KnowBe4 unleashes AI-powered email security to small and medium businesses

KnowBe4 has launched Prevent, an AI-driven email security solution aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses tackle one of cybersecurity’s most persistent threats: outbound email risk.

The platform, now expanded from its enterprise version, uses machine learning, behavioral analytics and neural networks to detect and stop data breaches caused by employee error, before they happen.

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Human mistakes remain a top concern in 2025, with 60 percent of data breaches involving some form of human error, according to a recent report.

Whether it’s sending sensitive documents to the wrong person, misusing autocomplete, or replying to phishing emails, outbound email errors can cost companies heavily in terms of money, trust, and compliance.

“Outbound email risk continues to be one of the most persistent and costly challenges an organization can face -- one that requires smarter, more adaptive approaches to effectively address them,” said Greg Kras, chief product officer at KnowBe4.

Prevent is designed to step in just before a message is sent, alerting employees when they're about to make a risky move. This includes sending an email to an unintended recipient, attaching the wrong file, or replying to suspicious or unauthorized domains.

The product doesn’t rely on rigid rules alone. Instead, it builds context around user behavior, adapts over time, and learns what “normal” communication looks like within each organization.

“Prevent is the most intelligent and proactive outbound email security product among today’s email data loss prevention methods,” Kras said. “Unlike traditional products, it uses advanced machine learning and contextual understanding of user behavior to identify risky actions in real time and prevent a data breach before it occurs.”

This real-time protection is supported by a detailed analytics suite. Security teams gain insights into how users interact with Prevent’s alerts, allowing organizations to quantify prevented incidents and assess risk reduction efforts.

These reports give IT departments and executives a clearer picture of how outbound email threats are being mitigated across teams.

The new release also brings advanced features previously only available in Prevent Enterprise, including protection against misattached files and internal unauthorized disclosures.

While Enterprise customers can benefit from additional layers, the small and medium business version offers the same AI-driven foundation, without the complexity or overhead.

Email training

According to KnowBe4, the platform doesn’t just block mistakes, it also helps train employees. When they receive real-time alerts, they learn to pause and consider what they’re sending and to whom. This reinforces better habits over time, reducing the likelihood of repeat incidents and helping foster a stronger security culture.

“With Prevent, organizations can stop incidents at the source, empower employees to make safer decisions, and enable security teams to manage and reduce risk at scale,” Kras said.

Outbound email remains one of the hardest risks to contain, especially as teams become more distributed and rely heavily on digital communication. Prevent offers a scalable option that allows smaller businesses to access tools previously reserved for large enterprises.

Prevent starts at $9.58 per user per month for 25 to 50 users, with lower rates for larger teams -- $7.92 for 51–100 users, $6.25 for 101–500, and $4.58 for 501–1,000. Custom pricing is also available for organizations with over 1,000 users.

What do you think about AI-powered outbound email security? Let us know in the comments.