KnowBe4
More info
- Creator
- Stu Sjouwerman
- Released
- 2010
- Type
- Security company
- Owner
- Vista Equity Partners (since 2023)
The company behind the fake "IT department" phishing email you clicked last quarter.
Stu Sjouwerman started KnowBe4 in Clearwater, Florida, in 2010 with a product aimed at people rather than machines: short training videos plus simulated phishing campaigns against a company's own staff. Whoever clicks gets a lesson; the CISO gets a chart.
Kevin Mitnick, once among the FBI's most wanted hackers, served as its "Chief Hacking Officer" until his death in 2023. KnowBe4 went public in 2021 and two years later was taken private by Vista Equity Partners for roughly $4.6 billion. That the training reduces click rates is well documented. Nobody has claimed it gets them to zero.