Material Security 
vs. Proofpoint

Material connects to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 through API, with no MX record changes and no mail rerouting. Setup takes under ten minutes to establish a secure read and write connection to email, files, and identity settings. Because Material does not sit in the delivery path, mail flow and deliverability stay untouched.

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Proofpoint follows a gateway model adapted for the cloud. A secure email gateway sits in front of the mailbox, so deployment involves DNS and MX changes, traffic rerouting, and ongoing maintenance to keep routing and policies correct. See how the two approaches differ in Material vs. secure email gateways, and how API-based email security works without a gateway in the path.

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Material is built to lower day-to-day operational load for lean teams:

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• No gateway, no shadow mail store, and no daily quarantine queue to triage
• One platform for phishing, posture, data loss prevention, OAuth app management, and incident response
• Message-level remediation instead of blunt quarantines, so legitimate mail keeps flowing
• Automated user report response that clusters every variant of a reported message and remediates it, cutting phishing triage by up to 91 percent

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Proofpoint's gateway model needs steady oversight across security, IT, and end users. Quarantine and release flows have to be monitored and tuned, queue management and policy changes become routine work, and deliverability questions return whenever rules tighten or a new module goes live. Teams looking to reduce that overhead often modernize their approach to email security.

Material pairs visibility across the cloud workspace with post-breach containment, so protection does not end at the inbound filter. Alongside phishing and business email compromise defense, Material:

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• Detects and contains account takeovers, remediating malicious forwarding rules, delegated access, and, in Google Workspace, the OAuth grants attackers use to keep access
• Reduces the risk of connected OAuth apps and AI agents in Google Workspace, where a single user consent can grant standing access that survives a password reset
• Stops business email compromise and vendor email compromise, which carry no malware or links and often pass a gateway untouched

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This is detection and response across the workspace rather than inbound filtering alone. Proofpoint concentrates on blocking inbound threats at the perimeter, with post-delivery cleanup available through its TRAP module, and coverage that centers on email rather than files and identity. A team that only wants a perimeter spam filter will not use most of what Material offers, which is the honest trade in the other direction.

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