Artificial intelligence cybersecurity startup Jericho Security today announced that it has raised $3 million in funding to combat the rising tide of generative AI-powered phishing attacks.

The pre-seed round was led by Era, with Lux Capital LP, FoundersXFund LLC, MetaLabs Inc, Alcove Inc., Textbook LLC, Alumni Venture Group, Thorntree Capital Partners LP and Contrary Capital LLC also participating. The startup was founded earlier this year by AI technologist and former Agolo Inc. Chief Executive Sage Wohns, FiscalNote Inc. co-founder and CEO Tim Hwang and cybersecurity expert and PKC Security LLC founding partner Dan Chyan.

Jericho assists enterprises in defending against social engineering phishing attacks by leveraging AI to create sophisticated simulations and educational content for employees. In the company’s own words, it “uses AI to fight AI,” acting as a white hat for organizations.

The startup argues that the recent explosion of generative AI technologies represents a unique and unprecedented threat vector in enterprise security in that AI can be used to build hyper-personalized, social engineering phishing attacks at scale. Since the launch of OpenAI LP’s ChatGPT last year, AI-generated attacks are said to have tripled and their sophistication continues to grow. While the attack environment continues to evolve, many companies have not adapted their cybersecurity posture to keep pace with generative AI making them more vulnerable than ever.

“Corporate cybersecurity solutions are antiquated and have become virtually obsolete overnight due to the magnitude, personalization and adaptive attacks from generative AI,” co-founder and CEO Wohns explained. “Too often, companies only take proper cybersecurity action when it’s too late, following reputational harm and potential litigation.”

The company’s platform uses advanced language processing, custom privately hosted language models and brokered data to train employees using realistic personalized simulations of threats from malicious actors. The platform is personalized to individual users and provides organizations with team-wide metrics and individualized feedback.

“We believe in proactive cybersecurity, empowering organizations to prevent attacks rather than reacting to breaches,” Wohns added. “Jericho equips companies and their employees with the tools and skills to identify and halt generative attacks effectively.”

Jericho Security is working with partners across the finance, healthcare and government sectors. The solution costs $3 per user per month.

Image: Jericho Security