AegisAI, founded by former Google security execs, lands $36M to stop AI-driven spear phishing

由前谷歌安全高管创立的 AegisAI 融资 3600 万美元，旨在阻击 AI 驱动的鱼叉式网络钓鱼

Hackers are increasingly using AI to launch attacks on a massive scale, with email emerging as a primary target. AI can quickly aggregate personal information — such as information about co-workers, active projects, and recent travel itineraries — allowing bad actors to instantly craft convincing messages that look authentic. 黑客正越来越多地利用人工智能进行大规模攻击，而电子邮件已成为主要目标。人工智能可以快速汇总个人信息（例如同事信息、正在进行的项目以及近期的旅行行程），使不法分子能够瞬间炮制出看起来非常真实的诱导信息。

Last year, former Google security executives Cy Khormaee and Ryan Luo, who previously worked on developing safe browsing technology and reCAPTCHA, teamed up to launch AegisAI, a startup that uses AI agents to stomp out these threats, known as spear phishing. 去年，前谷歌安全高管 Cy Khormaee 和 Ryan Luo 联手创办了 AegisAI。他们此前曾致力于开发安全浏览技术和 reCAPTCHA，如今这家初创公司利用 AI 智能体来打击被称为“鱼叉式网络钓鱼”的威胁。

With a decade of experience preventing email hacks, the AegisAI co-founders realized that existing rule-based systems for preventing hacks — relying on “if-then” logic — are too slow and limited to catching AI-crafted malicious emails. So they developed AI agents that quickly analyze each message as a human would, paying attention to small anomalies that even the most elaborate checklist wouldn’t catch. 凭借在防范电子邮件黑客攻击方面十年的经验，AegisAI 的联合创始人意识到，现有的基于“如果-那么”（if-then）逻辑的规则式防黑系统，在捕捉 AI 制作的恶意邮件时显得过于缓慢且局限。因此，他们开发了 AI 智能体，能够像人类一样快速分析每条信息，并关注到即使是最详尽的检查清单也无法发现的细微异常。

Less than a year after its launch, AegisAI says its tech has been adopted by dozens of customers, including crypto payments company Mesh, AI startup LangChain, and privacy compliance platform Lokker. That demand has just helped AegisAI raise a $36 million Series A led by Battery Ventures, with participation from existing backers Accel and Foundation Capital. The fresh funding brings the startup’s total capital to $49 million. 在成立不到一年后，AegisAI 表示其技术已被数十家客户采用，包括加密支付公司 Mesh、AI 初创公司 LangChain 以及隐私合规平台 Lokker。这种市场需求助力 AegisAI 完成了 3600 万美元的 A 轮融资，由 Battery Ventures 领投，现有投资方 Accel 和 Foundation Capital 跟投。这笔新资金使该初创公司的总融资额达到 4900 万美元。

“AI-powered attacks bypass existing controls more than half the time now, which means they’re almost twice as effective as they used to be,” Khormaee told TechCrunch. “They’ve researched you, they understand everything about you, and they’re targeting attacks that are perfectly bespoke to you.” “如今，人工智能驱动的攻击有一半以上的时间能绕过现有的防御控制，这意味着它们的有效性几乎是过去的两倍，”Khormaee 在接受 TechCrunch 采访时表示。“它们研究过你，了解你的一切，并针对你量身定制攻击。”

Khormaee claims that AegisAI’s agents can spot threats traditional email security systems may miss entirely. For instance, the startup’s AI can catch malicious PDF attachments that look legitimate at first, including ones with built-in passwords and CAPTCHA, which are often used to fool standard spam filters. Khormaee 声称，AegisAI 的智能体能够发现传统电子邮件安全系统可能完全遗漏的威胁。例如，该公司的 AI 可以识别出起初看起来合法的恶意 PDF 附件，包括那些带有内置密码和验证码的附件，这些手段通常被用来欺骗标准的垃圾邮件过滤器。

When Dharmesh Thakker, general partner at Battery Ventures, noticed an increase in email attacks, he set out to invest in a startup that could defend against AI with AI, one aiming to replace legacy email security tools with agentic-driven defense. “The bad guys are using email to attack us using AI at a much faster pace than we can keep up with,” Thakker told TechCrunch. “Defending against that is going to be a number one priority for a lot of companies.” 当 Battery Ventures 的普通合伙人 Dharmesh Thakker 注意到电子邮件攻击日益增多时，他决定投资一家能够“以 AI 对抗 AI”的初创公司，旨在用基于智能体的防御手段取代传统的电子邮件安全工具。“坏人们正以我们无法跟上的速度，利用 AI 通过电子邮件攻击我们，”Thakker 对 TechCrunch 说，“防范这些攻击将成为许多公司的首要任务。”

AegisAI isn’t the only startup using AI to analyze the context of every incoming email to detect fraud and impersonation attempts. Lightspeed-backed Ocean is also trying to displace established vendors like Proofpoint and Mimecast, along with newer players like Abnormal Security. However, given that AegisAI is led by experts who helped secure Gmail, the most popular email system in the world, Thakker believes the startup has the best shot at becoming the leading new hack-prevention company. AegisAI 并不是唯一一家利用 AI 分析每封入站邮件上下文以检测欺诈和冒充企图的初创公司。获得 Lightspeed 支持的 Ocean 也试图取代 Proofpoint 和 Mimecast 等老牌供应商，以及 Abnormal Security 等较新的参与者。然而，鉴于 AegisAI 由曾帮助保护全球最受欢迎的电子邮件系统 Gmail 的专家领导，Thakker 认为该公司最有希望成为领先的新一代黑客防御公司。

While AegisAI is starting with email, the startup has its sights on eventually expanding to other areas of defense, such as data security. “The core idea of building customized, highly advanced agents that can do investigations is going to [determine] who becomes the next dominant security company,” Khormaee said. 虽然 AegisAI 目前从电子邮件切入，但该初创公司已着眼于未来扩展到其他防御领域，例如数据安全。“构建能够进行调查的定制化、高度先进的智能体，这一核心理念将决定谁会成为下一家占据主导地位的安全公司，”Khormaee 说道。