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KnowBe4's PhishER Plus to guard against phishing attacks
Wed, 9th Aug 2023

KnowBe4, the provider of security awareness training and simulated phishing platform has announced the launch of its latest product, PhishER Plus, which leverages the world's largest group of global users trained to spot and report real phishing attacks, powering a new KnowBe4 global threat feed. The triple-validated phishing threat feed automatically blocks phishing attacks before they enter users' inboxes. 

Phishing remains the most popular cyber-attack vector and is one of the most common methods to perpetuate malicious attacks on organisations around the globe effectively. 

According to Armorblox, 78% of phishing attacks in 2022 used sophisticated techniques to bypass native email security tools successfully. Additionally, 56% of all attacks in 2022 were bypassed by legacy security filters. This is especially concerning as nearly one in three users are likely to click on a suspicious link or comply with a fraudulent request, as revealed in KnowBe4's 2023 Phishing by Industry Benchmarking Report. 

PhishER Plus is a potent tool that assists organisations in strengthening their email security defences and acts as an additional final layer after existing secure email gateways (SEGs) and other cybersecurity layers fall short. The new product is an upgraded version of KnowBe4's existing PhishER product, with two new, exclusive features, including the Global Blocklist and Global PhishRIP, that integrate with Microsoft 365.

The PhishER Plus Global Blocklist is compiled from validated threats crowdsourced from over ten million KnowBe4-trained users. Once a blocklist entry is flagged as a threat, the Global Blocklist automatically blocks new messages from entering a user's inbox. 

The Global PhishRIP feature identifies, and quarantines confirmed phishing threats that PhishER customers reported. 

Global PhishRIP can be utilised to remove email threats before they are spotted or reported within an organisation; it can shut down active phishing attacks and pre-emptively "rip" new phishing attacks out of users' inboxes. 

“PhishER Plus can revolutionise the way an organisation combats the threat of phishing emails,” says Stu Sjouwerman, chief executive officer of KnowBe4. “PhishER Plus and its exclusive features – the Global Blocklist and Global PhishRIP – are critical in getting ahead of new and existing malicious threats that attempt to bypass traditional security filters and infiltrate an organisation. This new product uses three levels of human and AI-based validation and analysis to identify and eliminate the plethora of threats on the market today. PhishER Plus is key to helping organisations supercharge their email security defences, promote safe online practices and strengthen security culture.” 

“Overall, our products are used by more than 60,000 organisations around the globe. We help organisations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. Tens of thousands of organisations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilise their end users as their last line of defence.”