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Instabase is a company that deeply understands the value of data. Their AI-powered data platform allows companies to search, analyze data, and automate processes to transform huge quantities of unstructured information into insights and action. The Instabase AI hub is trusted by companies across the globe, so when it came time for Instabase’s security team to harden their defenses against phishing, they knew they needed a solution they could trust.
The team relied on standard security procedures, but needed to give their users stronger protection against the increasingly-sophisticated phishing attacks they were facing–without adding more to their security team’s to-do list. Prior to bringing on Material, the team followed the usual manual process: an end user forwarded a phishing email to a security inbox, which prompted an investigation and a personalized response from the team.
The team had a high standard for security and wanted to take extra steps to make sure that phishing attacks wouldn’t get through. Each investigation took manual work and required manual followup, and Dave Lavelle, Director of IT at Instabase, wanted to find a better way to keep employees safe while reducing the manual workload on his team.
Chris Ulrich, Instabase’s Director of Security and Compliance, recognized that any solution they brought on board needed to have minimal impact on end users. “Our old solution was so manual and so dependent on user behavior,” says Chris. “It can feel almost impossible to change user behavior, so at some point you just have to change the tooling.”
Flexible Phishing Protection, Built for Google Workspace
The search for a user-friendly solution built for Google Workspace led the team to evaluate Material’s phishing protection capabilities. Dave shares Instabase’s security perspective: “9 out of 10 users want to make the company more secure and actually feel that sense of ownership over security. Our job was to make it easy enough and clear enough for them to be able to do that.” Material’s flexible API-based approach combined with a depth of experience with Google made the platform an obvious choice.
After turning on Material, the team saw how the platform immediately removed phishing emails from users’ inboxes. This instant reduction in the attack surface lowered risk exposure and eliminated manual work. Material groups similar phishing attacks into a single case, both eliminating the repetitive work involved in investigating suspected phishing attempts and instantly protecting multiple users once that case has been detected.
Not just reacting, but actually validating has been so important for us. The biggest shift for us has been validating that what should be happening is happening within Material.
Dave Lavelle, Director of IT, Instabase
The team also loves how Material integrates with their existing workflows. The team uses Slack to monitor incoming phishing cases, so she can keep a pulse on potential threats while doing other work. If something looks urgent, someone can jump into Material, quickly investigate, and have confidence that the situation is being addressed.
Material: Part of Day One Training and Beyond
Google Workspace is the first tool Instabase users are given access to, which means that Material is a key part of employee onboarding. New team members are taught how to report phishing with the click of a button in Gmail, and how their dedication to security actively protects their colleagues and the company as a whole.
Since implementing Material, we see less spam getting into the inboxes, and less risk exposure in general. I want phishing to be something everybody is aware of, and Material makes that possible while allowing them to go on with their day-to-day jobs. - Chris Ulrich, Director of Security and Compliance, Instabase
Material is also an integral part of ongoing anti-phishing training. The platform allows Instabase to send phishing simulations based on attempted attacks, so end users get exposure to real threats without exposure to danger. Simulations sent through Material reliably land in inboxes, so there’s no need to customize anti-phishing tools to ensure delivery. The Instabase team also has visibility into which parts of the business are the biggest targets for phishing attempts, and can direct more resources towards training these employees. Seeing that the finance team was regularly getting hit with attacks, they invest more time and effort in making these end users aware of specific attack types so they can better protect themselves.
We're seeing much better adoption because Material allows us to tailor our phishing campaigns to what we're actually seeing in the industry. And it takes a lot of that burden off the end user, which is fantastic for us. - Chris Ulrich, Director of Security and Compliance, Instabase
Today, Material has had exactly the impact that Instabase needed. Material is doing more than stopping phishing in its tracks: it’s providing much-needed peace of mind at all levels of the company.
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