Creating a Human Firewall Against Phishing
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Mount Vernon-based The Cox Group is leading the seed financing round of a cybersecurity company in Alabama that is trying to improve firewalls against phishing attacks. PhishFirewall, a cybersecurity SaaS company, has closed on the $2.5 million round.
The technology company uses automated and individualized social engineering to train workers to change behaviors when it comes to cybersecurity awareness.
PhishFirewall was created by cybersecurity consultant Joshua Crumbaugh who says companies need a scalable tool to protect data against cybercrooks.
He says the platform creates a human firewall against phishing attacks.
“Cybersecurity is a human problem, not a technology problem,” said Crumbaugh, PhishFirewall founder and Chief Technology Officer. “Our approach combines proven technology and neuroscience to move beyond temporary memorization and train human instincts for sustained awareness.”
Crumbaugh says when his company audits the behaviors of a typical new client, it finds that roughly 20% of hacker emails are clicked on by the employees, opening the company to data breeches and ransomware attempts.
He says within four months of employing PhishFirewall methods, the number declines to less than 1%.
“After getting to know the PhishFirewall team and seeing their product’s results firsthand, we were eager to join them,” said Barry Cox, President of The Cox Group. “We help customers improve efficiencies and lower business disruption risks. PhishFirewall is doing the same thing, just applied to cybersecurity business risks.”
As part of the investment, Barry Cox has joined the PhishFirewall Board of Directors.