PRESS RELEASE
Tampa Bay, Florida (April 24, 2024) – KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and phishing simulation platform, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Egress, a leader in adaptive, integrated cloud email security. Egress’ Intelligent Email Security suite provides a set of scalable, AI-enabled security tools with adaptive learning capabilities to help prevent, protect and defend organizations from sophisticated email cybersecurity threats. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Organizations globally struggle to contain behavior-based data breaches, with 74% of incidents involving the human element according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report. By acquiring Egress, KnowBe4 plans to provide a single platform that dynamically aggregates threat intelligence, offering AI-powered email security and automatically risk-adapted training.
“The future of security is AI-powered personalized checks and real-time coaching. By providing a single platform of KnowBe4 and Egress, our customers will benefit from differentiated aggregate threat detection to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats and foster a strong security culture,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4 . “As an integration partner for over a year with strong philosophical and cultural alignment, this acquisition represents a natural progression for both companies in taking human risk management and email security in the cloud to the next level.”
“KnowBe4 and Egress have a shared vision of providing personalized, relevant security to each employee,” said Tony Pepper, CEO of Egress. “One of the biggest challenges organizations face is precisely identifying what the next source of compromise is – and why. By combining intelligence and analytics from integrated applications, companies can gain valuable insights across their entire cyber ecosystem, allowing them to focus on the risks that matter most.”
The announcement comes on the heels of significant results achieved by both companies so far in 2024. KnowBe4 recently announced its native AI platform, Artificial Intelligence Defense Agents (AIDA), which incorporates advanced AI agents to enhance effectiveness and speed. Recent notable awards include recognition as a Top Software Winner by G2 and a winner of Energage’s Top Workplaces USA for 2024. Meanwhile, Egress launched its AI-powered abuse automation inbox in early April and has received numerous awards, including Healthcare Innovation of the Year security (Computing Security Excellence Awards), Best Email Security Solution, Best Data Leak Prevention Solution (SC Awards Europe) and The best place to work in the UK (Great Places to Work 2024).
The transaction is expected to close in the coming months, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Egress is backed by FTV Capital and AlbionVC. Citi served as exclusive financial advisor to Egress and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP served as legal advisor to Egress.
For more information on KnowBe4, visit www.knowbe4.com. For more information on the release, visit www.egress.com.
About KnowBe4
KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and phishing simulation platform, is used by more than 65,000 organizations worldwide. Founded by IT and data security specialist Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness of ransomware, CEO fraud, and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to security awareness training. The late Kevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized cybersecurity specialist and Chief Hacking Officer of KnowBe4, helped design KnowBe4’s training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Organizations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilize their end users as the last line of defense and rely on the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.
Exit information
As advanced persistent threats continue to evolve, we recognize that people pose the greatest security risk to organizations and are most vulnerable when using email.
Egress is the only cloud email security platform that can continuously assess human risk and dynamically adapt policy controls, preparing customers to defend against advanced phishing attacks and outbound data breaches before they occur . Leveraging contextual machine learning and neural networks, with seamless integration using cloud-native API architecture, Egress delivers advanced email protection, deep visibility into human risk, and immediate time to value.