Mimecast buys collaboration security platform Aware

Human risk management platform provider Mimecast has acquired AI collaboration security platform Aware as part of efforts to reinvent the way organisations manage human-centred security risks. The acquisition for an undisclosed sum will provide Mimecast with the capabilities needed to strengthen its collaboration security and compliance offerings.

Aware’s platform and targeted AI models aim to help organisations identify risks within the unstructured data of workplace collaboration tools, while preventing the loss of sensitive data. The platform is also designed to help customers improve compliance and mitigate human risk factors.

Aware’s AI-powered capabilities strengthen Mimecast’s existing investments in AI models, according to Mimecast CEO Marc van Zadelhoff. This will help organisations navigate increasingly complex risk environments.

“The human attack surface has expanded significantly, and legacy tools weren’t built to understand the complexity of messages, mentions, emojis and GIFs. It creates more vulnerability in organisations’ ecosystems, leading to security gaps, blind spots and missing context, and exposing businesses to the risk of regulatory fines, reputational damage and loss of valuable intellectual property,” van Zadelhoff said. “Aware was developed to understand, detect and mitigate human behaviour risks in the platforms where people work and collaborate. This forward-thinking approach and AI-powered capabilities will help enable us to further expand our offerings and address the intensifying risk.”

Aware CEO and co-founder Jeff Schumann said the company’s platform is designed to seamlessly integrate with the collaboration tools that its customers rely on.

“Businesses are facing new, dangerous security threats that reach beyond email to everywhere employees collaborate to get work done. Adding to the expanded attack surface, humans have become the new endpoints and the greatest risk to any business, making critical Aware’s ability to leverage AI to understand context and behaviour in conversations, and surface real-time insider threats at scale,” he said. “AI is not a standalone solution that can solve all cybersecurity problems. We believe the true power of AI technology lies in the ability to leverage it to understand the nuanced human element of threats. We’re thrilled to join Mimecast and help customers identify potential issues and opportunities within collaboration, and better protect the collaborative work surface.”

Mimecast recently unveiled a new human risk management platform that allows customers to score users by risk and allow security teams to prioritise educating and protecting the riskiest part of their employee base.

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