RA’ANANA, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Israeli security start-up IronScales,
developers of the cyber security industry’s first ever employee-based
intrusion prevention system with an automated phishing-mitigation
response, today announced it has closed a seed round of funding. The
$1.5 million round is led by RDSeed,
an investment arm of Rafael
Development Corporation (RDC).
IronScales’ comprehensive crowd-wisdom-based phishing-mitigation
solution helps protect enterprises from cyber-crimes whereby criminals
attempt to deceive employees into revealing sensitive information such
as usernames and passwords so they can then install spyware,
remote-access Trojan horse attacks or ransomware. The IronScales
solution is currently in use by dozens of customers in the financial
sector, as well as security and telecom companies.
IronScales will use the seed money for ongoing product development and
the expansion of its operations in Europe and the U.S.
More than 90 percent of successful cyber-attacks on companies and
organizations involve sophisticated, employee-targeted spear-phishing
(according to Trend Micro), and damages can range from the theft of
sensitive information to ransom demands.
The IronScales training program uses a “gamified” and interactive
approach, simulating real-world email phishing attacks, and helping
prepare employees for actual attacks. Those who fail to spot the mock
attack will receive on-the-spot quick, fun, interactive training.
When an employee spots and reports an actual phishing email, IronScales’
solution executes an automatic, immediate and powerful mitigation
response called IronTraps™. This unique, patent-pending, automatic
phishing mitigation module empowers skilled and vigilant employees to
block attacks by triggering Phishing Forensics™, followed by an
enterprise-wide mitigation response. The IronScales system also provides
ongoing, real-time reporting to the information security team while
interfacing with existing monitoring and prevention solutions.
“Phishing is an insidious threat to enterprises, but the existing
solutions targeting the problem simply did not go far enough,” said Eyal
Benishti, IronScales CEO. “That’s why we created IronScales, not only to
raise awareness of phishing attacks but to then empower employees to
actually block them. When workers understand how to spot phishing
attacks, they become powerful assets in helping protect their
enterprises from attack.”
IronScales dramatically increases employee awareness and mitigation of
malicious emails and has already made a significant impact for existing
customers, reducing employee click rates of malicious email and
mitigating actual phishing attacks. In many of today’s most widely
publicized phishing attacks of prominent global corporations,
IronScales’ training, automatic detection and mitigation solution could
have prevented the damage caused by spear-phishing attacks.
About IronScales
IronScales,
founded in 2013, pushes the cyber security envelope, going beyond
detection with a crowd wisdom-based phishing training and mitigation
solution. IronScales was initially launched in the 8200 Entrepreneurship
and Innovation Support Program (EISP), a prestigious incubator and
mentoring program for early stage ventures, founded by alumni of the
Israel Defense Forces’ elite Intelligence Technology unit. The
IronScales team is comprised of security researchers and penetration
testing experts, as well as experts in the field of effective
interactive training. Customers include leading global corporations and
Israeli security organizations. Visit us at www.ironscales.com
for more information.
About RDSeed
RDSeed invests in
early stage start-ups, providing ongoing support and strategic resources
for companies at the seed stage and later. A subsidiary of RDC, a joint
venture between Rafael and Elron (TASE: ELRN), RDSeed offers its
portfolio companies access to Rafael’s technology experts and Elron’s
seasoned investment executives, combined with mentoring and guidance
from its experienced management team.