Tessian Cloud Email Security intelligently prevents advanced email threats and protects against data loss, to strengthen email security and build smarter security cultures in modern enterprises.
Company: Cordaan
Industry: Healthcare
Seats: 6,300
Solutions: Guardian, Enforcer, Defender
About Cordaan
Cordaan – one of the largest healthcare providers in Amsterdam – provides care to over 20,000 people from 120 locations across Amsterdam. They do this with the help of 6,000 employees and more than 2,500 volunteers. Cordaan also works in association with research institutes and social organizations.
To help protect the organization’s people, sensitive data, and networks, Cordaan has deployed Tessian Guardian, Enforcer, and Defender to protect over 6,300 employees on email.
Tessian solves three key problems for Cordaan, which we explore in detail in the video below. Keep reading for a summary of the discussion.
Problem: Healthcare employees are especially vulnerable to inbound attacks
When it comes to inbound attacks like spear phishing and business email compromise, the healthcare industry is among the most targeted. It also has the highest costs associated with data breaches.
Why? According to Cas de Bie, the Dutch healthcare provider’s Chief Information Officer, it’s not just because organizations operating in this industry handle highly sensitive data. It also has a lot to do with the very nature of the work: helping people.
Combine this empathetic approach with the stress of a global pandemic, and you’re left with an incredibly vulnerable workforce. With Tessian, Cas is now confident Tessian will identify spear phishing emails before his employees respond to them and that employees’ workflow won’t be disrupted in the process.
When talking about inbound attacks, Cas said “It’s all about awareness. While people probably do know what they’re supposed to do when it comes to email security, it’s different in real life. It’s hard to decide in the moment. Of course, they don’t do it on purpose. They want to make the right decision. Tessian helps them do that.”
Problem: Reactive and rule-based solutions weren’t preventing human error on email in the short or long-term
To ensure GDPR-compliance, Cordaan prioritized investment in privacy and security solutions. But, according to Cas, “standard” email security, spam filtering solutions, and encryption alone just weren’t enough. They weren’t keeping malicious emails out of inboxes, and they weren’t preventing data loss from insiders. They also weren’t doing anything to improve employee security reflexes in the long-term.
So, to level-up Cordaan’s email security, Cas was looking for a solution that was:
- Technologically advanced
- User-friendly
- Proactive
With Tessian, he found all three.
Powered by contextual machine learning and artificial intelligence, our solutions can detect and prevent threats and risky behavior before they become incidents or breaches. How? With the in-the-moment warnings – triggered by anomalous email activity – that look something like this.
These warnings help nudge well-intentioned employees towards safer behavior and ensure data stays within Cordaan’s perimeter. And, because Tessian works silently in the background and analyzes inbound and outbound emails in milliseconds, it’s invisible to employees until they see a warning.
This was incredibly important to Cas, who said that “The added value of Tessian is that it influences behavior. That really resonated with the board and helped me make a strong business case. While I can’t show how cybersecurity creates revenue, I can show – via a risk management calculation – the potential fines we could avoid because of our investment in Tessian”.
Problem: Cordaan’s security team had limited visibility into – and control over – data loss incidents on email
While Cordaan had invested in other email security solutions, Cas and his team still lacked visibility into the frequency of data loss incidents on email. But, after deploying Tessian for a Proof of Value, the scope of the problem became crystal clear.
The reality is that employees do actually send unauthorized and misdirected emails more frequently than expected. (We explore this in detail in our report, The State of Data Loss Prevention 2020.) But, the good news is that this behavior can be influenced and corrected—all without access restrictions that make it harder (or impossible) for employees to do their jobs.
Cas explained it well, saying that “Of course there are things that we have to police and prohibit. But, most of the time, people aren’t doing things maliciously. So it’s nice that – with Tessian – we can take a more nuanced approach. We can influence behavior and help our employees do the right thing.”
Learn more about how Tessian prevents human error on email
Powered by machine learning, Tessian’s Human Layer Security technology understands human behavior and relationships.
- Tessian Guardian automatically detects and prevents misdirected emails
- Tessian Enforcer automatically detects and prevents data exfiltration attempts
- Tessian Defender automatically detects and prevents spear phishing attacks
Importantly, Tessian’s technology automatically updates its understanding of human behavior and evolving relationships through continuous analysis and learning of an organization’s email network. That means it gets smarter over time to keep you protected, wherever and however your work.
Interested in learning more about how Tessian can help prevent email mistakes in your organization? You can read some of our customer stories here or book a demo.
Cordaan Case Study
