Start with the way your mail is used
Email security needs to protect a working business process. A gateway that rejects legitimate invoices or a policy that prevents service notifications can create its own operational risk. MMC UAE scopes email protection around the mail platform, user population, external senders and the sensitive workflows that rely on email. Establish which attacks are the priority: credential phishing, impersonation, malicious attachments, unwanted links or unauthorised outbound information.
The discovery stage should map domains, mailboxes, shared accounts, application senders and the route messages follow. Include cloud mail, any on-premises components and relay services. Record who manages DNS, identity and mail administration. This shows where a control can operate and which changes need another team’s approval.
Scope filtering, authentication and attachment handling
An email project can assess inbound filtering, impersonation controls, sender authentication, attachment inspection and user reporting. Confirm the supported integration method for the existing mail platform and whether it changes the message route. A routing change requires a fallback and rollback plan; an API integration needs its own permissions and coverage review.
Content disarm and reconstruction addresses selected document risks differently from conventional filtering. Evaluate supported file formats, expected changes to document behaviour and the treatment of encrypted or unsupported content. Test legitimate examples with business owners. Decisions about quarantine, rejection and release should be assigned to authorised roles, with a process for time-sensitive messages.
Connect technology to the response workflow
A suspicious-message report should reach a person or queue that can investigate it. Define the information that is retained, how the analyst checks related messages and who can remove or release content. If a user has entered credentials, the response extends beyond email into identity and session handling. Document those interfaces so an apparently isolated mail alert does not stop at the wrong team.
A pilot should use representative departments, shared mailboxes and application senders. Measure false positives, user reports and investigation effort under the agreed conditions. Do not promise a detection rate or percentage reduction before a suitable evaluation. Production acceptance should trace approved test messages through the intended policy and escalation path.
Fortra partnership and other portfolio options
MMC UAE’s confirmed Fortra partnership provides a route to discuss the relevant Fortra email security products and related services. The directory also contains Proofpoint and other technology references that can inform comparison. Those listings are not assertions of a separate MMC partnership or certification. Confirm the selected product, current edition, procurement route and manufacturer support entitlements in the proposal.
Selection should follow the mail flow and operational need rather than a vendor badge. Ask for a documented comparison of integration, attachment handling, administrator roles, logging and release workflow. Identify which functionality is included in the quoted licence and which depends on another module or service.
UAE scoping, implementation and handover
For Dubai and Abu Dhabi organisations, review where mail content, attachments and security logs are processed, and which support teams can access them. The customer’s privacy and security owners should determine the applicable requirements before production content is used in a pilot. Language, external trading partners and business-specific sending patterns should be represented in the test set.
The agreed delivery scope can include discovery, configuration, a controlled pilot, approved rollout, administrator training and operating instructions. Handover should contain the mail-flow diagram, policies, exception register, release process, escalation contacts and rollback procedure. Ongoing tuning, mailbox investigation and after-hours response need explicit service terms. Share domains, mailbox counts, platform details and the workflows that cannot be disrupted to begin a quotation.
A pilot scenario to include in the brief
Consider an illustrative finance workflow that receives invoices from established suppliers and occasional new counterparties. The pilot should test legitimate attachments, unusual sender patterns and a user report, with the finance owner observing the release path. Include approved synthetic examples of the risks the policy is intended to detect. The exercise should reveal whether analysts have enough context to decide and whether legitimate urgent work can continue through a controlled exception.
Also test application-generated mail and messages to shared mailboxes. These can behave differently from ordinary employee correspondence. Check the effect of quarantine on service notifications and the way the help desk handles a release request. If the mail route changes, demonstrate the approved fallback before broad rollout. Record the exact configuration and results so the production decision is based on evidence from the customer’s environment. This is a proposed test scenario, not a claim of a completed MMC customer project.
Policy decisions to settle before a mail-flow change
Decide how different classes of message are handled before enabling a new policy. A confirmed malicious attachment, an uncertain sender and a bulk commercial message should not necessarily follow the same path. Document the intended action for each class and the administrator who can change it. Users should receive clear instructions when a message is delayed or quarantined, including a safe route for asking for review.
Sender authentication also needs coordination with legitimate third-party services. Inventory the systems that send on the organisation’s behalf, their domain usage and the person responsible for each service. Changes to authentication records should follow an approved sequence and be checked against those senders. A security improvement that breaks an authorised application can undermine confidence in the rollout and lead to unmanaged workarounds.
Review outbound handling separately from inbound protection. The customer may need controls for misaddressed information or specific transfer channels, but those requirements should be stated as policies with appropriate privacy and exception handling. Define what content an analyst is permitted to inspect and what should remain available only to designated owners. Keep the event retention and any content retention distinct so the team understands the evidence it can access later.
Finally, establish change ownership after handover. Someone must review false positives, approve exceptions and revisit policies when a new business service begins sending mail. Include the review cadence and reporting requirements in the support scope if MMC is expected to carry out those tasks. A stable initial deployment is a baseline for continued operation, not evidence that the organisation’s mail flows will never change.
Capabilities included in this solution
These specific requirements are consolidated into this guide. Use the relevant brief to identify the systems and deliverables for your project.
Advanced Email Security
Review controls for malicious and impersonated email.
Map mail routing and establish how suspicious messages are investigated and restored when appropriate.
Scope inputs: Mail tenants; Domains; Existing gateways.
Content Disarm and Reconstruction
Plan content sanitization and redaction in file workflows.
Validate representative files so the proposed inspection policy preserves the content users need.
Scope inputs: File formats; Transfer paths; Allowed content.
UAE control requirements: establish applicability first
Ask your authorised security, privacy and sector advisers which requirements apply to your entity and service. Use their control and evidence decisions in the design, acceptance plan and operating procedures.
- UAE Information Assurance Regulation (often referenced as NESA / UAE IA)
- DESC Information Security Regulation: Dubai government control requirements
- DoH AAMEN and ADHICS resources for Abu Dhabi healthcare
- UAE Government overview of personal data protection laws
These official resources help establish the source of requirements. A product, project guide or completed installation does not by itself establish compliance or certification.