The new feature from ManagedMethods, called Advanced Phishing, is embedded in the company's Cloud Monitor platform and uses chain-of-thought AI — a process that improves a system's judgment by guiding it through a step-by-step reasoning process — to identify sophisticated phishing attempts in Gmail and Outlook. According to a news release this week, the feature is tailored to identify the kinds of phishing emails that impersonate school officials, parents or vendors, learning from real-world attacks on schools in order to continuously improve its accuracy while reducing false positives.
In addition to flagging suspicious emails, the feature suggests remediation actions and has automated response capabilities, with the aim of helping staff respond quickly to minimize their network's exposure.
Phishing remains a critical cybersecurity issue for K-12 institutions. According to the 2024 Sophos State of Ransomware in Education report, which polled 5,000 cybersecurity leaders across 14 countries, including 300 respondents in K-12, 63 percent of school districts suffered ransomware attacks in 2023, with over a quarter originating from malicious emails. The median cost of recovery rose sharply, reaching $3 million — four times the previous year’s figure.
"Bad actors use sophisticated, socially engineered emails to impersonate trusted sources like administrators, vendors, and even students and parents in order to steal credentials, deploy ransomware, or trick staff into wiring funds," ManagedMethods CEO Charlie Sander said in a public statement. “Traditional email filters often miss these more advanced attacks, leaving schools vulnerable."
This launch follows the April release of Classroom Manager, another ManagedMethods tool, aimed at helping educators manage online instruction by monitoring student browsing activity and personalizing learning experiences.
Editor's note: This story was developed in collaboration with GPT-4 and reviewed and edited by CDE Editorial staff.
