Mimecast elevates human risk management solutions with fresh buy

Mimecast research found that over 95 per cent of data breaches are due to human error

Mimecast has snapped up human risk management solutions provider Elevate Security, bolstering its ability to provide insight and visibility into human behaviours and risk.

Elevate Security's platform has the flexibility to absorb human behaviour and context data from a range of sources. It then flags high-risk people using a precision risk scoring algorithm.

Combining what Elevate brings to the table with Mimecast's Awareness Training, a marriage between the two can help drive targeted intervention and training that reduces overall risk and exposure for companies.

"Elevate Security prides itself on being one of the first human risk platforms to help organisations identify high-risk people and automate responses and safeguards, and we have long admired Mimecast's commitment to changing user behaviour to enhance protection," said Robert Fly, CEO and co-founder of Elevate Security.

"We have no doubt that our combined strengths will help break new ground that changes the security conversation."

Human vulnerability

According to Mimecast's The State of Email Security 2023 Report, over 95 per cent of data breaches are due to human error.

While Elevate Security has reported that just eight per cent of users cause 80 per cent of security incidents - reiterating the need to identify risks at source and ensure organisations follow proper cyber hygiene protocols.

In the UK, 73 per cent of organisations believe increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity attacks rank among their main concerns, with the average breach costing an average of over £3. 5m.

At the same time, the UK government reports that 50 per cent of all UK businesses have a basic cyber security skills gap.

"People, communications and data are core to every organisation and artificial intelligence has accelerated cyber criminals' ability to exploit these essential elements for their own gain," said David Raissipour, chief technology and product officer at Mimecast.

"People are historically the largest vulnerability in an organisation but can also be the strongest line of defense if given the right tools and education.

"That's our goal with this acquisition and core to our work - manage risk by understanding human behaviour in the context of a complex environment and then acting on it."