Ironscales, an auto-phishing startup based in Atlanta and Tel Aviv has raised $15 million in a Series B round led by previous investor K1 Investment Management.
The company plans to use the new funds to focus on decentralization as a means of preparing against cyber attacks and AI in the future, a company blog post said. CEO Eval Benishti told VentureBeat the funding will go toward growing the startup's operations in the United States.
Ironscales is a phishing mitigation solution and platform that protects from cyber attacks. Combining machine learning and AI tools, the platform integrates with Office 365, Exchange and G Suite to thwart attacks, including phishing methods. Once the platform stops an attack, the AI learns from spoofing attempts, breaches and security incidents certified analysts have shared anonymously with the company, to better prepare for fast-adapting cyberattacks.
There are at least 3.4 billion fake emails sent each day, according the Valimail Spring 2019 Email Fraud Landscape report released last week. The mission of Ironscales is to one day make email security completely autonomous and powered by AI. To get there, the company continues to decentralize threat intelligence sharing.
"While most in our industry agree that greater intelligence sharing is needed, the adoption of a decentralization mindset has yet to reach its potential," Benishti wrote in the blog post. "But only by taking this step can the cybersecurity industry truly modernize, leveraging the quality and quantity of cyber intelligence of hundreds of security analysts and millions of employees."
Today, methods of cyberattacks, like ransomware and business email compromise, are making it harder to protect email, the number one vehicle for online attacks, Benishti wrote. Automated phishing-as-a-service is also on the rise and increasing the number of attacks.
"The dangers of email phishing and the vulnerabilities inherent to email are much more widely known today than they were five years ago," Benishti wrote. "We like to think that we had something to do with that."
Prior to this round, the startup had raised $8 million in funding. Launched in 2014, the company serves about 1,000 customers, 54 partners across the world and employs more than 30 people. Part of the expansion will include doubling its headcount, including more hires in Atlanta.
