SlashNext, a leader in SaaS-based Integrated Cloud Messaging Security, and a 2022 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winner for Best Phishing Defense Solution, has released the results of a new survey in partnership with Osterman Research, a leading market research and consulting firm.

The report, titled “The Role of AI in Email Security,” includes data from a recent survey of U.S. tech and security leaders at organizations of at least 1,000 employees, and sheds light on their views of how AI is being weaponized by cybercriminals in email and other messaging-based attacks,

It also outlines how these professionals prepare to defend their organizations against these attacks using AI-enabled security solutions. 

The report reveals that 91% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that cybercriminals are already using AI in email attacks targeting their organizations, with 74% indicating they have experienced an increase in the use of AI by cybercriminals in the past six months.

Similarly, 88% of respondents believe cybercriminals will continue innovating in using AI in these attacks going forward.

This strongly echoes what security experts and researchers have been warning about since ChatGPT became publicly available, and spinoffs of ChatGPT developed with malicious intent, such as WormGPT, entered dark web forums.  

“Protecting email has always been a top security concern for businesses given its inherently insecure nature and the incredible access it can offer an attacker should they succeed in compromising a user’s account,” explains Patrick Harr, CEO of SlashNext.

“However, email is not the only channel cybercriminals use to target employees.”

“The data shows rapidly increasing rates of attacks on mobile devices and other messaging channels such as Slack, LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams, and this study demonstrates that security and IT professionals are actively seeking security solutions that offer protections to these channels as well.” 

Key data points from the SlashNext report include: 

• 25% of respondents indicated email security is their top concern, with another 52% indicating it is among their top three concerns. 

• Email provides access to almost everything else within an organization, and from its early inception, it was not designed to be inherently secure – this has made it both a prime target for bad actors and an incredibly difficult attack surface to defend. 

• The percentage of respondents ranking AI as “extremely important” to their email defenses has increased more than fourfold over the past 12 months, and 92% of respondents currently rate it as moderately or extremely important.  

• 90% of respondents confirmed they have implemented an AI-enabled email security solution beyond what their cloud email provider offers. 

• After adopting AI-enabled security solution(s), four out of five organizations observed improved efficacy in detecting multiple types of threats in email (e.g., targeted spear phishing, BEC, account compromise of internal employees, malicious attachments and URLs, etc.), even as threat actors have changed their attack methods. 

• 83.7% of respondents said the ability to protect other communications applications in their ecosystem (e.g., Teams, SharePoint, Zoom, Slack, etc.) was moderately or extremely important when evaluating AI-enabled email security solutions

“Our research clearly demonstrates a critical need for organizations to protect more than just email – IT and security leaders are focused on their complete attack surface and recognize the increasing threat of malicious messages reaching employees via other communication and collaboration tools such as SharePoint, Slack, Zoom and Teams,” said Michael Sampson, Principal Analyst, Osterman Research.

“What’s more, our research indicates that these IT and security leaders view specialized AI-based solutions as key to their current and future defenses when it comes to email and multi-channel security.”

“The security community is clearly embracing the idea that we must fight AI with AI.”  

The Osterman Research report was sponsored by SlashNext, Mimecast (also a former ‘ASTORS’ Awards Champion), Abnormal Security, IRONSCALES, KnowBe4, Perception Point, and SonicWall.

Click here to read the complete – The Role of AI in Email Security report. 

(See how SlashNext is leading the fight to protect internet users from phishing without compromise. SlashNext is a Multi-channel phishing protection platform for users across email, web, mobile, and API. Stop 65% more spear phishing, legitimate service compromise, BEC, rougueware, SMiShing, social engineering, and other human compromise attacks in Microsoft 365, Teams, Zoom, Box, SMS, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and other messaging channels. Courtesy of SlashNext and YouTube.)

Also, Register for an upcoming webinar, The Role of AI in Email Security, with SlashNext and Michael Sampson, Principal Analyst, Osterman Research, scheduled for September 12, 2023 at 12 p.m. PST.  

SlashNext protects the modern workforce from malicious messages across all digital channels. SlashNext Complete™ integrated cloud messaging security platform utilizes patented HumanAI technology with 99.9% accuracy to detect threats in real-time to stop zero-hour threats in email, mobile, and web Messaging Apps across M365, Gmail, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Teams, and others messaging channels.

Use SlashNext’s Integrated Cloud Messaging Security for email, browser, and mobile to protect your organization from data theft and financial fraud breaches today. 

To learn more about SlashNext’s patented HumanAI detection or SlashNext Complete, visit slashnext.com.

SlashNext Scores a Win in 2022 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program

American Security Today’s Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program, and now entering its Eighth Year, continues to recognize industry leaders of Physical and Border Security, Cybersecurity, Emergency Preparedness – Management and Response, Law Enforcement, First Responders, as well as federal, state and municipal government agencies in the acknowledgment of their outstanding efforts to Keep our Nation Secure.

SlashNext

Best Phishing Defense Solution

• SlashNext Complete

• How people work today has left users more exposed than ever to cyberattacks, and using multiple devices for both work and personal use to communicate and collaborate, combined with the rise of remote work, means millions are regularly working outside of traditional enterprise security defenses. As such, phishing threats – already at record numbers – continue to rise across multiple channels.

• SlashNext Complete is a digital channel phishing protection platform for users across email, web, mobile, and API that helps stop spear phishing, legitimate service compromise, BEC, rogueware, smishing, social engineering, and other human compromise attacks across many highly used messaging platforms including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, LinkedIn, SMS/Text, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, and others.

• SlashNext Complete delivers next-generation, digital channel phishing protection through patented AI-powered detection for 99.9% accuracy and a 48-hour time-to-detection advantage to offer patient-zero protection in real-time.

• The new integrated cloud email service stops 65% more spear-phishing, BEC, malware, and ransomware link threats than all other cloud-native email security services, and SlashNext protects organizations from malicious threats launched from legitimate, trusted sites that easily evade current SEG, proxy, SASE, and endpoint security tools.

(SlashNext Complete – a multi-channel phishing protection platform for users across email, web, mobile, and API, that stops up to 65% more spear phishing, legitimate service compromise, BEC, rougueware, SMiShing, social engineering, and other human compromise attacks in Microsoft 365, Teams, Zoom, Box, SMS, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and other messaging channels. Courtesy of SlashNext and YouTube.)

• In addition, SlashNext has on-device Natural Language Process machine learning and an AI database to detect and block SMS phishing attacks like Business Text Compromise (BTC), smishing, and all other link-based attacks.

• SlashNext’s patented technology uses millions of virtual browsers to detect unknown threats with unmatched accuracy. Outdated threat intelligence is not useful for protecting against new zero-hour threats, so SlashNext provides up-to-the-minute intelligence to properly defend organizations against new and emerging phishing attacks, regardless of attack vector.

• *SlashNext is a new competitor in the 2022 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program.

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