Mimecast buys Elevate Security to manage human risk

Email security company Mimecast has arranged to acquire risk management solutions provider Elevate Security as part of a renewed commitment to managing human risk.

The Elevate Security Platform has been designed to ingest human behaviours and context data from a range of sources, and then rate employees and other people according to their risk using a precision risk scoring algorithm. High-risk people are flagged to help companies manage their overall risk and exposure.

Mimecast Chief Technology and Product Officer David Raissipour said this capability can be combined with Mimecast’s awareness training to help companies conduct targeted intervention and training.

“People, communications and data are core to every organisation and artificial intelligence has accelerated cybercriminals’ ability to exploit these essential elements for their own gain,” he said. “People are historically the largest vulnerability in an organisation but can also be the strongest line of defence 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.”

“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 Elevate Security. “We have no doubt that our combined strengths will help break new ground that changes the security conversation.”

Raissipour said Mimecast plans to continue to maintain and support the existing Elevate Security customer base, while working to integrate the new technology into its own product line in the next few quarters.

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