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MailGuard · comparison

Hornetsecurity and Conbool — side by side.

Conbool as an integrated email security suite with nine modules, Hornetsecurity as a broad 365 Total Protection portfolio. Since December 2025 Hornetsecurity has belonged to Proofpoint. This page compares publicly verifiable points, as of August 2026.

Request a demoMailGuard in detailAs of August 2026

In three sentences

What matters.

Hornetsecurity is an established vendor from Hanover with a broad portfolio from mail security through 365 Total Backup to Security Awareness Service, part of the Proofpoint group since December 2025. Conbool is an email security suite from Hamburg with nine integrated modules: MailGuard, SecureMail, Disclaimer, SecureFiles, DMARC Reports, Archive, 365 Backup, Awareness and Continuity. The functional breadth is comparable: filtering, encryption, signatures, tamper-proof archiving, Microsoft 365 backup, awareness and continuity are covered by both vendors, and Hornetsecurity adds DMARC management in its top plan. The differences lie elsewhere: in the ownership chain, in how the licence is cut, and in secure file exchange, which Hornetsecurity no longer offers since Hornetdrive moved to Teamdrive in early 2023.

Change of ownership: Hornetsecurity has belonged to Proofpoint since December 2025.

Proofpoint acquired the Hornetsecurity Group. Proofpoint itself belongs to the US investor Thoma Bravo. For customers this does not change where the service runs, but it does change who sits at the end of the ownership chain and which legal regime applies there. Conbool is and remains an owner managed German company with no parent outside the EU. Source: company announcements from both organisations, as of August 2026. Please have the position relevant to your contract confirmed by the vendor.

Quelle: öffentliche Pressemitteilungen des Mutterkonzerns.

The eight most common questions, side by side.

Every statement about Hornetsecurity links to a public source. Every Conbool claim is verifiable in a demo.

Where is my data hosted?

Conbool MailGuard

Exclusively in EU data centres on ISO 27001-certified infrastructure. Contract party and data processor is Conbool GmbH in Germany.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity operates data centres in multiple regions according to the company website, with a clear Germany focus for DACH customers. Which location is active for your tenant is governed by the contract.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — Trust Center / data locations. Please confirm the concrete tenant location with the vendor.

Why it matters: GDPR records of processing and NIS-2 risk assessments need a documented data location.

How is licensing structured?

Conbool MailGuard

Modular per feature. Term monthly or yearly, no multi-year minimum. Individual protection modules can be activated separately.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity bundles features into four plans: 365 Total Protection Business, Enterprise, Enterprise Backup and Compliance and Awareness. What is included in which plan is governed by the current package overview.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — 365 Total Protection plans overview, retrieved September 2026. Current terms via the vendor.

Why it matters: if you only need some features, modular booking pays. If you want a full package with clearly defined scope, editions are often easier.

What protection features are included by default?

Conbool MailGuard

Spam and phishing detection, BEC protection with behavioural analysis, attachment filter with CDR, URL rewriting, DLP with DACH detectors, audit log.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity offers the full spectrum of anti-spam, anti-phishing and advanced threat protection, and also covers email encryption with TLS, S/MIME and PGP, signature and disclaimer management, tamper-proof archiving, backup, awareness training and DMARC management. Which feature sits in which plan is governed by the edition: encryption and signatures in the Business plan, archiving and outage access in Enterprise, backup in Enterprise Backup, awareness and DMARC management in Compliance and Awareness.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — product pages for Advanced Threat Protection and 365 Total Protection plus the plan overview mapping features to the four tiers, retrieved September 2026.

Why it matters: the feature lists overlap heavily, so what counts is the cut. With Hornetsecurity the edition decides which discipline is active: encryption and archiving put you on plan 2, DMARC management on plan 4. With Conbool you pick modules per mailbox. Two points stay genuinely different: SecureFiles as a direct channel for large attachments is not in the Hornetsecurity portfolio, and for the route to recipients without a certificate it is worth asking about the plan you actually book.

Which DACH-specific detectors are available?

Conbool MailGuard

DLP detectors with DACH focus: German IBAN with checksum, VAT IDs (DE, AT, CH-UID), AHV number, German tax ID, social security number. Custom detectors per tenant via regex and lookup lists.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity offers DLP with configurable rules. Which regional focuses are covered is governed by the detector library of the booked edition.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — DLP documentation. Please check specific DACH detectors with the vendor.

Why it matters: if you have to process German or Austrian identifiers (VAT ID, AHV), predefined DACH detectors save custom regex work.

How quick is the migration?

Conbool MailGuard

MX switch under 30 minutes technically, default policies active immediately. Parallel operation with the existing gateway during migration is possible.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity offers a guided migration process with MX switch and onboarding support. Concrete migration steps are described in the knowledge base.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — knowledge base / onboarding guide.

Why it matters: migration duration and parallel operation are direct cost drivers in IT projects.

How does each protect Microsoft 365?

Conbool 365 Backup

Mailboxes and online archives, OneDrive, SharePoint including its lists, Teams channels, private chats, Planner and Entra ID run on one schedule, and individual messages and files come back on their own. The service runs deliberately outside the Microsoft environment so an incident there does not take the backup with it. You set the retention period.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity 365 Total Backup

Also covers mailbox, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams and, per the package overview, is included in the Enterprise Backup plan and above. Details on storage location, retention and restore times are worth having in writing for your contract.

Source: hornetsecurity.com, 365 Total Backup product page. Scope depends on the plan booked.

Why this matters: both vendors keep the backup outside the Microsoft environment, Hornetsecurity in its own infrastructure per its own statements. For recovery planning what counts is therefore less whether than where: have storage location, retention and restore times confirmed in writing for your contract.

How is staff training handled?

Conbool Awareness

Phishing simulations spread across the year, short training right after the reaction, evaluation strictly at group level. Reports are designed as evidence for the statutory training obligation. Available from Germany or entirely in your own data centre.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity Security Awareness Service

An established offering with simulations and training content, included per the package overview in the Compliance and Awareness plan. Whether evaluation without personal rankings is possible is worth clarifying before involving the works council.

Source: hornetsecurity.com, Security Awareness Service product page.

Why this matters: as soon as behaviour is evaluated, codetermination applies. An evaluation that works without names shortens the internal agreement considerably.

What happens during a Microsoft 365 outage?

Conbool Continuity

Incoming mail is stored as it passes the gateway. When the target system fails, your team reads and replies through a separate web interface using the usual sender address. After the outage everything flows into the mailbox automatically. Who would actually get in can be verified in advance.

HornetsecurityHornetsecurity Email Continuity

Hornetsecurity offers an Email Continuity Service which, according to the vendor, is included in the 365 Total Protection plans. For a comparison it is worth asking whether replying is possible during the outage and how messages find their way back into the mailbox afterwards.

Source: hornetsecurity.com — Email Continuity Service product page, retrieved September 2026.

Why this matters: reading makes you reachable, only replying makes you able to act. And it is worth asking how the messages from the outage find their way back into the mailbox and the archive afterwards. Have both confirmed for the plan you actually book.

Migration checklist

What to watch for when migrating away from Hornetsecurity.

Replacing Hornetsecurity typically runs in five steps — focused on mail-flow configuration and policy migration from the Control Panel.

  1. 1. Note the current edition and contract term

    First clarify which Hornetsecurity plan is active (365 Total Protection Business, Enterprise, Enterprise Backup or Compliance and Awareness) and when it expires. That determines whether to let the contract run out or run both in parallel.

  2. 2. Export current policies from the Control Panel

    Quarantine rules, ATP configuration and 365 Total Protection settings export from the Hornet Control Panel. They serve as a blueprint for the Conbool rules without restarting configuration from scratch.

  3. 3. Switch MX records to Conbool

    The MX record points to Conbool, outbound goes back to Microsoft 365 or Exchange via a connector. Hornet stays as a secondary MX (higher priority on Conbool) during the transition.

  4. 4. Migrate DLP rules and banner configuration

    DACH DLP detectors are activated (IBAN, VAT ID, AHV). If you used Hornet Outlook banners or disclaimers, banner logic is migrated to the Conbool Disclaimer module.

  5. 5. Decommission the Hornet tenant

    After 30 days with no mail volume the Hornet tenant is deactivated. Audit log and compliance reports are archived. Cancel or run out the contract.

Anyone also using Hornet Backup or awareness training replaces both inside the suite: 365 Backup covers Microsoft 365, and Awareness covers phishing simulations along with the training that follows. Both are among the nine Conbool modules and need no further contract.

Decision aid

When Conbool, when Hornetsecurity.

Conbool MailGuard fits when …

  • You want one integrated suite where spam defence, native S/MIME and OpenPGP encryption, secure file exchange, signatures, archiving, continuity, Microsoft 365 backup and staff training sit in one stack instead of several contracts.
  • DACH specific DLP detectors such as IBAN with checksum, VAT IDs for DE, AT and CH and social security numbers matter to you out of the box.
  • You need a multi tenant architecture for groups with subsidiaries or MSP models with separate policies and one consistent audit trail.
  • The ownership chain is part of your risk assessment and you prefer an owner managed German contracting party with no parent outside the EU.

Hornetsecurity fits when …

  • You want security capabilities beyond the mail channel from one vendor, for example permission management or backup of further systems.
  • You prefer a bundle model with clearly separated plan tiers and your requirements map onto them well.
  • Existing Hornetsecurity integrations or MSP contracts are running and replacing them does not pay off.
  • You see proximity to the Proofpoint portfolio as an advantage, for example because other components are already in use there.

Matched to your setup

Conbool MailGuard by industry and use case.

E-Mail-Sicherheit für Maschinenbau

Schutz von CAD-Plänen, Angeboten und Lieferketten-Kommunikation vor Industriespionage.

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CEO-Fraud-Schutz

Verhaltensanalyse stoppt gefälschte Geschäftsführer-Mails, bevor Zahlungen ausgelöst werden.

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NIS-2 E-Mail-Sicherheit

Schutzmaßnahmen nach NIS-2 mit Audit-Log und KRITIS-konformer Dokumentation.

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Barracuda-Alternative

Module je Postfach statt Planstufen, deutscher Vertragspartner.

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Phishing-Schutz

BEC, Spear-Phishing und QR-Code-Phishing erkennen und entfernen.

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Phishing-Simulation

Was durch den Filter kommt, mit dem Team üben statt hoffen.

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Ransomware-Schutz E-Mail

Mehrstufige Anhang-Filter und URL-Reputation gegen Ransomware-Kampagnen.

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Spam-Filter Unternehmen

Spam und unerwünschte Massenmail mit DACH-Heuristiken filtern.

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CEO-Fraud-Schutz

BEC und CEO-Fraud-Attacken über Authentifizierungs-Layer abwehren.

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DANE und TLSA

Manipulationssichere Transportverschlüsselung nach BSI TR-03108, gegen Downgrade und MITM.

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Directory-Harvesting-Schutz

Abwehr von Adress-Sammlern, bevor gültige Postfächer in Spam-Datenbanken landen.

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Also compared

Further Hornetsecurity alternatives and cross-comparisons.

Hornetsecurity is often weighed up against Mimecast, Proofpoint and Microsoft Defender. Here are the direct comparison pages.

Frequently asked

See Conbool MailGuard in your own setup.

30-minute demo. Modular per feature.

Request a demoMailGuard in detail

Sources and fairness note

Statements about Hornetsecurity rely exclusively on publicly accessible sources: hornetsecurity.com, Trust Center, product pages and knowledge base. Non-publicly substantiated claims are avoided.

As of September 2026. For your final decision we recommend you ask both vendors directly about the points relevant to you and get statements confirmed in writing.

Hornetsecurity is a trademark of Hornetsecurity GmbH or its group companies. Conbool is a trademark of Conbool GmbH. This page is an editorial comparison — not official Hornetsecurity material.