Egress

A London email security company, acquired by KnowBe4 in 2024 and still known as Egress.

About Egress

Egress provides cloud email security. Email is how most attacks start, whether through a convincing fake message (phishing) or an employee sending sensitive information to the wrong person by mistake. Egress's Intelligent Email Security suite uses artificial intelligence that learns how each person normally behaves to spot threats and stop accidental data leaks.

Egress was founded in 2007 by Tony Pepper, Neil Larkins and John Goodyear, and is headquartered in London. Pepper became its chief executive. Early on it was known for Egress Switch, secure email and file sharing used by UK public bodies including the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). It won the Security Innovation of the Year award at the BCS UK IT Industry Awards in 2011, its Switch product received CESG certification in 2013, and Egress Protect was certified by the UK's National Cyber Security Centre to handle "Official" and "Official Sensitive" government data.

We did not find a standalone Egress mission statement. In the 2024 announcement of its sale, Egress said it recognises that "people are the biggest risk to organizations' security" when using email, and Pepper said Egress and KnowBe4 "have a shared vision of delivering tailored and relevant security to each employee".

KnowBe4, a US security-awareness training company, announced in April 2024 that it would acquire Egress, and the deal closed about three months later. We could not confirm whether Egress still trades under its own name; job adverts have described it as "Egress, a KnowBe4 company". Its products include Intelligent Email Security tools and an AI-powered Automated Abuse Mailbox, which sorts the suspicious emails that staff report, and the earlier Switch and Protect products. The announcement also said Egress had been named a "Best Place to Work in the UK".

Egress has had a record of taking on young people. It appeared in the National Undergraduate Employability Awards in 2021 (news headlines say it was shortlisted and that it won), and graduate adverts have included a Graduate Technical Support Engineer role in Sheffield for 2023, which shows technical support is one entry route. We could not read the details of those pages, and current schemes are unconfirmed, so check the Egress or KnowBe4 careers pages. Subjects that lead into this work include computer science, networking and any course that builds problem-solving and customer-support skills.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Protection from phishing and misdirected emails using AI that learns normal behaviour.', 'title': 'Email security'}
• {'desc': 'Stopping sensitive data leaving by mistake, including secure email and file sharing.', 'title': 'Data protection'}
• {'desc': 'AI-powered tool that handles suspicious emails reported by staff.', 'title': 'Automated Abuse Mailbox'}

Key facts

• Founded 2007 by Tony Pepper, Neil Larkins and John Goodyear; headquartered in London
• Acquired by KnowBe4 (announced April 2024, closed about three months later)
• Egress Protect NCSC-certified for Official and Official Sensitive data
• Won Security Innovation of the Year at the BCS UK IT Industry Awards 2011

Website: www.egress.com