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Vansec

Spear phishing simulation & security training platform

Spear phishing simulation & security awareness training powered by AI.
Vansec
Founded:2021
Team Size:2
Location:New York

Active Founders

Channy Hong, Founder

- Vansec: https://www.vansec.com - CS @ Harvard - NLP: https://ojs.aaai.org//index.php/AAAI/article/view/6302
Channy Hong
Channy Hong
Vansec

Ike Jin Park, Founder

- Econ @ Harvard - Experiences at Bain & Company, Hyundai Motor Company
Ike Jin Park
Ike Jin Park
Vansec

Company Launches

TL;DR

  • Vansec’s spear phishing simulation is highly-personalized (using AI), multi-message (parse + generate emails using AI), and multi-modal (email, SMS, and more), to accurately reflect the current sophistication of phishing that bad actors employ (we have basic phishing simulations as well).
  • Vansec’s chat-based security awareness training is designed to be interactive (users will actually learn) and bite-sized (< 5 mins).

Vansec’s multi-message spear phishing simulation (expanded thread here)

Vansec’s chat-based security awareness training (personalized to each employee’s simulation) (expanded conversation here)

Security awareness training on a cybersecurity topic (expanded conversation here)

What is spear phishing simulation and why is it important?

Spear phishing is an advanced form of phishing, where the bad actor engages the victim in a very personalized & targeted manner, usually involving prior research on the victim (e.g. via LinkedIn) as well as various social engineering techniques to try to trick the victim.

It’s common knowledge that phishing is by far the most common way in which cyber attacks occur (over 90%, as of 2020), and 66% of phishing victims are victims of spear phishing attacks (as of 2023). With proliferation of generative AI and everyone being on LinkedIn, the phishing techniques that bad actors are using are growing both in sophistication and scale.

Existing phishing simulations are ineffective

The world of phishing simulation is dominated by legacy players like KnowBe4, and while their product is the standard of the industry, the product itself is very one-dimensional.

Problem 1. Existing phishing simulations are too basic, where you send out one templated email and that’s it.

Problem 2. Simulations are not highly-personalized, nor can you train your employees against dangerous social engineering techniques.

The reality is that this does not prepare your employees against the most dangerous type of phishing attacks: spear phishing. Vansec’s spear phishing simulations are multi-message, hyper-personalized, and scenario-based where you can choose from common scenarios or customize your own (p.s. we also provide basic phishing simulation too).

Security awareness training is broken

Employees playing training videos in the background/minimized while doing something else. This is what security awareness training looks like today.

Problem 1. Obviously, this does not improve company’s actual security readiness.

Problem 2. It’s a waste of time for the employee.

The optimal outcome here is for the training to be a) effective i.e. employees actually learn and become security-effective and b) time-efficient i.e. minimal disruption to their workflow.

Our opinion is that learning should always be interactive, not passive. We also believe that getting pulled away from actual work to complete training is always going to be annoying for the employee, no matter how you do it. That’s why we designed Vansec’s security awareness training to be interactive & bite-sized (p.s. it’s also super personalized).

The ask

  • Check out our interactive demo and/or find a time to get started.
  • If you already have a phishing sim + training vendor but are interested in Vansec, please reach out and we can explore an option for you to use Vansec for free until your existing contract lapses.
  • If you are a security vendor looking for partnerships, let’s chat!

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