Latest news with #NicoleJiang
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
The Wiretap: OpenAI Agent Checks Box Confirming It's Not A Bot
The Wiretap is your weekly digest of cybersecurity, internet privacy and surveillance news. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here . getty O ne of the constant bits of friction in navigating the modern internet is proving to the site you're browsing that you are, in fact, human. Often you can prove it by simply checking a box saying so. But in the brave new world of agentic AI, such basic checks won't be enough to catch AI agents wandering around the internet to do tasks on their owners' behalf. Ars Technica reports that OpenAI's new agent, which uses its own browser to access the internet and perform tasks, was observed by a Reddit user checking one of those 'I am not a robot' boxes. As it did so, it provided the following narration: 'I'll click the 'Verify you are human' checkbox to complete the verification on Cloudflare. This step is necessary to prove I'm not a bot and proceed with the action." In this particular case, the assistant didn't face one of the common puzzles aimed at catching bots–the ones that ask you to identify all the pictures with a bicycle or to move pieces of an image around to have it the right way up. But it's just a matter of time before agents can solve those too. When the bots get so sophisticated they act like humans, the premise of web 'captchas' starts to break down. How do you then protect websites from unwanted, malicious bot traffic? And how do you design sites so that agents representing real people can navigate them effectively? Let's just hope a web designed for bots isn't that much more annoying for us lowly humans to navigate. Got a tip on surveillance or cybercrime? Get me on Signal at +1 929-512-7964 . Eric Millette P eople are often the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Just last week, cleaning product giant Clorox claimed a cyberattack that may have caused as much as $380 million in damages was the result of a contracted service desk staffer resetting a password for a hacker pretending to work for the company. IT departments are aware of the risk of human error, of course, and try to address it with education. Usually, this means a few emails and some simple training. But the advice in these types of training is generalized and only rarely tailored to the specific needs of staff. It's no wonder people never bother to read those emails. This is the problem that cybersecurity startup Fable wants to tackle with a personalized approach. Founded in 2024 by Nicole Jiang, 31, and Dr. Sanny Liao, 42, who spent years at $5.1 billion cybersecurity company Abnormal, Fable claims its AI helps determine which employees need help improving their security practices and offers custom tips and guidance to them. Read more at Forbes . Stories You Have To Read Today Pro-Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow took credit for a cyberattack that crippled IT systems of Russian airline Aeroflot, which led to dozens of flights being grounded. The viral app Tea, which enabled women to anonymously post images and comments about men they dated, suffered a cyberattack that exposed data about thousands of users. Researchers found security vulnerabilities in door-to-door luggage service Airportr that would enable hackers to access users' flight itineraries and personal information. The bugs could also grant would-be cybercriminals the ability to redirect the final destination of someone's luggage. Winner of the Week Google will be launching new security features for its Workspace apps designed to prevent an exploit that allows hackers to use cookies to take over accounts. The new feature will bind cookies to specific devices, preventing remote hacks. Loser of the Week Apple's latest version of iOS, due this fall, will include more features to filter text spam out of your messaging app. That could have outsized impact for political groups, which worry that this may also filter out their often aggressive fundraising texts. More On Forbes Forbes How The World's Second-Richest Person And His Son Pulled Off The $8 Billion Paramount Deal By Phoebe Liu Forbes Trump Has Spent About One-Third Of His Presidency Visiting His Own Properties By Dan Alexander Forbes Inside Robinhood's Crypto-Fueled Plan For World Domination By Nina Bambysheva
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fable Security Launches With $31M to Stop Risky Human Behavior
Combining AI and behavioral science, Fable sets fire to old playbook with human risk platform that actually delivers results SAN FRANCISCO, July 28, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fable Security, the modern human risk management platform, today announced its launch with $31 million in funding from Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The company is already protecting enterprises and their knowledge workers across critical industries like financial services, healthcare, logistics, technology, and more. Fable directly shapes employee behavior by deploying highly targeted, risk-based interventions to people automatically, in real time, right where they work. Fable was founded by Nicole Jiang (CEO) and Dr. Sanny Liao (CPO), founding team members of Abnormal AI. During their time at the company, they were part of the early team that built the product from the ground up, helped to scale the company to hundreds of millions of ARR, and pioneered the concept of behavioral-based security. Leveraging Liao's background in adtech, behavioral economics, and AI/ML along with Jiang's years of experience building both enterprise- and consumer-grade products, they turned their attention to an even more audacious problem: helping enterprises take control of human risk for the first time. They saw the threat landscape rapidly outpacing defenses. In the last year, for example, over AI-generated phishing attacks rose by 60%, and vishing surged by 442%, fueled by deepfake audio mimicking trusted contacts. These AI-powered scams routinely bypass technical controls—like fake IT help desk calls that trick employees into resetting login credentials. "Companies spend billions on cybersecurity, but human risk is still the biggest unsolved problem that every security team wants to fix," said Nicole Jiang, co-founder and CEO of Fable Security. "One-size-fits-all security awareness programs with generic training modules and phishing simulations do little to actually reduce risk. They are unable to handle the volume, speed, or sophistication of AI threats that exist today. Fable is here to change this paradigm, with a platform purpose-built to tackle the full spectrum of risky employee behaviors at scale." Today's security awareness programs leave security teams reporting on click and completion rates that say nothing about real-world behavior. Studies show training doesn't reduce phishing risk, and some even raise it. Fable is built to understand how risk emerges from behavior, and to target interventions intelligently, in real time, to measurably change that behavior. At the core of the platform is the Human Behavior Index—Fable's proprietary framework that synthesizes thousands of real-time signals from identity, access, cloud, endpoint, and productivity systems to identify employee behaviors that introduce risk. Fable uses these insights to auto-generate highly-targeted AI interventions, including video briefings, nudges, two-way chats, or automated workflows—delivered directly through channels like Slack and email where employees work and communicate. Every intervention is context-aware, timed to moments of heightened risk, and tailored to the employee's role, access level, and behavior. With this modern approach, Fable allows organizations to assess risk in real time, shape behavior through targeted, just-in-time interventions, and ensure compliance via audit-ready reporting mapped to specific actions, policies, and regulatory frameworks. Fable provides a scalable, adaptive system that shrinks human risk with the same technological sophistication and rigor applied to technical controls—turning the most targeted layer in cybersecurity into a new layer of resilience. Customers are seeing these results. Cyrus Tibbs, CISO at Pennymac, noting a 13x faster behavior change during an A/B test after deploying a personalized Fable intervention versus a generic briefing, explained, "We chose Fable because its personalized approach to security awareness led to more effective and faster employee behavior change." Arvin Bansal, veteran Fortune 100 CISO, said, "Human driven risk remains one of the biggest challenges in cybersecurity as missteps can create direct pathways for malicious attacks. As AI-powered threats evolve, we need AI-driven training to keep pace. Platforms like Fable deliver targeted, adaptive education that meets employees where they are, tracks engagement, and evolves with real-time feedback. That kind of precision is essential to reducing human risk across a large, diverse workforce." Since launching with its first customer less than a year ago, Fable is already protecting enterprises like Pennymac, Genesys, and the DNC. Fable has enabled customers to reduce phishing clicks by more than 85%, decrease PII exposures by 60%, and double post-training employee engagement. Fable even gives time back to more than 40% of employees by forgoing unnecessary training. Saam Motamedi, General Partner at Greylock Partners, said: "In the AI era, attackers can now target people with unprecedented precision and effectiveness, making the human layer the most vulnerable layer in security. Fable addresses this head-on by reshaping human behavior with real-time, intelligent interventions. Nicole and Sanny have a distinguished track record of building innovative behavioral AI security products and are redefining the human risk management market at Fable Security." Fable has raised a total of $31 million. The company was initiated as part of Greylock Edge and raised a seed round from Greylock Partners, which incubated Palo Alto Networks and Abnormal AI and backed Okta and Wiz. The company fast-followed with a Series A led by Redpoint Ventures, which backed Cyera and Chainguard. Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, Erica Brescia, said: "Security awareness training has become a checkbox—ineffective, outdated, and blind to how people actually behave. Fable is the first company I've seen that throws out the playbook of a failing category. They're building what modern security teams truly need: visibility into human risk, tools to actually change behavior, and AI that moves at the speed of attackers." The Fable team consists of deep cybersecurity, AI, and behavioral science experts from technology leaders such as Abnormal AI, Palo Alto Networks, Palantir, and Microsoft. About Fable Security Fable Security delivers the human risk platform that directly shapes employee behavior. Designed for simplicity and enterprise scale, our agentic platform synthesizes complex employee data, pinpoints risky behaviors, and deploys highly-relevant interventions to people automatically, in real time, right where they work. With Fable, modern enterprises tangibly reduce risk, sharpen security habits, and drive lasting organizational resilience. Backed by Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, Fable is trusted by organizations like Genesys and the DNC. For more information, visit: View source version on Contacts Fable Media Contact: press@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Fable Security Launches With $31M to Stop Risky Human Behavior
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fable Security, the modern human risk management platform, today announced its launch with $31 million in funding from Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures. The company is already protecting enterprises and their knowledge workers across critical industries like financial services, healthcare, logistics, technology, and more. Fable directly shapes employee behavior by deploying highly targeted, risk-based interventions to people automatically, in real time, right where they work. 'We chose Fable because its personalized approach to security awareness led to more effective and faster employee behavior change.' Fable was founded by Nicole Jiang (CEO) and Dr. Sanny Liao (CPO), founding team members of Abnormal AI. During their time at the company, they were part of the early team that built the product from the ground up, helped to scale the company to hundreds of millions of ARR, and pioneered the concept of behavioral-based security. Leveraging Liao's background in adtech, behavioral economics, and AI/ML along with Jiang's years of experience building both enterprise- and consumer-grade products, they turned their attention to an even more audacious problem: helping enterprises take control of human risk for the first time. They saw the threat landscape rapidly outpacing defenses. In the last year, for example, over AI-generated phishing attacks rose by 60%, and vishing surged by 442%, fueled by deepfake audio mimicking trusted contacts. These AI-powered scams routinely bypass technical controls—like fake IT help desk calls that trick employees into resetting login credentials. 'Companies spend billions on cybersecurity, but human risk is still the biggest unsolved problem that every security team wants to fix,' said Nicole Jiang, co-founder and CEO of Fable Security. 'One-size-fits-all security awareness programs with generic training modules and phishing simulations do little to actually reduce risk. They are unable to handle the volume, speed, or sophistication of AI threats that exist today. Fable is here to change this paradigm, with a platform purpose-built to tackle the full spectrum of risky employee behaviors at scale.' Today's security awareness programs leave security teams reporting on click and completion rates that say nothing about real-world behavior. Studies show training doesn't reduce phishing risk, and some even raise it. Fable is built to understand how risk emerges from behavior, and to target interventions intelligently, in real time, to measurably change that behavior. At the core of the platform is the Human Behavior Index—Fable's proprietary framework that synthesizes thousands of real-time signals from identity, access, cloud, endpoint, and productivity systems to identify employee behaviors that introduce risk. Fable uses these insights to auto-generate highly-targeted AI interventions, including video briefings, nudges, two-way chats, or automated workflows—delivered directly through channels like Slack and email where employees work and communicate. Every intervention is context-aware, timed to moments of heightened risk, and tailored to the employee's role, access level, and behavior. With this modern approach, Fable allows organizations to assess risk in real time, shape behavior through targeted, just-in-time interventions, and ensure compliance via audit-ready reporting mapped to specific actions, policies, and regulatory frameworks. Fable provides a scalable, adaptive system that shrinks human risk with the same technological sophistication and rigor applied to technical controls—turning the most targeted layer in cybersecurity into a new layer of resilience. Customers are seeing these results. Cyrus Tibbs, CISO at Pennymac, noting a 13x faster behavior change during an A/B test after deploying a personalized Fable intervention versus a generic briefing, explained, 'We chose Fable because its personalized approach to security awareness led to more effective and faster employee behavior change.' Arvin Bansal, veteran Fortune 100 CISO, said, 'Human driven risk remains one of the biggest challenges in cybersecurity as missteps can create direct pathways for malicious attacks. As AI-powered threats evolve, we need AI-driven training to keep pace. Platforms like Fable deliver targeted, adaptive education that meets employees where they are, tracks engagement, and evolves with real-time feedback. That kind of precision is essential to reducing human risk across a large, diverse workforce.' Since launching with its first customer less than a year ago, Fable is already protecting enterprises like Pennymac, Genesys, and the DNC. Fable has enabled customers to reduce phishing clicks by more than 85%, decrease PII exposures by 60%, and double post-training employee engagement. Fable even gives time back to more than 40% of employees by forgoing unnecessary training. Saam Motamedi, General Partner at Greylock Partners, said: 'In the AI era, attackers can now target people with unprecedented precision and effectiveness, making the human layer the most vulnerable layer in security. Fable addresses this head-on by reshaping human behavior with real-time, intelligent interventions. Nicole and Sanny have a distinguished track record of building innovative behavioral AI security products and are redefining the human risk management market at Fable Security." Fable has raised a total of $31 million. The company was initiated as part of Greylock Edge and raised a seed round from Greylock Partners, which incubated Palo Alto Networks and Abnormal AI and backed Okta and Wiz. The company fast-followed with a Series A led by Redpoint Ventures, which backed Cyera and Chainguard. Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, Erica Brescia, said: 'Security awareness training has become a checkbox—ineffective, outdated, and blind to how people actually behave. Fable is the first company I've seen that throws out the playbook of a failing category. They're building what modern security teams truly need: visibility into human risk, tools to actually change behavior, and AI that moves at the speed of attackers.' The Fable team consists of deep cybersecurity, AI, and behavioral science experts from technology leaders such as Abnormal AI, Palo Alto Networks, Palantir, and Microsoft. About Fable Security Fable Security delivers the human risk platform that directly shapes employee behavior. Designed for simplicity and enterprise scale, our agentic platform synthesizes complex employee data, pinpoints risky behaviors, and deploys highly-relevant interventions to people automatically, in real time, right where they work. With Fable, modern enterprises tangibly reduce risk, sharpen security habits, and drive lasting organizational resilience. Backed by Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, Fable is trusted by organizations like Genesys and the DNC. For more information, visit:
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
This $120 Million Startup's AI Will Teach You How To Suck Less At Security
Fable's cofounders Nicole Jiang and Dr. Sanny Liao both worked on AI-focused security at Abnormal before setting up their own company in early 2024. Eric Millette Humans are often the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Just last week, cleaning product giant Clorox claimed a cyberattack that may have caused as much as $380 million in damages was the result of a contracted service desk staffer resetting a password for a hacker pretending to work for the company. IT departments are aware of the risk of human error, of course, and try to address it with education. Usually, this means a few emails and some simple training. But the advice in these types of training are generalized and only rarely tailored to the specific needs of staff. That's one reason why people never even bother to read those emails. This is the problem that female-founded cybersecurity startup Fable wants to tackle with a personalized approach. The company is coming out of stealth on Tuesday, with $31 million funding; an April 2024 seed round led by Greylock Partners at $6.5 million and a $24.5 million Series A led by Redpoint Ventures in May this year. Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, has also invested. A source familiar with the deal said the business is valued at $120 million. Founded in 2024 by Nicole Jiang, 31, and Dr. Sanny Liao, 42, who spent years at $5.1 billion cybersecurity company Abnormal, Fable claims its AI helps determine which employees need help improving their security practices and offers custom tips and guidance to them. All of its content, from videos to scripts, are generated by AI. 'We're solving this holistic human problem.' Nicole Jiang, CEO and cofounder at Fable For instance, an employee who isn't using mult-factor authentication might get a quick briefing on their PC about what tools they can use to protect their accounts. Or a user who might be targeted by a deepfake scammer will get a video of both the real Jiang and an AI-created version to show them how effective such attacks can be, followed by some guidance on how to be cautious. At the backend, IT can monitor whether the employee then takes corrective actions, like downloading a password manager with multiple layers of authentication. Fable's tools can be used on a variety of platforms, too, including Slack, Microsoft Teams or email. 'We're an AI-first human risk platform, and we're solving the problem of reducing human errors,' Jiang tells Forbes . 'It's a personalized experience that gives people time back when they already know what to do, but really hyper focus when people don't, when they are, you know, not as secure as they should.' Jiang, who also spent a year each at Microsoft and $20 billion-valued data science and surveillance company Palantir, and cofounder Liao have history in AI-powered security. At Abnormal, they were early employees and helped the business sell an AI that figured out what emails are legitimate and which aren't. Abnormal also has an AI agent that guides users through using email securely. Jiang doesn't think there will be competition between Fable and her old employer. 'For us, it's less about solving the email problem, we're solving this holistic human problem.' Fable's main competition is in the cybersecurity education space, where one of the incumbents is KnowBe4, which was acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 billion in 2022. Greylock investor Saam Motamedi, who also invested in Abnormal, says that KnowBe4's training materials are static and don't adapt to employee needs the same way Fable's do. 'I think we can build something much, much bigger,' he says, saying he sees Fable on a path to over $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in the coming years. 'That can lead to a standalone public company.' Though it's only making itself known to the wider world now, Fable's spent the past year building its products for customers across financial services, healthcare, logistics and tech. It counts mortgage provider Pennynac and software company Genesys among its first clients. Arvin Bansal, chief information security officer at C&S Wholesale Grocers, said that he started using Fable amid a spate of ransomware attacks in his industry and needed to educate a diverse staff about the risks. Impressed by the Fable AI's ability to spin up relatable, short, sharp content, he rolled it out and within a week said the feedback was hugely positive. 'That's where I saw the power of AI, how quickly the content was created and how quickly it could be distributed,' he told Forbes . He said he'd seen 'increased awareness, fewer risky clicks, and a noticeable rise in users reporting phishing attempts.' Jiang says it's worked with political entities too, including the Democratic National Committee in the run up to the election last year. 'We helped proactively do a lot of the personalized security briefings for all their campaign staffers,' she said. The party may have lost, she notes, but at least it didn't suffer any significant breaches. 'Which is still a win for us,' she added. MORE ON FORBES Forbes AI TikTok Videos Promising Free Spotify And Windows Subscriptions Trick Users Into Installing Malware Instead By Thomas Brewster Forbes US And Israel Should Prepare For Destructive Iranian Cyberattacks, Ex-Intel Officer Says By Thomas Brewster Forbes Trump Pardoned Him. Now He's Selling His Cyber Business For $200 Million. By Thomas Brewster Forbes This $101 Million Startup's AI Exposes Fraudsters Disguised As Employees By Thomas Brewster
