KnowBe4, a cybersecurity platform focusing on human and AI agent risk management, has announced new innovations designed to train both people and AI agents in defending against evolving cyber threats. This development addresses the increasing integration of AI into enterprise operations and the associated security vulnerabilities.
According to Gartner, enterprise applications integrated with task-specific AI agents are projected to reach 40% by the end of 2026, a significant rise from less than 5% today. These AI agents represent emerging targets for theft, adversarial manipulation, and misuse, underscoring the critical need for enhanced employee AI literacy. The human element has been implicated in over 60% of breaches, with social engineering remaining a primary attack vector, as highlighted in reports like the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. This prevalence necessitates smarter defense strategies that account for the dynamic interactions between humans and AI agents.
Bryan Palma, CEO of KnowBe4, stated, “We are delivering adaptive, personalized, AI-driven defenses today to safeguard the next generation global workforce.” He added that the company’s approach involves guarding humans against AI-driven attacks while also shielding AI systems from exploitation. Palma emphasized KnowBe4’s unique capability to protect enterprise AI agents by securing the essential human-agent interaction layer, identifying it as crucial as AI tools become both powerful and potential targets.
While cyber threats are growing more sophisticated through AI, AI itself is also emerging as a high-value target. KnowBe4’s HRM+ platform extends defense beyond the gateway layer, offering a comprehensive defense-in-depth strategy. Built on 15 years of user behavior and threat intelligence data, the platform aims to secure every layer of interaction, from productivity environments to individual users and the AI agents themselves. This layered approach includes several key features:
* **Agent-Safe Behavior Training:** Equips employees with the knowledge to safely interact with and oversee AI agents, similar to how they learn to identify malicious links.
* **Prompt Injection & Manipulation Defense:** Utilizes simulated attacks to train workforces in identifying and resisting adversarial inputs designed to hijack enterprise AI agents.
* **Risk Scoring for Agent Interactions:** Expands KnowBe4’s existing Risk Score to quantify susceptibility to agent misuse, providing a comprehensive risk assessment.
A customer cited KnowBe4 for its responsiveness to evolving cybersecurity needs, noting, “Threats change and adapt far too often. KnowBe4 knows this and adapts their training to meet the current threats. AI Defense Agents in particular help quickly adapt to the evolving threat landscape.” KnowBe4, which serves over 70,000 organizations globally, is known for its AI-driven human risk management solutions and comprehensive ‘best-of-suite’ platform for Human Risk Management, which includes modules for awareness and compliance training, cloud email security, real-time coaching, crowdsourced anti-phishing, and AI Defense Agents.
