Darktrace, the world’s leading cyber AI company, has today announced that the number of customers using Darktrace’s AI email solution, Antigena Email, has doubled since January 2020, while the number of requests to trial Antigena Email has quadrupled since the lockdown began in early March.

Darktrace can also reveal that in the month of April 60% of all advanced spear phishing attacks blocked by Antigena Email either related to COVID-19 or aimed to trick employees by referencing remote working. Attackers are exploiting concerns about the virus to convince people to open emails and click on malicious links in a trend called ‘fearware’ – using over 130,000 newly-created email domains related to coronavirus to bypass standard spam filters.

Antigena Email’s ability to distinguish malicious emails from legitimate business communications – and stop those emails from ever reaching the employee’s inbox – has never been more critical. Powered by cyber AI, the technology works by forming an evolving understanding of ‘normal activity’ for corporate email environments and the individual users within them. This enables it to detect incoming novel and targeted attacks that traditional tools let through, including domain spoofing, supply chain account takeovers, and impersonation attempts.

Darktrace has stopped numerous instances of ‘fearware’ across its customer base, including attackers posing as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) and, more recently, attackers spoofing company email addresses to deliver false corporate updates. At the leading LA production studio Bunim/Murray, Antigena Email caught several phishing emails purporting to deliver corporate COVID-19 updates to employees. The emails were automatically stopped by Darktrace AI before they could make it into employees’ inboxes.

Gabe Cortina, CTO at Bunim/Murray, noted: “Had these emails reached the user, we might have been in a situation where one of our well-intentioned employees clicked on the malicious link in an attempt to get accurate, up-to-date information – not recognizing that it would introduce malware into our environment. But with Antigena Email, we don’t have to worry about our end user behavior because the AI neutralizes it before it even gets to that point.”

Other organizations that rely on Antigena Email include Cradlepoint, Aptean, UK’s Royal College of Surgeons, Entegrus Powerlines, Country Life Vitamins, City Tattersalls Club Australia, and Berry Gardens.

Read Dan Fein (Director of Email Security Products, Americas)’s recent blog on how Darktrace is catching these novel ‘fearware’ campaigns and learn more about Antigena Email.