In February 2018, Proofpoint, Inc., (NASDAQ:PFPT), a leading cybersecurity company, completed its acquisition of Wombat Security Technologies, Inc., a small firm specializing in phishing simulation and security awareness computer-based training. Founded by Carnegie Mellon Universitys School of Computer Science, Wombat Security Technologies personnel had been working on a national research project to combat phishing attacks, focusing on addressing the human element in cyber security and on developing more effective anti-phishing filtering solutions. Wombat Security Technologies provides information security awareness and training software to help organizations teach their employees secure behavior. Their SaaS cyber security education solution includes a platform of integrated broad assessments, as well as a library of simulated attacks and brief interactive training modules. The firms software-based cyber security training is designed to be engaging and has been scientifically proven to be significantly more effective than other traditional training solutions. Wombats anti-phishing filtering solutions have been shown to catch significantly more phishing attacks than other filters and are used in sectors as diverse as finance, government, telecom, health care, retail, education, transportation and utilities. Wombat's solutions allow organizations to reduce employee susceptibility to attack, including phishing attacks, by over 80%.
