Cybersecurity threats for M365 are increasing, putting any business using the platform at risk. Email misdirection remains one of the costliest human-error risks and organisations need to have the right tools in place to strengthen defences.
We partner with Hornetsecurity, a vendor that’s responding to these growing threats with two AI-powered features: AI Recipient Validation and the AI Cyber Assistant. These AI cybersecurity tools help guard against cybercrime, boost M365 security and give power back to both users and admins.
In this blog, we’ll share how Hornetsecurity’s AI tools are protecting business against these emerging threats.
Microsoft 365’s dominance makes it a prime target for attackers, with email, Teams and SharePoint increasingly exploited for fraud and data theft with common attack types including:
Traditional filters alone can’t keep up with the changing threats, which is why investing in AI-powered defences is essential for strengthening M365 security beyond standard protections.
Hornetsecurity’s 365 Total Protection Plan 4 (Compliance & Awareness package) takes a layered approach to protecting Microsoft 365 environments. Instead of relying solely on perimeter defences, it integrates proactive tools that work directly within M365 to safeguard users, data and communication channels.
Beyond strong permissions management, security awareness training and advanced compliance features to meet regulatory requirements, Plan 4’s AI tools stand out for their ability to tackle both human error and sophisticated cybercrime.
Here’s a quick overview:
This feature prevents accidental data leaks by checking outgoing emails for unusual recipients or sensitive content before they are sent .
This tool acts as a digital security analyst, automating threat analysis, providing instant user feedback and protecting MS Teams conversations from malicious content and impersonation attempts.
This AI-driven defence duo tackles two major causes of security breaches: user mistakes and targeted cyberattacks, combining intelligent automation with user-friendly alerts to reduce risk and the impact of cybercrime in M365.
AI Recipient Validation alerts users when an outgoing email looks risky, such as when the recipient seems suspicious or sensitive data might be exposed.
Here’s how it works:
Within Hornetsecurity’s portal admins can review dashboards, see warning statistics and configure trusted domains or user exclusions - essentially offering increased visibility and control.
Hornetsecurity consciously improve and update the platform, optimising performance, removing redundant warnings and introducing organised layouts for easier navigation.
The key is stopping accidental data leaks before they happen, and this AI tool does the job of strengthening compliance whist reducing successful cybercrime incidents.
The AI Cyber Assistant is an advanced tool supporting both email and Teams security.
Want to automatically analyse user-reported emails? This smart AI feature provides instant, clear feedback on a message’s status, whether it’s safe, malicious or suspicious. Benefits include:
As a common workplace tool, MS Teams needs effective security.
Teams Protection scans messages for malicious links, images, and impersonation attempts. Then, users are alerted via the AI Cyber Assistant, and admins can respond rapidly to threats. We go into more detail about this in a previous blog here.
AI Recipient Validation and AI Cyber Assistant are both great tools for AI-driven defence against cybercrime and automating security tasks that if left to humans, would require significant oversight and proactive management. Here’s a reminder of what they do for your M365 security:
Though hackers are getting smarter, Hornetsecurity is keeping up with these threats using AI-powered security tools. Together, these features boost compliance, improve user awareness and provide powerful protection against cybercrime.
Ready to make M365 safer and more resilient? Chat to our team today. Or book in a demo of Hornetsecurity to see the AI features in action.