Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 1, 2018 – Mimecast Limited (NASDAQ: MIME), a leading email and data security company, today announced the start of a month-long global initiative to promote combining awareness training with cyber-resilience strategies to help reduce the risk of data breaches and lost productivity.

Mimecast will use Cyber Security Awareness Month to introduce IT decision makers to its newest offering, MimecastSM Awareness Training. Mimecast acquired Ataata in July 2018, creating the foundation for the new platform. Mimecast Awareness Training is designed to dramatically lower the risk of cyber breaches by changing the behaviour and security habits of employees at scale.

The service is designed to offer memorable training content, risk scoring and real-world simulation attack scenarios. Training topics include ransomware, phishing, wire fraud, password hygiene, PCI compliance, HIPAA and GDPR.

This month, Mimecast will also offer a free Awareness Training kit on its blog. The kit will include details on how to protect against phishing, vishing, wire transfer fraud, inadvertent leaks, and understanding the security risks with public Wi-Fi.

Michael Madon, SVP & GM security awareness at Mimecast, said: “Employees need compelling reasons to care about security and become more resilient against preventable threats. Finding creative ways to offer cyber education breaks through the passive resistance most employees have to training. Meanwhile, security teams should be better armed with the ability to measure risks based on real inbound threats and comprehensive training data.”

“We have prepared a series of initiatives to coincide with Cyber Security Awareness Month. This includes a training and certification program for Mimecast customers looking to achieve role-based excellence around security best practices.”

According to Mimecast’s State of Email Security 2018 Report, 90 percent of organisations have seen phishing attacks increase or stay the same over the last year, yet only 11 percent of respondents continuously train employees on how to spot cyberattacks.

Mimecast’s month-long cybersecurity awareness initiative includes the participation in:

• Security Serious Week – London, UK (October 1-5) an industry-wide initiative to garner security advice and best practice featuring a flashmob meet-up and the Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards.
• IP Expo Europe, London, UK – training demos and educational seminars:

o   Let’s Build a Wall: A Human Firewall, Hiwot Mendahun - Cyber Threat Protection Theatre (October 3, 14:20 - 14:50)

o   Evolving Security Analysis: Combining Human and Cyber Threat Intelligence, Derek Buchanan + Kirsty Kelly - Cyber Threat Protection Theatre (October 4, 11:00 - 11:30)

• it-sa – Nuremburg, Germany (October 9-11) – 3D Email Security Risk Assessment ‘car wash’
• GITEX – Dubai, UAE (October 14-18) – visitors will learn how they can improve their defences by measuring cyber risk training effectiveness and converting behaviour observations into actionable risk metrics
• Securing America’s Critical Infrastructure, a NCSA and Nasdaq Cybersecurity Summit – New York City, US (October 16) Michael Madon will moderate a panel focused on Trends in Cyber Warfare with participants including Carnegie Mellon, CEM, Cofense, Dell and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn.
• Stay Safe Online initiatives in Australia (October 8-12)
• Social media education campaign - Cyber Resilience Insights blog featuring a free Awareness Training kit