Cloud-native, API-enabled inbound and outbound email protection solution extends Proofpoint’s award-winning offering to address the most frequent form of data loss including misdirected email and data exfiltration

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 30, 2023 – Proofpoint Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tessian, a leader in the use of advanced AI to automatically detect and guard against both accidental data loss and evolving email threats. The acquisition is expected to close in late 2023 to early 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, including any required regulatory approvals.

Proofpoint protects organisations against social engineering attacks by applying award-winning AI and large language models (LLMs) to block threats and provide real-time threat insights. AI-based detection has proven to be notably effective in identifying threats targeting people, such as email fraud and supplier-based attacks, and preventing data loss due to negligent or malicious actions. With the acquisition of Tessian, Proofpoint will enhance its threat and information protection platforms by adding powerful layers of AI-powered defense that address risky user behaviours, including misdirected email and data exfiltration.

Misdirected emails (sending emails to the wrong recipient) and mis-attached files continue to be a leading cause of compliance violations and accidental data loss for organisations according to Ponemon research: in 2022 alone, 65% of all data loss incidents occurred via email, and nearly two-thirds of organisations experienced data loss or exfiltration due to an employee mistake on email. As a result, it takes security teams 48 hours, on average, to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by employee negligence.

“Far too often, human errors with email lead to organisations putting their own and their customer’s data at risk, breaching industry and data protection regulations and losing mission-critical intellectual property,” said Darren Lee, executive vice president and general manager, Security Products and Services Group, Proofpoint. “By combining Proofpoint’s best-in-industry data, detection stack, and efficacy with Tessian’s advanced behavioural and dynamic detection platform, we can provide our customers with world-class defense and instant protection. Proofpoint channel partners can quickly bring value to their customers with these new, easy-to-deploy solutions that integrate natively with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.”

“Our long-standing vision to secure the human layer has been the driving force behind our innovative platform offering inbound email security, as well as outbound data loss prevention,” said Tim Sadler, chief executive officer, Tessian. “By joining forces with Proofpoint, we can empower organisations to further improve their email security posture, reduce the risk of data breaches, and lighten the workload on their security teams.”

More than nine in 10 organisations have dealt with a data breach caused by an end-user error on email. Using behavioural understanding and machine learning, Tessian's AI-powered email security platform will enhance Proofpoint’s email data loss prevention (DLP) offering by addressing accidental data loss and malicious insiders through its seamless Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace deployment. Tessian solutions include:

• Tessian Guardian: Protects sensitive data, helps customers meet regulatory compliance and confidentiality agreements, and eliminates the risk of reputational damage by preventing misdirected emails and mis-attached files.
• Tessian Enforcer: Automatically protects against data exfiltration and safeguards intellectual property without predefined rules or deny-lists.
• Tessian Defender: Context-aware, AI-based email defense that detects and prevents the full spectrum of email attacks, while providing end users with in-the-moment contextual warning banners to help them decide whether an email is safe.

Tessian’s solutions are expected to become part of Proofpoint’s offering upon the closing of the acquisition.

Piper Sandler is acting as financial advisor to Tessian.

To learn more about Proofpoint’s Aegis threat protection platform, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/aegis.

For more information on Proofpoint’s Sigma information protection platform, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/sigma.

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About Proofpoint, Inc.

Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organisations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber attacks. Leading organisations of all sizes rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at www.proofpoint.com.

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Proofpoint is a registered trademark or tradename of Proofpoint, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

About Tessian

Tessian is a leading cloud email security platform that intelligently protects organisations against advanced threats and data loss on email, while coaching people about security threats in-the-moment. Using machine learning and behavioral data science, Tessian’s intelligent approach not only strengthens email security but also builds smarter security cultures in the modern enterprise. Founded in 2013, Tessian is backed by renowned investors like Sequoia, Accel, March Capital and Balderton Capital, and has offices in Boston and London. More information is available at www.tessian.com.