How We Leverage AI to Protect Our Clients' Email

AI, or artificial intelligence, is one of the most powerful and transformative technologies of our time. It has the potential to reshape how we communicate, work, learn, and play. But what exactly is AI, and how can it help small and medium-sized businesses thrive in a competitive, dynamic market?

AI is the ability of machines or software to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as reasoning, learning, decision making, and problem solving. It generally falls into two categories. Narrow AI is the type we encounter every day, such as voice assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars, and it is designed to perform specific tasks within a limited domain. General AI, which could perform any task a human can across any domain, is still a hypothetical concept that many experts believe is far from being achieved.

AI can help small and medium-sized businesses in many ways, from enhancing customer service and personalizing marketing campaigns to improving sales forecasting, streamlining operations, and ensuring data security and fraud prevention. In this article, we focus specifically on how we leverage AI within IT PROTECT to help protect our clients' inboxes from malicious threats.

// 01Key Components to Safeguarding Company Inboxes

IT PROTECT offers an email security solution that uses AI to automatically sort and filter incoming email to the company environment. It distinguishes between safe and suspicious messages using a smart, patented algorithm that learns from each company's communication patterns and adapts its criteria accordingly, providing customized protection now and in the future.

// 02Ten Facts About AI and Cybersecurity

// 03How IT PROTECT Leverages AI to Protect Company Email

Cybercriminals target businesses with malicious email that tries to trick employees into clicking harmful links or attachments. These phishing emails are responsible for 95% of the attacks on business networks. When one reaches a business that uses IT PROTECT, its AI-powered email security steps up to the plate. It holds a four-fold advantage over other solutions in stopping targeted attacks, using its patented algorithm to evaluate each message against more than 50 criteria. According to a 2021 survey, 75% of IT managers reported their companies had been successfully phished in the prior year, yet IT PROTECT's AI can catch and stop more than 99% of sophisticated phishing emails.

IT PROTECT also gives employees two tools to avoid falling victim. It alerts them to unexpected messages with a noticeable, interactive banner at the top of the email, and it lets them report a suspicious message with one click, removing it from every inbox in the company for IT to review.

If the AI detects an anomaly, it immediately quarantines the message. AI-powered, automated email security is up to 40% more effective than conventional solutions like secure email gateways at spotting and stopping malicious email. The advanced algorithm, based on graph theory, analyzes a company's relationships and traffic patterns to determine the legitimacy of incoming mail, where Microsoft 365's built-in security and the five leading gateways miss up to 65% of targeted spear phishing.

The AI learns from each encounter and adapts its protection to the unique needs of each business. About 70% of the most cyber-resilient organizations have deployed AI-driven, automated security, and roughly 42% of companies in an IBM survey credited it as a major factor in improving their posture. The result is email security that improves automatically and saves time for employees and IT teams alike. If you are ready to get serious about protecting your company email, reach out to us and let's have a chat.

Cloud Matrix IT is a managed IT and technology consulting firm specializing in proactive IT management for small and medium-sized businesses. IT PROTECT is a comprehensive technology strategy and cybersecurity platform that helps your business save time, reduce costs, and stay protected with a fully managed 24/7/365 SOC+ platform led by cybersecurity professionals. Yes, even weekends and holidays.