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Articles by Giulian Garruba
Human Risk Command Center now connects to Google Workspace for phishing and identity
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) — the world's leading coalition of industry, law enforcement, and government organizations combating phishing and cybercrime — tracks which sectors phishing attacks target most. In its 2025 Q4 report, SaaS and webmail platforms, including Google Workspace, tied for the most-targeted sector industry-wide, each accounting for 20.3% of all phishing attacks.
Agentic AI security: five things your strategy is probably missing
Your organization is deploying AI agents. If it hasn’t started yet, it will soon. IDC projects over 1 billion agents in the enterprise by 2029, 40 times higher than today, making 217 billion actions per day. They will read your email, query your databases, summarize your financial records, and execute workflows across every system your employees touch. The agentic AI security market is responding fast.
Running a security PoV that makes sense
When you're evaluating email security tools, you shouldn't have to choose between a fair test and keeping your users safe. Yet somehow, that's become the ask. Here's a pattern we've seen. Organizations run a PoV comparing API-only tools with SEG solutions. Then someone suggests turning off core protections on the SEG (URL rewriting, attachment controls, advanced threat policies) to "level the playing field." That's not leveling anything; it's just removing the field entirely.
Best Practices for Investigating Misconduct in Slack & Teams
As collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams become the backbone of workplace communication, they’ve also become vital evidence sources during internal investigations. Whether the issue involves harassment, data exfiltration, or policy violations, these platforms often hold the digital footprint that determines how a case unfolds. Yet handling this data requires precision—one wrong step can risk legal exposure or compromise employee privacy.
Cyber Threats That Peak on Black Friday
Black Friday Scams: A Surge in Sophistication Black Friday is notorious for a dramatic spike in cyber threats, as attackers exploit the rush for deals and the high volume of online transactions. Phishing emails impersonating major retailers, fake e-commerce sites offering “unbeatable” discounts, and fraudulent delivery notifications are especially rampant.
Spy Secrets Revealed: Cyber Criminals Recycle Spy Tradecraft
There are many similarities between the tactics used by spies in traditional clandestine operations around the world and those used by cybersecurity threat actors. Both rely on recruiting people to willingly or unwillingly provide access to sensitive, guarded information. In the case of a traditional spy, the goal is for governments to gather, analyze and sometimes influence information important for national security and a country’s strategic interests.
The Hidden Cost of DMARC Misconfiguration: Lost Emails and Missed Revenue
A misconfigured DMARC policy can have consequences that reach far beyond IT. In practice, it can block legitimate business communications, such as invoices, proposals, or system notifications, while leaving enough gaps for attackers to exploit. The result is more than just a technical issue: organizations face delayed payments, disrupted supply chains, missed revenue, and reputational damage that can linger long after the incident.
What Security Teams Miss Without a DMARC Reporting Tool
On the surface, email authentication seems straightforward. In reality, most organizations discover that their environment is more fragmented than expected. Finance may rely on one vendor, marketing on another, and legacy applications may still be generating automated messages long after they’ve been forgotten. At the same time, attackers continue to impersonate trusted brands with emails that appear legitimate to unsuspecting recipients. This is where DMARC should provide clarity.
Why email security must be a priority
Email has become an essential communication tool for businesses, but it also presents significant security risks. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their tactics, making it challenging for organizations to keep up and protect their inboxes. According to a recent report by Dark Reading, 94% of attacks originate from email, with phishing being the most common type. These BEC attacks can result in data breaches, financial losses, and damage to a company’s reputation.
The State of Human Risk: Email and Collaboration Threat Protection
The need to address human risk inside today’s organizations is the overwhelming top priority for cybersecurity teams in 2025. It is also the main theme of Mimecast’s recently released ninth annual report on the state of the industry, this year aptly titled The State of Human Risk 2025. Each year, Mimecast conducts a survey of CISOs and other cybersecurity professionals to gain an understanding of the problems they are facing and the issues that are their priority for the coming year.
The Evolution of Connected Human Risk Management
A Mission to Mitigate Human Risk Mimecast is on a mission to help customers mitigate risks stemming from one of every organization’s most valuable assets: its people. In July 2024, we announced the connected HRM platform, designed to prevent the evolving and sophisticated threats targeting human error within organizations. Innovation happens at the intersection of collaboration, data, and people—but it’s also where risk emerges.
AI: Where Do We Go from Here?v
Beginning in 1984 with Neuromancer, William Gibson, the author who coined the term “cyberspace,” used a plotline that pitted good and evil AI against each other. And while at the time, such a concept seemed such a far-off idea, some forty years later we are seeing “good” and “evil” AI being used by opposing sides in cybersecurity. The AI tide is turning much more quickly than anticipated. However, AI’s importance should not be under or overstated.
Awareness of Best Practices and Emerging Technology Can Make All the Difference
The cybersecurity landscape quickly and constantly evolves, which means security professionals will always struggle to keep up with the new tactics and technology cybercriminals use.
Forrester TEI Study Quantifies Benefits of Mimecast
One of the glaring constants in business today is that organizations of all sizes, across all industries, and in all locations continue to face complex and uncertain cybersecurity landscape even after years of addressing the issue through security awareness training, advanced AI-based security solutions, and the combined efforts of the IT team, the C-suite, and the end-user to combat threats.
The Benefits and Dangers of AI in Cybersecurity
With attacks growing in speed, scale, and complexity every single day, there’s a myth emerging that AI is the end-all be-all for keeping communications, people, and data secure. The hope that people have for AI is understandable — it represents a lifeline for IT and security teams that face limited resources, increasing complexity, and growing risk. But the actual truth is more subtle.
Why AI Is Crucial to Cybersecurity (and How It Fits Into Your Organization)
The current cyber threat landscape consists of threat actors that are dynamic and can move quickly to stay ahead of physical, human-based, and even AI-based security measures. Unbound by laws and compliance regulations, they can frequently move faster than the security teams that are working to stop them.
Quishing Takes Advantage of Popular Marketing Tool
Quick Response (QR) codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can store data. They are made up of colored (though usually black) and white squares or pixels in a grid. A smartphone or other device camera can quickly process the information contained in a QR code's specific arrangement of pixels.
State of Email Security 2023: U.S. and Canada Step Up
U.S. and Canadian companies are at a critical juncture in cybersecurity. North America is a prime target for cyberattackers. This attack surface has only grown in recent years, with rapid uptake of the newer modes of communications and collaboration that now define the modern working world. As a result, American and Canadian businesses continued to be outrun by cyberattackers in 2022.
Balancing Cyber Support and Costs for IT Leaders
When it comes to managing security tools, organizations can quickly discover that their existing security solutions are not realizing value as quickly as they had hoped. Solving this issue may require reaching out to the vendor for support, which may come with a heavier cost, further reducing the potential for real ROI.
IT Admins Must Manage Risk, Not Technology
It’s a common situation: IT leaders implement a new security solution and onboard users, but challenges ensue, such as when IT admins quickly discover some solutions are too difficult to manage. Security solutions should be complex in their ability to address a wide array of security risks, but not in their implementation, use, or management. It should be easy to immediately recognize and appreciate an email security solution’s ability to manage communications risk.
The Need for Innovation in Cloud Email Security
Key Points Within months of implementing a security solution, organizations may discover that it is not as innovative or effective as was promised. Discover the 6 red flags that may indicate this. Securing communications with efficacy and innovation may require a change in vendors and solutions, resulting in increased cost and use of resources. Organizations should seek out a vendor that is willing to help with their transition process to get them set up with the right solution.
Mimecast Email Security, Cloud Integrated Strikes the Right Balance for Small Businesses
Tech industry veterans have long talked about the “magic” of getting their products’ default settings right. Default settings are crucial because when you nail them, the product just works, out of the box, creating a great first impression on the customer, simplifying adoption, reducing customers’ support headaches, and making the product widely accessible to buyers with varying levels of technical expertise.
Botnets: Tools and Techniques for Detection, Prevention, and Removal
As one of the most effective and flexible tools available to cybercriminals today, botnets are a constant threat to networks and devices, making proactive botnet detection an essential element of any organization’s cybersecurity program and a key component of security awareness and user behavior training. Ubiquitous and difficult to detect, botnets remain a concern for any organization regardless of the level of cybersecurity employed.
What Is an Attack Vector? Types & Defense Strategies
What Is an Attack Vector? For any organization, awareness of existing and evolving cybersecurity attack vectors is critical to protecting crucial digital assets, ensuring privacy for clients and customers, and meeting local, national, and international compliance frameworks. Identifying where and how your organization is most vulnerable is a daily challenge that must be understood and addressed to develop cyber resilience.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Ninja Training: June 2022 Update
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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 receives highest award in SE Labs Enterprise Email Security Services test
In today’s evolving threat landscape, email represents the primary attack vector for cybercrime, making effective email protection a key component of any security strategy.1 In Q1 2022, Microsoft participated in an evaluation of email security solutions, carried out by SE labs—a testing lab focused on assessing the efficacy of security solutions. In their latest Enterprise Email Security Services test, they evaluated email security vendors against a range of real-world email attack scenarios.
Evaluate Defender for Office 365 in your environment!
Email is ubiquitous, so securing it is complex Despite the recent surge in chat-based and video conferencing tools in the workplace, email remains the primary method of communication used by most organizations. As a result, email is in use 24 hours a day, by just about everyone in your organization. And with representing the primary attack vector for cybercrime1, email security is a top concern from security teams and CISOs around the world. But mastering email security can be complex.
Introducing differentiated protection for priority accounts in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Today we’re thrilled to announce general availability of differentiated protection for priority accounts. In every organization, there are people that are critical, like executives, leaders, managers, or other users who have access to sensitive, proprietary, or high priority information. We previously announced the ability to tag these users within Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as priority accounts, allowing security teams to prioritize their focus on these critical individuals.
Making the SecOps Team More Efficient
Jul 19 2021 08:30 AM This post was authored by @johnengels, a Senior Program Managerfrom the Microsoft Defender for Office 365 team. Security operations (SecOps) teams frequently need to investigate security alerts associated with emails and online interaction. Critical to this is ensuring that malicious emails associated with a likely attack are fully removed from all mailboxes – plus verifying no users or mailboxes have been compromised through interaction with any delivered emails.
Mastering Configuration in Defender for Office 365 - Part One
Apr 28 2021 08:00 AM This blog is part one of a three-part series detailing the journey we’re on to simplify configuration of threat protection capabilities in Office 365 to enable best-in class protection for our customers. Effective security is a never-ending battle to achieve balance between security and productivity. If we apply too many security controls to an environment, we limit the ability of its users to function efficiently.
Introducing the Email Entity Page in Microsoft Defender for Office 365!
Apr 19 2021 08:00 AM Today I wanted to share with you some exciting new capabilities that are now available to help Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Defender customers investigate emails. We know that you, the security teams, spend a lot of time diving deep into alerts, hunting threats, identifying malicious indicators, and taking remediation actions. You go through multiple workflows to take the right measures to protect your organization.
Business Email: Uncompromised - Part Three
This blog is part three of a three-part series focused on business email compromise. In the previous two blogs in this series, we detailed the evolution of business email compromise attacks and how Microsoft Defender for Office 365 employs multiple native capabilities to help customers prevent these attacks. In Part One, we covered some of the most common tactics used in business email compromise attacks, and in Part Two, we dove a little deeper into the more advanced attacks.
Business Email: Uncompromised – Part Two
This blog is part two of a three-part series focused on business email compromise. In the previous blog in this series, we described the components of a classic (or single stage) BEC attack and showed how Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps you protect against them. In this post, we will look at how BEC attacks have evolved and how new capabilities in Defender for Office 365 provide additional security layers to keep your organizations safe against these evolving patterns.
Business Email: Uncompromised – Part One
This blog is part one of a three-part series focused on business email compromise. Business email compromise (BEC) is a type of phishing attack that targets organizations, with the goal of stealing money or critical information. BEC has become a top-of-mind concern for CISOs – according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2019, BEC was the costliest type of cybercrime, accounting for 50% of all losses worldwide. Since 2016, BEC has accounted for more than 26 billion dollars in losses.
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