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KnowBe4 extends Defend email security to Google Workspace

KnowBe4 has launched Defend for Google Workspace, extending its email security portfolio to Google's workplace platform. The product combines AI-based threat detection with real-time employee coaching and integrates with KnowBe4's PhishER system, with early adopter data showing it processed over 539,000 emails and intercepted hundreds of dangerous threats.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Sep 1, 2026 Published 1h ago

KnowBe4 launches Defend for Google Workspace

KnowBe4 has introduced email and collaboration security protection for Google Workspace through its Defend product, extending its existing email security offering to Google's workplace platform. The product targets phishing, business email compromise, and artificial intelligence-driven attacks in Gmail and related collaboration tools, adding threat detection, AI-based verdicts, and employee coaching for organisations using Google Workspace.

According to KnowBe4, Google Workspace has more than three billion users worldwide, and the new release is designed for small businesses, mid-market customers, and large enterprises.

How the technology works

At the core of Defend for Google Workspace is a multi-engine behavioural AI model trained on KnowBe4's proprietary telemetry of more than 1.15 billion daily event signals and 16 years of behavioural insight. The platform evaluates messages across multi-layered intent signals simultaneously, aiming to catch advanced business email compromise, zero-payload phishing, and prompt injection attacks that native Google controls often miss.

When a risky email is detected, the intended recipient receives an immediate, contextual notification designed to turn a potential incident into real-world security training at the point of risk. Once a malicious variant is confirmed, the product links with KnowBe4's PhishER Plus system to search for and remove matching threats across Gmail inboxes. KnowBe4 said that process can be completed in under two minutes.

Early adopter results

Before the launch, KnowBe4 ran an early adopter programme to test the software in customer environments. Across those deployments, Defend for Google Workspace processed 539,384 emails, according to the company. Of those messages, 810 were classified as dangerous threats—or one in every 666 emails—and the system identified 5,491 suspicious threats that had passed Google's native protections.

In the same trial environments, the system categorised 361,070 productivity-related emails. According to KnowBe4, that saved early adopters an average of 10.96 hours a week.

Executive comments

Greg Kras, Chief Product Officer at KnowBe4, said the launch combined protection and user education in a single layer for Google customers. “Google empowers productivity and collaboration. KnowBe4 protects the digital workforce,” he said. “Together, this new release enhances the email and collaboration security that IT and security professionals need to better protect their organisations. We are bringing explainable, multi-engine AI detection and real-time coaching together in a single, API-native layer, so every blocked threat also becomes a teachable moment. Our deep collaboration with Google enables us to offer a unified platform that delivers trust and a strong security culture.”

The launch adds to growing competition in email security, as vendors increasingly seek to supplement protections from major platform providers. A key focus has been business email compromise, which often relies on socially engineered messages rather than malware. Security suppliers have also placed greater emphasis on training users during live incidents instead of relying only on periodic awareness courses, reflecting a broader shift towards embedding security prompts into daily workflows.

KnowBe4 said the Google Workspace release builds on its broader digital workforce security business. The company says it is used by more than 70,000 organisations worldwide and provides training, attack simulation, email security, and tools related to AI agents.

An existing customer cited by the company pointed to the Defend system's daily operational value. Mark Burtenshaw, ICT manager for security and compliance at The City of Edinburgh Council, said the value is proven in its threat intelligence dashboard.

How each outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

iTWire

Framing: Announces KnowBe4's launch of email and collaboration security protection for Google Workspace

as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC

Facts Included:

KnowBe4 launched email and collaboration security protection for Google Workspace
The product is an extension of its Defend email security portfolio
The product brings threat detection, explainable AI verdicts, and real-time employee coaching to Google Workspace users
KnowBe4 has more than three billion Google Workspace users worldwide
Greg Kras, chief product officer at KnowBe4, said the release enhances email and collaboration security
The product uses a multi-engine behavioural AI model trained on KnowBe4's proprietary telemetry of more than
The platform catches advanced BEC, zero-payload phishing, and prompt injection attacks
Defend for Google Workspace integrates with PhishER Plus to automatically remove matching threats across enterprise Gmail inboxes in under two minutes
During an early adopter program, Defend processed 539,384 emails, intercepting 810 dangerous threats (1 in every 666 emails) and 5,491 suspicious threats
The platform classified 361,070 productivity-related emails, saving early adopters an average of
Defend has brought value to customers including Mark Burtenshaw, ICT manager security and compliance at The City of Edinburgh Council, who said the value is proven in its threat intelligence dashboard
Defend banners have increased employees' vigilance to phishing attacks
Defend for Google Workspace will be available on September 15, 2026

Read the source article →

SecurityBrief Australia

Framing: announces a product launch by KnowBe4 extending its email security to Google Workspace through its 'Defend' product — Promotional and descriptive, reporting product features and company claims

as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC

Facts Included:

KnowBe4 has launched email and collaboration security protection for Google Workspace through its Defend product
The product targets phishing, business email compromise and artificial intelligence-driven attacks in Gmail and related collaboration tools
For organisations using Google Workspace, it adds threat detection, AI-based verdicts and employee coaching
According to KnowBe4, Google Workspace has more than three billion users worldwide, and the new release is designed for small businesses, mid-market customers and large enterprises
It analyses messages across several intent signals simultaneously to identify threats such as business email compromise, zero-payload phishing and prompt injection attacks
The service also sends immediate warnings to intended recipients when it detects a risky email
The notices are intended to turn live incidents into training moments for employees at the point of risk
If a malicious variant is confirmed, the product links with KnowBe4's PhishER system to search for and remove matching threats across Gmail inboxes
KnowBe4 said that process can be completed in under two minutes
Across those deployments, Defend for Google Workspace processed 539,384 emails, according to KnowBe4
Of those messages, 810 were classified as dangerous threats, or one in every 666 emails
The system also identified 5,491 suspicious threats that had passed Google's native protections, the company said
Greg Kear, Chief Product Officer at KnowBe4, said the launch combined protection and user education in a single layer for Google customers
The launch adds to growing competition in email security, as vendors increasingly seek to supplement protections from major platform providers
A key focus has been business email compromise, which often relies on socially engineered messages rather than malware
Security suppliers have also placed greater emphasis on training users during live incidents instead of relying only on periodic awareness courses
The approach reflects a broader shift towards embedding security prompts into daily workflows
KnowBe4 said the Google Workspace release builds on its broader digital workforce security business
The company says it is used by more than 70,000 organisations worldwide and provides training, attack simulation, email security and tools related to AI agents
An existing customer cited by the company pointed to the Defend system's daily operational value

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimKnowBe4 launched email and collaboration security protection for Google Workspace through its Defend product.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via iTWire as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC, SecurityBrief Australia as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe Defend product for Google Workspace is an extension of KnowBe4's Defend email security portfolio for Google Workspace.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via iTWire as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC, SecurityBrief Australia as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe product targets phishing, business email compromise and AI-driven attacks in Gmail and related collaboration tools.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via SecurityBrief Australia as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC
ClaimDefend for Google Workspace adds threat detection, AI-based verdicts and employee coaching, including real-time employee coaching, to Google Workspace users.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via SecurityBrief Australia as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC, iTWire as of Sep 1, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles consulted: iTWire, SecurityBrief Australia 4 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-09-01