7 Secure Email Gateway Problems Costly in 2025

If you've ever wondered why your company's email security feels like it's playing catch-up rather than getting ahead of threats, you're not alone. Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) were great when email lived on corporate servers and threats were simpler… but that was a different era.

Today's reality? Security teams across nearly 2,000 customer environments experienced an average of 67.5 additional phishing emails bypassing legacy security solutions per 100 mailboxes each month. These aren't simulated threats but actual attacks that evaded detection by leading SEGs.

Let's be honest about what's really happening with SEGs in 2025 – and why so many security teams are hitting the same frustrating roadblocks.

Problem 1: advanced threat detection failures

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Sophisticated attackers often employ advanced evasion techniques to bypass SEGs including polymorphic malware that changes its code to avoid signature detection, and zero-day exploits that SEGs may not yet recognize.

The issue isn't that SEGs are bad at what they were designed for. It's that what they were designed for doesn't match what attackers are doing now. A SEG is static in nature and uses signature-based and reputation-based detection for phishing attacks. But today's threats? They're dynamic, contextual, and designed specifically to slip through these traditional filters.

Why this matters in 2025:

• Attackers use AI to craft personalized, contextually-aware phishing emails
• Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks don't rely on malicious payloads
• Social engineering tactics exploit human psychology, not technical vulnerabilities

The real cost: According to a report by Verizon, 94% of malware was delivered by email in 2019, and phishing was involved in 22% of data breaches. If your SEG is missing even a fraction of these sophisticated attacks, you're not just dealing with security incidents – you're dealing with potential business disruption.

Problem 2: cloud architecture limitations

SEGs were a leading email security technology when corporate email was primarily located on-premises. However, as companies increasingly adopt cloud-based email systems, attempts by SEGs to adapt to the changing environment have fallen short.

Think about it… your email doesn't live on a server in your data center anymore. It's in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. But many SEGs are still designed like gatekeepers at a physical door that no longer exists.

The fundamental mismatch:

• Many SEGs will route email traffic directed to the corporate email server through a cloud-based proxy for inspection before forwarding it to its destination. While this provides protection against external threats, it leaves the solution blind to internal ones.
• SEGs typically do not analyze any internal email communications.
• SEGs are designed to protect email and only email.

What this means for your security posture: Material Security understands this challenge. Unlike traditional SEGs that try to intercept traffic en-route, Material Security integrates directly with cloud platforms via API, providing comprehensive protection across your entire Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 environment without architectural compromises.

Problem 3: post-delivery protection gaps

Here's where things get really problematic. Some malicious content may only become active or detectable after delivery, requiring post-delivery protection mechanisms.

Your SEG might let an email through that looks fine initially, but becomes malicious hours or days later when:

• URLs are weaponized after delivery
• Attachments are updated remotely
• Context changes make previously safe content dangerous

Once an email is delivered, Gmail provides limited visibility and remediation. Once a malicious email is identified, each email needs to be removed from an inbox, requiring manual time and effort.

The manual remediation nightmare: Security teams end up playing whack-a-mole, manually removing threats one inbox at a time. It's time-consuming, error-prone, and frankly… exhausting for your team.

Problem 4: false positives and user experience issues

SEGs may incorrectly flag legitimate emails as malicious, causing disruptions in business communications and potentially damaging relationships with clients or partners.

We've all been there – important business emails sitting in quarantine while spam somehow makes it through. SEGs and ICES solutions may sometimes fail to detect or block malicious emails, or mistakenly block or quarantine legitimate emails, which can affect the user experience and productivity. SEGs and ICES solutions cannot prevent users from clicking on malicious links or attachments, or falling for phishing or spoofing scams.

The productivity paradox:

• Critical vendor communications get quarantined
• Users lose trust in security systems
• IT teams spend hours reviewing false positives
• Business relationships suffer due to delayed communications

Problem 5: complex deployment and management overhead

Implementing and integrating SEGs into an organization's email infrastructure can be challenging and time-consuming, especially for those without in-house IT expertise. Regular updates and maintenance are required to keep SEGs effective, which can be resource-intensive and may necessitate ongoing IT support.

But it's not just about the initial setup. SEGs often necessitate changes to your email server's MX-records, which can be a hurdle in terms of deployment complexity.

The hidden operational costs:

• Security teams often spend hours each week triaging alerts, manually reviewing flagged emails, or reverse-engineering suspicious messages. Rather than saving time, these tools can quietly consume it, chipping away at overall ROI.
• Negative feedback most often involved installation challenges and poor setup documentation -- problematic for less experienced administrators.

A better approach: Material Security takes a different path. "Our Material deployment was almost invisible. We were so paranoid about downtime for our users and confusion. But it went seamlessly with zero complaints from both technical and non-technical teams. Plus, we didn't need a dedicated resource internally to manage Material ongoing."

Problem 6: cost and ROI concerns

The expense of purchasing, deploying and maintaining SEGs can be a burden for some organizations, particularly smaller ones or those with limited budgets.

But the real cost issue isn't just the upfront investment – it's the total cost of ownership when you factor in:

• Can be costly and may necessitate additional investments in infrastructure or cloud storage services
• These platforms provide comprehensive features like advanced threat intelligence, extensive archiving, and seamless integration with Microsoft 365, justifying their cost for large organizations with complex security needs. Pricing can fluctuate based on user count and add-ons, so businesses should request quotes to compare options.
• Ongoing operational overhead and maintenance costs

The ROI reality check: When considering replacements, factor in both direct and indirect cost savings. These include reduced time spent on alert triage, fewer false positives, lower administrative overhead, and improved end-user productivity. Modern platforms often shift security from a cost center to a source of measurable operational value.

Problem 7: integration and architectural complexity

Finally, SEGs introduce unnecessary architectural complexity. When you're trying to secure a cloud-first workplace with legacy perimeter-based tools, you end up with:

• Multiple security layers that don't communicate effectively
• Some SEGs disable the built-in security protections offered by an email provider (Google, Microsoft, etc.). This eliminates defense-in-depth and makes an organization more vulnerable to attack.
• Complex routing and potential points of failure

The integration challenge: Others, however, had concerns about Email Protection's interfaces, especially its limited integration capabilities. Your security stack shouldn't be a collection of disconnected tools – it should work together seamlessly.

The path forward: moving beyond traditional SEGs

Look, I get it. Change is hard, especially when it comes to security infrastructure. But here's what forward-thinking security teams are realizing: 80% of organizations are choosing to stop investing in their SEG, and instead are consolidating around Microsoft's native capabilities augmented by an integrated cloud email security (ICES) solution, which can detect and prevent advanced phishing attacks. Specific vendor capabilities vary, but the key is that ICES solutions offer more capabilities than SEGs, including advanced threat detection, ease of use, and improved response.

Why Material Security is different:

• API-native architecture: Works with your cloud platforms, not against them
• Comprehensive coverage: Protects email, files, and identity in one unified platform
• Post-delivery protection: Automatically removes threats after delivery
• Simplified deployment: No MX record changes, no architectural complexity

The problems with SEGs aren't going away – they're getting worse as threats evolve and cloud adoption accelerates. The question isn't whether you'll eventually need a better solution… it's whether you'll make the move before or after the next major incident.

Ready to see what modern email security looks like? Material Security offers a comprehensive approach that addresses every limitation we've discussed here. Learn more about our cloud workspace protection and discover why companies like Figma, DoorDash, and MassMutual trust Material Security to protect their most critical communications.

Because in 2025, your email security should be your competitive advantage, not your biggest headache.

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