Fal.Con 2026 – KnowBe4, the leader in digital workforce security, securing both AI agents and humans, today launched email and collaboration security protection through its Defend product for Google Workspace. This is an extension of its Defend email security portfolio that brings advanced threat detection, explainable AI verdicts, and real-time employee coaching to the more than three billion users of Google Workspace worldwide.
“Google empowers productivity and collaboration. KnowBe4 protects the digital workforce,” said Greg Kras, chief product officer, KnowBe4. “Together, this new release enhances the email and collaboration security that IT and security professionals need to better protect their organizations. We are bringing explainable, multi-engine AI detection and real-time coaching together in a single, API-native layer, so every blocked threat also becomes a teachable moment. Our deep collaboration with Google enables us to offer a unified platform that delivers trust and a strong security culture.”
At the core of Defend for Google Workspace is a multi-engine behavioral AI model, trained on KnowBe4’s proprietary telemetry of more than 1.15 billion daily event signals and 16 years of behavioral insight. The platform evaluates messages across multi-layered intent signals simultaneously, catching advanced BEC, zero-payload phishing, and prompt injection attacks that native Google controls often miss.
Every intercepted threat in Defend for Google Workspace becomes an opportunity to build a more resilient workforce. The moment a risky email is detected, the intended recipient receives an immediate, contextual teachable moment notification, turning a potential incident into instant, real-world security training delivered at the exact point of risk.
Once a malicious variant is confirmed, Defend for Google Workspace integrates natively with PhishER Plus to automatically hunt down, pull back, and neutralize matching threats across every enterprise Gmail inbox in under two minutes. This significantly reduces a multi-hour SOC containment process into an autonomous, near-instant response.
Ahead of today’s launch, KnowBe4 ran an early adopter program to validate real-world impact. Across early adopter environments, Defend for Google Workspace processed 539,384 emails, intercepting 810 dangerous threats (1 in every 666 emails) and 5,491 suspicious threats that had otherwise made it past native Google protections. The platform also classified 361,070 productivity-related emails, saving early adopters an average of 10.96 hours each week.
Defend has brought KnowBe4 customers immense value, including Mark Burtenshaw, ICT manager security and compliance, The City of Edinburgh Council: “Defend’s value is proven every day in the statistics shown in its threat intelligence dashboard. The banners have also dramatically increased employees’ everyday vigilance to phishing attacks.”
Another customer, Jeremy Demetrius from GovSpend said: “KnowBe4 Defend has streamlined our entire triage workflow, allowing us to identify and remediate complex BEC and calendar injection threats in seconds. It’s remarkably intuitive, integrates seamlessly into our environment, and saves our security team hours each week while keeping organizational risk at an all-time low.”
Defend for Google Workspace will be available on September 15, 2026 to KnowBe4 customers running Google Workspace, across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise environments. KnowBe4 is offering an initial preview at Fal.Con, booth #1614. Organizations can learn more or request a demo at https://www.knowbe4.com/products/defend.
About KnowBe4
KnowBe4 empowers the modern workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Trusted by more than 70,000 organizations worldwide, KnowBe4 is the pioneer of digital workforce security, securing both AI agents and humans. The KnowBe4 Platform provides attack simulation and training, email & collaboration security, and agent security powered by AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Defense Agents) and a proprietary Risk Score. The platform leverages over 15 years of behavioral data to combat advanced threats including social engineering, prompt injection, and shadow AI. By securing humans and agents, KnowBe4 leads the industry in workforce trust and defense.
More info at www.knowbe4.com. Follow KnowBe4 on LinkedIn and Instagram.
FAQs
Q: Why is KnowBe4 Defend collaborating with Google Workspace?
This new release brings AI threat detection and real-time security coaching to Gmail. KnowBe4 customers will have access to an email security solution that layers advanced threat protection, real-time teachable moments, and global remediation onto their environment with accuracy, limited overlap, and ease.
Q: What are the benefits of this new release?
- Detection admins can actually see
- Training is delivered at the point of risk, encouraging durable behavior change
- The integration mitigates threats in under two minutes versus hours
Q: What recognition has KnowBe4 received for email protection?
KnowBe4 has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Email Security Platforms the last two years consecutively.
Q: What is KnowBe4 and who is it for?
KnowBe4 is a cybersecurity company focused on securing the digital workforce, securing both humans and AI agents through a single platform spanning attack simulation and training, collaboration security, and agent security, all powered by AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Defense Agents) and a proprietary Risk Score built from 316 unique indicators. Founded in 2010, KnowBe4 has been delivering AI-powered security since 2016, backed by 50+ patents, 70+ deep integrations, and 15+ years of behavioral data, and is trusted by more than 70,000 organizations worldwide, having trained over 100 million people, which includes 1 in 3 full-time workers in the U.S. The company is for CISOs and Compliance leaders who need visibility, automation, and metrics that speak to the board, SOC teams needing automation that cuts through alert noise, and security awareness admins who need to measure and change behavior.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260831644474/en/
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