Mimecast’s new AI tools protect against the sneakiest phishing attacks

Email security provider Mimecast this week launched Mimecast CyberGraph, an AI-driven add-on to Mimecast Secure Email Gateway (SEG) that sniffs out sophisticated and hard-to-detect phishing and impersonation threats, the company said.

Mimecast CyberGraph uses machine-learning technology to detect and prevent phishing attacks delivered via email, the Lexington, Massachusetts-based company said in a statement. The addition to Mimecast’s flagship email security product creates an identity graph — a chart of relationships between email senders — and uses an AI engine to identify potential threat actors and warn employees of possible cyber threats.

“Phishing and impersonation attacks are getting more sophisticated, personalized, and harder to stop. If not prevented, these attacks can have devastating results for an enterprise organization,” Mimecast VP of product management for threat intelligence Josh Douglas said.

“Security controls need to be constantly updated and improved to outsmart threat actors. CyberGraph leverages our AI and machine-learning technologies to help keep employees one step ahead with real-time warnings, directly at the point of risk.”

Adding email protection without a hitch

Mimecast SEG customers can integrate and activate the add-on without disrupting their email security operations, Douglas said. He also noted that the addition of CyberGraph’s capabilities means enterprise SEG customers no longer need to find a third-party point product to provide high-level protection against email threats.

In addition to the identity graph, CyberGraph includes other capabilities to prevent cyber attacks, like blocking embedded trackers and warning users of potential threats with color-coded banners.

Douglas said the release is timely because email threats have never been more pervasive or sophisticated than they are in the COVID-19 era, which greatly increased the exposure of remote workforces to threats. He cited Mimecast research published in the company’s State of Email Security Report, which found that both the number of threats and the number of employees falling for threats dramatically increased during the pandemic.

CyberGraph is available now to Mimecast SEG customers in the United States and United Kingdom, with availability in more regions coming soon, the company said.