Is that really your boss? Jericho Security collects 15 million US

New York based Jericho Security has received $ 15 million in series A financing to scale its AI-operated Cyber ​​Security training platform. The investment announced today follows the successful five -month execution of the company of A 1.8 million US dollar Department of Defense contract department This brought the two-year startup to the cybersecurity card.

“Within minutes, a sophisticated attacker can now create a language clone that sounds just as if your CFO is asking for an urgent wire transfer,” said Sage Wohns, co -founder and Chief Executive Officer by Jericho Security, in an exclusive interview with venture beat. “Traditional cyber security training simply didn’t keep up with these threats.”

The financing round was led by Jasper Lau at Era Fundwho previously supported the company’s 3 million dollars -round of the company in August 2023. Additional investors include Lux CapitalPresent Dash findPresent Gaingels Enterprise Fund And Gaingels Ai FundPresent Ventures disticPresent Plug & Play Venturesand several specialized risks.

The military cyber security contract established credibility on the competition market

Jericho’s profile increased significantly last November when the Pentagon had selected the company for its first generative AI defense agreement. The award of 1.8 million US dollars via AfwerxThe Luftwaffe innovation is accused Jericho of protecting military personnel from increasingly demanding phishing attacks.

“There was a highly best known spear phishing attack on Air Force Drone pilots with fake user manuals,” said Wohn in an earlier interview. The incident underlined how even highly qualified staff can become victims of carefully produced deception.

This covenant Knowbe4Present ProofpointAnd Coot dominate. Industry analysts appreciate the training sector for security awareness with 5 billion US dollars a year Projected growth to 10 billion US dollars by 2027 As organizations, human vulnerability increasingly recognize as primary security weakness.

How AI fights against AI: automated opponents who learn employee weaknesses

In contrast to conventional security training, which rely on static templates and predictable scenarios, the Jericho platform uses what living “Agentic Ai” – autonomous systems that behave like actual attackers.

“If an employee ignores a suspicious e -mail, our system can pursue an SMS message that seems to come from his manager,” said Wohn. “Just like real attackers, our AI adapts to the behavior and the learning that approaches that best work against certain people.”

This multi-channel approach deals with a fundamental restriction of traditional security training: Most programs prepare the employees for yesterday’s attacks, not for tomorrow. Jericho’s simulations can include e -mails, language, text messages and even video calls and create personalized attack scenarios based on the role of an employee, the behavioral patterns and previous answers.

The company’s customer dashboard shows which employees fall for the types of attacks so that organizations can provide targeted renovation. Early data indicates that employees who have been trained with adaptives, AI-controlled simulations are less likely to fall on actual phishing attempts than those who receive traditional training training training.

Singapore CFO loses 500,000 US dollars of DeepfaK Executive Identity

In one case, the financial missions of these new threats became clear in which living affects a financial manager that was deceived by artificially generated versions of the corporate management.

“A CFO in Singapore was deceived to be transferred almost 500,000 US dollars during a video call that contained the company’s CEO and other managers,” said living. “Unknown for the CFO, these participants were generated with Deepfakes, which were made with publicly available videos and recordings.”

The attack began with an apparently innocent WhatsApp message that demanded an urgent zoom meeting. During the call, the DeepfaK -AVATARE persuaded the CFO to approve the transmission. Only when the attackers tried to extract more funds did suspicion occur, with the authorities who were ultimately involved in the initial transfer.

Such incidents are spread alarming. Accordingly SimilarFinancial losses of The Deepfake-capable fraud exceeds $ 200 million worldwide In the first quarter of 2025, the report showed that North America recorded the highest number of incidents (38%), followed by Asia (27%) and Europe (21%).

Industry reports have documented amazing growth rates in recent years, with some studies showing More than 1,700% in North America And over 2,000% in certain European financial sectors.

New threat horizon: When AI systems attack other AI systems

Living identified an even more emerging threat that only a few security teams have prepared: “AI agent Phishing AI agents”.

“When KI tools multiply in Customer Support Chatbots to internal automation, attackers begin to take up and take advantage of these agents,” he said. “It is no longer just people who are deceived. KI systems are now both the goals and the ignorant compromises.”

This represents a fundamental postponement of the cyber security landscape. If organizations use AI assistants who access internal systems, approve or provide information, create new attack areas with which conventional security approaches are not addressed.

The Self-Service platform opens up access to smaller companies when the targets are expanded

While large companies have long been the main goal for highly developed attacks, smaller organizations are increasingly found in cyber criminals. Jericho recognizes this trend and has launched a self-service platform on which companies can use AI-driven safety training without the sales cycle for companies.

“Self-service registration is in addition to our sales approach for companies,” said Wohns. “Self-service is designed in such a way that small to medium-sized companies offer no-touch/low-touch.”

Users can register for a seven -day free test version and explore the product without sales meetings. This approach is in contrast to industry forms, in which cyber security solutions usually include lengthy procurement processes and high -touch sales approaches.

Accelerate future security as AI functions

The investments of $ 15 million will primarily finance three initiatives: expansion of research and development, scaling strategies for market launch through partnerships and the expansion of Jericho’s team with a focus on AI and cybersecurity talents.

“One of our greatest technical challenges was to keep up with the rapid development of the AI ​​itself,” said Wohn. “The tools, models and techniques improve at an exceptional speed, which means that our architecture must be flexible enough to adapt quickly.”

Early customers were enthusiastic about Jericho’s approach. “Customers were extremely frustrated by the lack of innovation with reigning solutions and the subsequent decline in effectiveness,” said Wohn. “Within 30 days, customers identify weaknesses over several channels and build highly personalized and dynamic renovation programs based on contemporary threats and techniques.”

Since the boundaries between human and machine communication blur, the nature of trust in digital environments is redefined. The manager of a video call, the urgent e -mail from IT support or customer service chatbot may not be what you appear. In this new reality, Jericho’s security bend on the fact that the best defense not only teaches the employees