By the time a hacker breaks into a company’s email systems, there’s usually no way to prevent them from stealing information. But according to Illusive Networks Inc., the scope of the breach can be mitigated to a large degree.

The startup promises to facilitate that with a new incarnation announced today of its deception-based security technology designed to work with corporate inboxes. Dubbed Email Data Deception, the software is aimed at making harder for attackers to advance deeper into a company’s network after they’ve compromised a user. Such lateral movements are typically executed by exploiting login credentials and other sensitive information in the victim’s inbox to access other systems.

Email Data Deception attempts to thwart attacks by hiding false records in strategic locations that are invisible to legitimate users. For the sake of realism, the software employs machine learning algorithms to scan employee correspondences and tailor the decoys accordingly so that they’ll blend in. The false information serves an analogous role to a canary in a coal mine.

When a hacker tries using decoy credentials to compromise a company’s systems, the software automatically notifies the security team that a breach has occurred. Alerts include information about the endpoint from which the stolen records originated to help operations personnel quickly pinpoint the compromised system and fix the vulnerability.

An attacker could theoretically still exploit the real credentials in their possession, but every piece of information has the potential to raise the alarm. For added measure, Email Data Deceptions regularly refreshes decoys to prevent hackers from figuring out how to work around the system. The end result, according to Illusive, is that breaches can be detected much more quickly than under normal circumstances.

The technology complements the deception capabilities that Illusive provides for other applications. Besides email infrastructure, the startup claims that its products be used to protect servers, banking systems and employee endpoints.

Illusive Networks’ unique approach was born at Team8, an Israeli startup foundry that can best be described as a cross between an incubator and a research institution. The two share several common backers including Microsoft Corp., Bessemer Venture Partners and Innovation Endeavors, the personal venture fund of Alphabet Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

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