AegisAI Perspectives · 101
This page sets out the criteria for choosing an ICES platform, the licences each one needs in Microsoft 365, and a trial plan you can run on your own mail.
See it on your own Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 tenant. No MX change.
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Choose an integrated cloud email security (ICES) platform by running it in monitor mode for at least two weeks5, then scoring what it does after delivery and what it needs from your tenant. AegisAI, for example, reads mail through the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace API after delivery and runs in monitoring mode first18. The criteria below apply to any platform you test.
Score every platform on your shortlist against these three outcomes.
An ICES platform adds a second reader that connects to your cloud mail suite by API and acts on mail after the suite has accepted it. In Microsoft 365, malware and high-confidence phishing are always quarantined, and quarantine cannot be turned off completely15. Zero-hour auto purge (ZAP) acts on messages already in a mailbox, but its search covers only the last 48 hours of delivered email10. ZAP for malware, spam and phishing has no special licensing requirement.
Ask two things of any ICES platform. What does it catch that the built-in layer delivered, and what does it do about mail that is older than 48 hours? The guide to API-based email security without an MX record change explains the connection itself. Write down your current filter's gaps before you talk to any vendor.
Short on time? Watch the explainer, or book a demo.
Your Defender for Office 365 plan decides which built-in layers you already hold. Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 adds post-breach investigation, hunting, response and automation8. If your subscription lacks Plan 2, Microsoft offers a 90 day trial of it at no cost.
Automated Investigation and Response (AIR) needs Plan 2 licences14. When AIR finds a threat, it queues remediation actions for SecOps staff to approve. List your current plan and the permissions each platform asks for before any sales call.
No, but joining Microsoft's ICES vendor ecosystem for Defender comes with conditions. Microsoft's ICES vendor ecosystem requires Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 licences1. Integration works only with the vendors Microsoft lists, and other ICES vendors are not supported. Microsoft calls it critical to align policy settings between Defender and the integrated vendor, to keep message handling consistent.
Ask each vendor whether it is on Microsoft's supported list and where its verdicts will show up.
Run the trial in this order, so each step produces evidence before the next one adds risk.
Record whether your subscription includes Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, the plan that adds post-breach investigation.
Decide whether you need verdicts inside Defender. That needs Plan 2 or E5 and a vendor on Microsoft's list.
Connect the platform by API with read access only. Leave mail routing and MX records as they are.
Run in monitor mode for at least two weeks before enforcing any block.
Review false positive rates every week during the first month6.
Export trial evidence early. Anti-spam quarantine keeps messages 15 days by default, or 30 days under the Standard and Strict preset policies16. Expired messages are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
Align policies between Defender and the added platform before you turn on enforcement.
Grant removal rights as a separate step, then test removal on a message delivered more than 48 hours earlier, outside ZAP's search window.
Put these eight steps into the trial agreement, so the vendor runs your test instead of its own demo.
AegisAI reads mail through the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace API after delivery, with no change to mail routing (MX records). It runs in monitoring mode first. Removal needs write access your admin grants and can revoke. Every verdict on inbound email security comes with its reason in plain language, so your team can check it and share it.
The table scores criteria, not vendors. The middle column is what Microsoft 365 already does, so you can see where an added platform earns its place and where it does not.
| Criterion | Question for the trial | Built-in Microsoft 365 controls | AegisAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connection | Does it read mail by API or sit in the mail path? | Part of the mail flow | Reads mail through the API after delivery |
| Mail routing | Does it need an MX record change? | No change | No change to mail routing (MX records) |
| Mail already delivered | Can it act on messages in mailboxes? | ZAP searches the last 48 hours of delivered mail | Removal needs write access your admin grants and can revoke; ask how far back it searches |
| Watch before acting | Can it run without enforcing? | Not covered in the Microsoft pages used here | Runs in monitoring mode first |
| Notice and reason | Is anyone told why a message was moved? | Users are not told when ZAP moves a message11 | Every verdict comes with its reason in plain language |
| Cost of the first layer | What protection comes with the tenant? | ZAP for malware, spam and phishing needs no special licence | No edge: this layer is already in your tenant |
| Policy alignment | Who keeps policies consistent? | Your admin aligns them for any added vendor | No edge: ask how policies stay consistent with Defender |
60-second self-check
Six questions. Nothing is sent anywhere; the result shows on this page.
Score each row yes or no for every platform you test, keep the no-edge rows, and use the demo request page to arrange a monitoring mode test on your own tenant.
Write the trial result as counts on your own mail, including messages delivered more than 48 hours before the flag.
Illustrative example, figures are fictional. A 600 mailbox Microsoft 365 tenant on E3 runs an ICES platform in monitor mode for 14 days. The platform flags 41 messages that the built-in layer delivered. The security team reviews all 41: 33 are phishing or payment fraud, 8 are legitimate newsletters. In week 2 the team finds 6 of the 33 were opened, and 2 were delivered more than 48 hours before the flag. The team writes three numbers into the trial report: 33 missed threats, 8 false positives, and 2 messages outside ZAP's search window.
Write your own trial up in this format, with the denominator and the dates, before you compare platforms.
Track three numbers from day one, each with the place it lives.
Export all three before the 15 day anti-spam retention ends for the trial period, and decide on day 30.
Run it in monitor mode on your own mail for at least two weeks, review false positives weekly, then grant removal rights. Score it on the threats it catches that your built-in layer delivered and on what it does after the 48 hour ZAP window.
It is the category name for email security that works next to the mail suite's own filtering. Microsoft runs an ICES vendor ecosystem for Defender for Office 365, limited to vendors on its supported list.
At least two weeks in monitor mode before you enforce any block, with false positive reviews every week during the first month. Export quarantine evidence before the default 15 day anti-spam retention removes it for good.
No, not when it connects by API. AegisAI, for example, reads mail through the API after delivery with no change to mail routing (MX records).
Only to join Microsoft's ICES vendor ecosystem for Defender, which requires Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5. Ask each vendor whether it is on Microsoft's supported list.
