Barracuda Email Protection is an email security solution that uses machine learning to provide protection against threats. It combines email gateway defenses and API-based inbox defense to prevent attacks, respond to threats in real time, and secure Microsoft 365 data.
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Mimecast Engage Awareness Training
Score 8.0 out of 10
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Mimecast Awareness Training equips security teams to identify and reduce human-driven risk across their entire organization. The security awareness and human risk management solution works to continuously inspire awareness, transform behavior, and reduce the likelihood of security incidents caused by human error.
We selected Mimecast Awareness Training mainly for the humorous awareness training videos. The non-humorous videos on other platforms got much fewer views and penetration with our staff.
I would definitely recommend it due to the decent pricing. I wish the MS built-in M365 tools were better, but Barracuda does a good job of taking their place. For industries that need DLP on their email, like healthcare, banking, and education, Barracuda provides a reliable product for a good cost. The additional services you get, malware/AV filtering, URL filtering, spam protection, business continuity, those are all icing on the cake. The only issues we've ever really had with them is that it will sometimes take a back/forth string of emails and decide randomly to encrypt it, so what was a flowing benign conversation is now locked behind a wall for recipients. As the sender, you have no idea when it's going to decide to do this and have to remember to tag emails with a decrypt tag long before it happens or face the consequences
Staff is the single most significant danger to the cyber security posture of an organization. Before implementing Mimecast Awareness Training, staff had almost no awareness or concept of IT security or the potential risks. Staff attitudes have improved dramatically since introducing Awareness Training.
The product is pretty solid so I am not sure how it can be improved. One thing I noticed recently, I am not getting the emails back from Sentinel when I send in a "miss". Used to be I got an email back saying "sorry we missed this, we are improving." That does happen anymore, so I am assuming that when I send a miss, the AI is getting better.
I would expand this to cover all kinds of email fraud like ransomware and spam rather than creating another product.
Although cost competitive, we still feel like we are not digging deep enough to train our staff. We have little to no way other than digging through reports that have not proven to be adequately documented (hey you, Barracuda campaign reports) to identify and require users to take more training who have not passed their requirements.
I’ve parked the slider at a solid 10 because the platform keeps proving its worth every quarter. Staff phishing‑click rates have plunged from double digits to low single digits, our audit team finally stopped chasing overdue modules, and—bonus—engagement surveys show people actually enjoy the bite‑sized, comedic flavoured content. The built‑in reporting lets me walk straight into the boardroom with clean metrics. Minimal admin, measurable behaviour change, and zero eye‑rolls from end‑users—hard to ask for more.
Regarding usability, we like it to be an easy solution to implement and configure on the server. Routine backups are made frequently and reports are issued for control and analysis by information security teams. It has great integration with the cloud and encryption.
I pegged usability at a full‑blown 10 because even my least tech‑savvy colleagues—think “still double‑clicks web links” level—navigate the portal without ringing the help‑desk. Single‑sign‑on drops them straight into the next module, the interface looks like Netflix for cyber nerds, and the progress bar shouts “two minutes left” instead of burying them in menus. On the admin side, I spin up campaigns in three clicks, clone content on the fly, and the drag‑and‑drop scheduling means I can rejig a whole quarter’s plan during the time it takes the kettle to boil. Zero training manuals, zero grumbles, zero excuses—just smooth sailing from login to completion.
Its the best, hands down. Great, easy to use and on point content that injects some humour into the training makes it relevent whilst staying engaging. We have seen our engagement scores almost double since using Mimecast, with completion rates across the buisness above 90% compared to previous scores on less than 50%.
The product is quick and responsive. Emails alert the staff of new training content and provides a direct link to the training video. They watch, learn and than answer a brief question to test their knowledge. This feeds into the users risk profile in which additional training can be automatically applied based on a risk scores.
I have not had to use customer support yet which goes to show the effectiveness of the program. It also shows how easy the program is to use for the average person with no experience using this type of program. Our IT department also does a great job at teaching us to detect emails with malware that in combination with this software issues rarely arise even though we have over 500 employees.
We have had a couple of instances where we needed to contact customer support for our minecast cyber awareness training. The team were great and easy to deal with. The problem in itself was minor, and turned out to be our issues and understanding setup, however the mimecase team walked us through the issue and it was resolved exceptionally quick.
I gave implementation a rock‑solid 10 because, frankly, it was smoother than a servo sausage roll at 2 a.m. SSO clicked in on the first try, directory sync hoovered up all the user data without mangling job titles, and change comms went out on time—no “surprise training” backlash. Key insight: involve your internal comms or HR crew from day zero so the launch emails feel like a friendly nudge, not a phishing attempt. We also ran a pilot with our most cynical techs; their nit‑picks helped us tweak permissions before unleashing it on the masses. Finally, schedule the baseline phishing test after staff receive the kickoff memo—sounds obvious, but it spares you the angry “gotcha” emails and makes the resulting metrics actually meaningful.
We have used several email solutions over the years, some were bought and killed off by larger companies. Barracuda Email Protection offers a very complete solution and has all the tools that we were looking for, and our MSP offered it.
Mimecast's content is much higher quality. KnowBe4's sales tactics are much more pushy. Customer service has been better with Mimecast in general, though Mimecast's UX/UI is a lot more confusing a less user-friendly to navigate than KnowBe4. It is difficult to group individuals together, let alone manage if the directory integration is not used.
Honestly, the pricing model is about as painless as a public‑holiday Monday—straightforward per‑user cost, no sneaky “module packs” hiding in the fine print, and the nonprofit discount went down a treat. If I had to nit‑pick for the sake of continuous improvement, I’d love two tweaks:
Seat‑band granularity. The jump between tiers can feel like falling off a cliff when you’re hovering near the threshold; a smaller step (say, every 50 users) would soften the blow on fast‑growing teams.
Mid‑term seat reductions. We negotiated a generous +10 % buffer, but if headcount ever drops, a pro‑rata credit instead of waiting for renewal would be ace.
Minor quibbles, though—the value’s still a raging 10/10.
Mimecast Awareness Training is so easy to use, a child could set it up. One of the major benefits of the platform is its ability to easily prepare a years worth of content. As new users enter the organisation, its integration with Microsoft makes it easy to onboard the user and have then catch up on training.
I’m handing professional services a loud 10 because they rocked up like a pit‑crew at Bathurst and had us race‑ready in record time. Two half‑day workshops, and suddenly we’d nailed SSO, tuned the Azure AD connector, and had a fistful of custom phishing templates dripping with Aussie‑isms (Bunnings receipts, anyone?). Their consultant even whipped up a cheeky PowerShell script to clean up dodgy display‑name attributes, saving our sys‑ops hours of beard‑scratching. On top of that, they translated our dull “Information Handling” policy into bite‑sized language for the learner splash screens—legal loved it, staff actually read it. Zero scope creep, crystal‑clear handover docs, and follow‑up calls that felt more like mentoring than billable hours. Worth every cent.
