INKY emerges from stealth with email spoofing, phishing protection service

INKY says it uses AI to protect against the increasingly innovative ways online attackers are using to get past spam filters.

INKY, a startup that provides protection against email spoofing and phishing services, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday and announced its “INKY Phish Fence” product.

The product helps organizations detect spoofing attempts whereby attackers hijack a domain to pose as a credible entity. It also uses “anomaly detection algorithms” to warn employees of suspicious emails and detect spearpshing and extortion attempts.

Based in Rockville, Maryland, INKY has raised about $5.8 million in venture capital funding, according to Crunchbase, including a $5.6 million Series A round backed by ClearSky Security, Gula Tech Adventures and Blackstone.

“There is an obvious lack of innovation around detecting and preventing today’s sophisticated phishing attacks. With the launch of INKY Phish Fence, enterprises will now be able to detect and prevent against the industry’s most common, yet formidable vectors,” said Ron Gula, founder of Gula Tech Adventures, in a press release. “Investing in this space is incredibly important as the first line of defense against attackers gaining access to sensitive data.”

The company says Phish Fence’s protection features work “on any endpoint via any mail client” with no need to install additional client software. It directly integrates with Microsoft Office 365 and Google’s G Suite.

INKY says that perpetrators of phishing attempts are getting more innovative and finding ways to bypass traditional spam filters like DKIM, DMARC and SPF.

“Leveraging the reputation of Office 365 and G suite, criminals are actively using domains of reputable servers in order to pass the low bar for traditional anti-spam filters,” the company said. “In addition, INKY has found a change in dissemination of spear phishing attacks, moving away from the traditional attachment generated content, to criminals looking to build relationships with C-level executives merely requesting simple data.”

Government

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

Technology

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure

• Election official says Tina Peters would be consultant, won’t have access to election systems