Inbound Email Security
Preventing advanced inbound email threats using detection logic that adapts to an organisation's own environment rather than relying solely on static signatures.
The challenge
Legacy secure email gateways rely heavily on reputation lists and signature-based detection, which struggle against novel, targeted attacks such as business email compromise, credential phishing, and calendar or invite-based lures that contain no malicious attachment or link at all. Attackers routinely adjust just enough to slip past a static ruleset, leaving security teams to chase false negatives after the fact.
Security teams also need visibility into why an email was allowed or blocked, and the ability to write and tune their own detection logic quickly, rather than waiting on a vendor to update a black-box model.
Key solutions
Adaptive detection engine
Sublime's detection logic combines large language models, computer vision, and heuristics that can be tuned to an organisation's own environment, rather than relying on a single static signature feed.
Business email compromise coverage
Detection targets social-engineering-led attacks such as BEC, which typically contain no malicious payload and rely purely on impersonation and urgency.
Credential phishing detection
Analysis of message content, sender behaviour, and linked infrastructure helps identify credential-harvesting attempts that mimic legitimate login flows.
Payload-free attack detection
Coverage extends to threats like email bombs and calendar or invite-based phishing that don't rely on a traditional malicious attachment or link.
Transparent, tunable rules
Security teams can view and edit the detection logic behind a verdict directly, closing the loop between a missed or over-blocked email and a fix.
Core capabilities
ML and LLM-based analysis
Combines multiple detection techniques beyond static signatures.
Message rewriting/quarantine
Automated actions on messages identified as malicious.
Custom detection authoring
Security teams can write and adjust their own detection rules.
Cloud email platform integration
Native integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Attack simulation library
Access to a library of real-world attack samples for testing.
A payload-free BEC attempt targeting finance
An attacker impersonates a senior executive, sending a finance team member an urgent request to process a wire transfer. There is no attachment and no malicious link, so a signature-based gateway sees nothing to flag. Sublime's detection engine instead analyses the sender's display name mismatch, the newly registered look-alike domain, and language patterns typical of urgency-based social engineering, flagging the message before it reaches the inbox. The security team reviews the transparent detection logic behind the flag, confirms the verdict, and tunes the rule slightly to catch a related variant they anticipate the attacker may try next.
- 1Attacker sends a payload-free, impersonation-based wire transfer request.
- 2Adaptive detection flags sender and language anomalies a signature engine would miss.
- 3Security team reviews transparent logic and tunes detection for future variants.
Expected outcomes
- Reduced reliance on static signatures for novel, targeted attacks
- Faster identification of business email compromise and credential phishing attempts
- Coverage of payload-free attack types that bypass traditional gateways
- Security teams able to see and tune the logic behind each detection
How CyberLane helps
CyberLane independently assesses an organisation's current inbound email exposure and existing gateway coverage, helping decision-makers understand where an adaptive platform like Sublime's would close real gaps before any procurement decision is made.
- Inbound email threat exposure assessment
- Gap analysis against current secure email gateway coverage
- Independent evaluation of Sublime against alternative email security platforms
- Adoption roadmap and success criteria for a pilot deployment
CyberLane is independent and works on the decision rather than the deployment. Product-specific delivery is coordinated with the vendor or a qualified implementation partner.
Official vendor sources
Capability descriptions are based on the vendor's published materials; CyberLane's wording is independently written.
Evaluating Sublime Security for Inbound Email Security?
We start with an independent conversation about where your exposure actually sits, before any technology decision is made.