Managed email security protects businesses from phishing, business email compromise, and impersonation attacks that bypass Microsoft 365's default filters. Consilien delivers email security as part of IC24 Managed IT and Co-Managed IT for mid-market companies across California.
Email Security Services for California Businesses
Microsoft 365 gives you a foundation. Managed email security closes the gaps attackers exploit. Included in IC24 Managed IT and Co-Managed IT.
Your email isn't as protected as you think.
Most companies running Microsoft 365 assume their inbox is covered. And to be fair, Microsoft's built-in filtering blocks an enormous volume of threats. But it catches roughly 93% of phishing attempts. That sounds good until you do the math. At 3.4 billion phishing emails sent every day, that 7% gap is a lot of exposure.
The attacks that cost businesses real money don't look like spam. Business email compromise, fake wire instructions, impersonated executives, vendor payment fraud - none of them carry malicious links or attachments. There's nothing for a spam filter to catch. The FBI's 2025 IC3 report logged $3.04 billion in BEC losses last year. That made it the second-largest category of cybercrime loss in the country. Eighty-six percent of those losses moved by wire transfer, often before anyone knew something was wrong.
That's the problem managed email security is built to solve. And it's one of the reasons email security is part of our IC24 Managed Security Services rather than something we bolt on later.
What Managed Email Security Actually Covers
A spam filter and a managed email security program are not the same thing. Not even close.
Spam filters block known junk. Managed email security is the layer that protects against threats that don't look like threats. Most mid-market companies have SPF and DKIM records in place. DMARC is another story. A 2026 analysis by Cloudskope found that a large share of mid-market organizations have DMARC configured in monitoring mode only, with no enforcement. That means their domain can still be spoofed. Attackers can send emails that appear to come from your company, to your vendors, your clients, your finance team.
What we configure and manage as part of IC24 covers the full stack. Authentication enforcement, meaning SPF, DKIM, and DMARC locked down to reject, not just report. Advanced anti-phishing policies inside Microsoft Defender, tuned for impersonation detection and executive name spoofing. Outbound controls so sensitive data doesn't leave through email unmonitored. Encrypted email handling for communications involving contracts, financial data, or compliance-sensitive information.
Most of this exists inside Microsoft 365. It just doesn't come configured. That's the gap.
The BEC Threat Most Mid-Market Companies Underestimate
Here's what a business email compromise attack actually looks like.
Your CFO gets an email from the CEO asking for an urgent wire transfer. It's from the right name, the right domain, the right tone. It references a real vendor relationship. There's no link to click. No attachment to open. Just a request from someone who appears to be exactly who they say they are.
By mid-2024, an estimated 40% of BEC phishing emails were AI-generated, according to Hoxhunt's research. They're indistinguishable from real correspondence in language and formatting. The AFP's 2026 Payments Fraud Survey found that 74% of organizations experienced BEC in 2025, up from 63% the year before. The average wire transfer request in one of these attacks was $24,586.
Manufacturing companies, professional services firms, real estate operations, distribution businesses - anyone who moves money over email is a target. The attackers know which industries process wire transfers regularly. They're patient.
Managed email security doesn't just filter. It monitors behavioral signals, flags anomalies in communication patterns, and ties email threat detection to our SOC so there's a human response when something surfaces, not just an automated alert.
Email Security Is Already Part of IC24. Not an Add-On.
One question we hear a lot is whether this costs extra. It doesn't.
Email security is included in IC24 Managed IT and IC24 Co-Managed IT. The configuration, the ongoing tuning, the Microsoft Defender policy management, the SOC monitoring, the incident response if something gets through. All of it is part of the engagement, not a separate line item.
That matters for a few reasons. First, security that lives inside the same managed IT program as your endpoints, infrastructure, and identity management is more effective than a bolt-on from a separate vendor. The signals connect. A suspicious email login attempt correlates with endpoint behavior. The SOC sees the full picture.
Second, it's just cleaner operationally. One partner, one contract, one team that knows your environment.
What Is Managed Email Security?
Managed email security is the ongoing configuration, monitoring, and response layer that protects business email from phishing, impersonation, and compromise attacks that bypass default filters. Unlike a spam filter, it actively tunes Microsoft 365 controls, enforces email authentication protocols, and connects inbox threats to a monitored security response before a wire transfer goes to the wrong account.
What We're Good At. And What to Expect.
Who This Is Right For
This is the right fit if you're running Microsoft 365 with somewhere between 10 and 500 employees. If your business handles financial transactions over email, whether that's vendor payments, wire transfers, invoicing, or client billing, the BEC exposure is real and worth addressing.
It's also a good fit for companies in manufacturing, professional services, distribution, or real estate across California. These industries move money regularly and are specifically targeted. Companies preparing for compliance audits under CMMC, SOC 2, or CPRA will also find that email security controls are a documented requirement in each of those frameworks.
Internal IT teams that need stronger security without adding headcount get this included in Co-Managed IT, with no additional cost.
Who it's probably not right for: If you're already running a fully managed enterprise MSSP contract with dedicated email security tooling in place, there may be overlap worth discussing before moving forward. If your organization runs on Google Workspace rather than Microsoft 365, our stack is Microsoft-aligned and we're not the right fit for that environment. And if you're a company with under 10 employees and minimal financial transaction volume over email, the risk profile is lower and the priority may be elsewhere.
Full disclosure. We're an IT company. We benefit when you work with us. If you're genuinely low-exposure, we'd rather tell you that than oversell the risk.
The Objections We Hear Most
"We already have Microsoft Defender. Isn't that enough?"
Defender is a strong foundation. The problem isn't the product, it's the configuration. Default Defender settings leave gaps in impersonation detection, DMARC enforcement visibility, and post-delivery threat response. Most internal IT teams configure it once during setup and don't revisit it. We tune it continuously as part of your managed IT engagement.
"Is this a separate cost on top of our contract?"
No. Email security is included in IC24 Managed IT and Co-Managed IT. You're not buying a separate email security product. You're getting it as part of a complete managed cybersecurity environment.
"We haven't had an incident yet. How urgent is this really?"
BEC attacks don't trigger breach notifications. They don't show up in security logs the way malware does. In many cases, companies don't know they were targeted until they're looking at a fraudulent wire transfer that already cleared. The absence of a known incident isn't the same as a clean record. It might just mean nothing has been detected.
If you're not sure where your current exposure sits, a cybersecurity risk assessment is a good place to start.
Common Questions About Email Security
Is Microsoft 365 enough to protect our email?
Microsoft 365 provides a solid baseline. Exchange Online Protection catches a large volume of spam and known malware. But it isn't a complete email security program. The gaps show up in advanced phishing detection, impersonation protection, DMARC enforcement, and post-delivery response. Those are the areas that require active configuration and ongoing management, which is what we handle inside IC24 Managed IT.
Your inbox is either protected or it isn't.
The FBI documented $3.04 billion in BEC losses in 2025. Most of it moved by wire transfer before anyone knew what happened. The attacks that caused those losses didn't carry malware or suspicious links. They looked like normal business correspondence.
Managed email security is part of what we do inside IC24 Managed IT and Co-Managed IT for mid-market companies across California. If you want to know where your current Microsoft 365 configuration stands and what gaps exist, we can start there.