever New

“It’s painful and damaging to our brand if we get false positives and legitimate emails from our customers and suppliers are blocked,” he said. “Mimecast learned who we communicated with, so there were very few false positives when we turned the incoming filter on.”

The end result of the Mimecast implementation is that Forever New has seen a massive reduction in the number of spam, phishing and impersonation attacks. Before it began using Mimecast, the company was receiving malicious emails on a daily basis.

Tobgui said Mimecast’s local presence and data centers were also key factors in Forever New’s choice. “The local presence, coupled with a great integrator meant that we were up and running within two weeks,” he said.

Summary

Implementation of the Mimecast Secure Email Gateway and Targeted Threat Protection has been a ‘set and forget’ experience for Forever New that has dramatically improved the company’s cybersecurity posture.

Being supported by a local Mimecast team able to resolve any issues on first contact and local data centers, has ensured smooth operation of its technologies.

In one recent month, the Mimecast platform filtered more than half a million emails, rejecting 40% of the inbound messages. This includes detecting 191 malware attachments and 1,056 impersonation attacks as well as one unsafe URL in every 1,574 emails.

“If you are using Office 365 you can’t assume enterprise grade spam protection. You need Mimecast in front to give you the level of protection you need and it makes us feel safer and more confident,” said Tobgui.