About Us

KnowBe4 empowers employees at organizations worldwide to make smarter security decisions every day.
KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training

Who We Are

At KnowBe4, we’re happy to go against the grain. We don’t turn out bloatware year after year, and we work with far more than just the bottom line in mind.

We’re a team of free-thinking techies who look at IT security issues a little differently. Where other IT security companies may value profits, we value security — helping organizations reinforce their human firewall and build a stronger security culture.

Our Rules

  • 1 Do it right the first time.
  • 2 Do it fast.
  • 3 Have fun while you do it.

We work like that because we think it’s the only way to go. We believe that only with community can you effectively secure your domains. We believe that as IT pros, we need to hang together because if we don’t, we will fall alone.

We support and stand behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. All human beings should be treated with decency, kindness and respect.

We’re not just a different kind of security company. We’re a security company that, together with you, makes a difference.

Stu Sjouwerman
Founder and CEO of KnowBe4
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KnowBe4 in 30 Seconds

KnowBe4 is the world’s first and largest New-school Security Awareness Training and simulated phishing platform that helps you manage the ongoing problem of social engineering.

We also provide powerful add-on products like PhishER and SecurityCoach to prevent bad actors from getting into your networks and extremely popular compliance training that saves you significant budget dollars.

The KnowBe4 platform is user-friendly and intuitive. It was built to scale for busy IT pros who have 16 other fires to put out. Our goal was to design the most powerful, yet easy-to-use platform available.

Customers of all sizes can get the KnowBe4 platform deployed into production twice as fast as our competitors. Our Customer Success team gets you going in no time, without the need for consulting hours.

We are proud of the fact that almost 50% of our team are women, whereas the average number of women in cyber security teams is just 20% of employees.

Recognized for Excellence

Our History

History

2010
June 2010

Sunbelt Software is acquired by GFI Software, a portfolio company of the Insight Partners Venture Fund.

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August 2010

Stu Sjouwerman, Co-founder of Sunbelt Software, starts KnowBe4, LLC and begins the development of Internet Security Awareness Training (ISAT) Version 1. Experience in Sunbelt Software showed that the end-user is the weak link in IT Security, and cybercrime bypassed antivirus with social engineering.

2011
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March 2011

KnowBe4 first releases its weekly newsletter: CyberheistNews.

April 2011

ISAT V1 is released and is well received. With the release, KnowBe4 introduces the free Phishing Security Test. Hundreds of organizations do the PST.

May 2011

KnowBe4 releases a new cybercrime statistic that identifies the nation’s most Phish-prone industry sectors, with a simulated phishing attack on the Inc. 500. The study is called the FAIL500.

June 2011

Analyzing the PST statistics shows that on average, 20% of people in organizations will click on phishing links.

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November 2011

Kevin Mitnick joins KnowBe4 as Chief Hacking Officer and part owner.

2012
February 2012

KnowBe4 introduces the free Email Exposure Check, which shows the phishing attack footprint of any organization.

April 2012

KnowBe4 expands its services and offers Vulnerability Scanning to clients.

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June 2012

Introduction of “Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training,” which is Version 2 of ISAT. Kevin Mitnick is officially announced as KnowBe4’s Chief Hacking Officer.

December 2012

Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training is now used in over 200 enterprise sites. An additional module becomes available: “PCI Compliance Simplified."

show_chart_FILL0_wght400_GRAD0_opsz24 1 342% Growth

KnowBe4 announces that year-over-year growth from 2011–2012 is 342%.

2013
January 2013

CyberheistNews is now the world’s largest e-zine for IT pros about social engineering and security awareness training with 140,000 subscribers.

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February 2013

“Kevin Mitnick Home Internet Security Course” is introduced as part of a bundle with VIPRE Antivirus, and is sold on Home Shopping Network as the Feb 2, 2013 "Today Special," with sales of 26,000 units on the first day.

June 2013

One of the Big Four accounting companies chooses KnowBe4 for its security awareness training program worldwide.

July 2013

Osterman Research releases a survey that shows KnowBe4’s process for security awareness training is significantly more effective than other traditional approaches.

September 2013

Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training 2014 is announced. It now comes in two flavors, the normal 40-minute version and a new 15-minute version for managers that specifically addresses Advanced Persistent Threats.

October 2013

Additional separate training modules are announced: “Handling Sensitive Information Securely” and “Mobile Device Security."

December 2013

Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training is now used in well over 400 enterprise sites. Major upgrade of back-end console V2.0 released, including custom templates and landing pages.

show_chart_FILL0_wght400_GRAD0_opsz24 1 427% Growth

KnowBe4 announces that year-over-year growth from 2012–2013 is 427%. Here is the breakout by Industry.

2014
January 2014

After 18 months of development, we release KnowBe4 Compliance Manager.

February 2014

We show that our training program truly works great. We release visible proof in the form of our 12 months of customer results.

June 2014

KnowBe4 announces its new Crypto-Ransom Guarantee and sales skyrocket. Also, new features are added:

  • Simulated attachments; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Zip, also zipped versions of these files.
  • Customizable “hover-links” that show when a user hovers their mouse over a link.
October 2014

KnowBe4 is named in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training.

December 2014

KnowBe4 announces refreshed training modules: Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training 2015, Mobile Security 2015, and PCI DSS Version 3.0.

2015
January 2015

KnowBe4 Q4 2014 is 397% over the fourth quarter 2013, which in turn was 260% from the fourth quarter 2012.

February 2015

KnowBe4 releases V4.0 of the Management Console. Two powerful new features are the “anti-prairie dog” option, which sends random phishing templates at random times during business hours over a 24–120-hour time period, and Community Templates, where customers can share successful phishing templates with their peers.

March 2015

KnowBe4 is now the world’s most popular integrated Security Awareness Training and Simulated Phishing platform. Well over 1,000 enterprise accounts are using it, 25% of which are banks and credit unions.

April 2015

KnowBe4 Q1 2015 is 354% over the first quarter 2014. Moving to a new 15,000-square-foot office space allows expansion to 100 employees.

July 2015

KnowBe4 sees security awareness training go from lunchroom to boardroom, and has seen explosive growth for eight consecutive quarters. Q2 revenue for 2015 is 353% over Q2 2014.

We also release Version 5.0, which adds the much-requested Training Campaigns functionality.

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September 2015

KnowBe4 Grand Opening with a ribbon cutting by Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos.

October 2015

KnowBe4 Q3 2015 is 400% over Q3 2014, reaching 2,000 enterprise accounts and more than 50 full-time employees.

2016
January 2016

KnowBe4 Q4 2015 is 358% over the fourth quarter of 2014, reaching 2,500+ enterprise accounts and more than 70 full-time employees.

We also release the new, free Phish Alert add-in for Microsoft Outlook that any system admin can download and deploy to their users for a one-click report of possibly dangerous emails.

KnowBe4 also receives an $8 million venture capital investment from Elephant Partners and changes from an LLC into an Inc.

March 2016

For the first time, KnowBe4 has a booth at RSA in San Francisco, and Kevin Mitnick is there for his popular card-exchange, where attendees get his stainless steel lockpick business card.

April 2016

KnowBe4 has a blowout Q1, growing 299% year-over-year, and makes it into the Cybersecurity 500, the definitive list of the world’s hottest and most innovative companies in the cybersecurity industry. We’re also ranked #1 in Tampa Bay's Best Places To Work.

July 2016

KnowBe4 has a stellar Q2, growing 454% year-over-year, and expects to make it in the Inc. 5000 list. Check out the blog post with more highlights and milestones.

August 2016

KnowBe4 makes it in the Inc. 500 at #139, a very strong debut on this famous list.

September 2016

KnowBe4 makes it in the Florida Fast 100 at #2 (ranked by percent growth 2013–2015).

We release a key feature for Enterprise: Active Directory integration, which fully automates user management and saves administrators significant amounts of time.

KnowBe4 also goes into Beta with AIDA™ (Artificial Intelligence Driven Agent™), which combines phishing, vishing, and smishing into a new attack vector coined as "aishing."

October 2016

KnowBe4 beats its stellar Q2, growing 369% year-over-year in Q3, and now has 6,000+ enterprise accounts. KnowBe4 also makes it in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500.

2017
January 2017

KnowBe4 has another blow-out Q4, with a year-over-year sales increase of 298% for Q4 2016.

With a record number of over 750 new corporate accounts in December alone and a very robust 88% customer retention rate, our client list grows to over 8,000 enterprise accounts.

KnowBe4 acquires The Security Awareness Company (SAC).

March 2017

Perry Carpenter, former Research Director, Security & Risk Management, and esteemed analyst at Gartner, joins KnowBe4 as Chief Evangelist and Strategy Officer.

April 2017

KnowBe4 reports a record Q1 2017 performance, with overall year-over-year sales growth of 261%. This marks the 16th straight quarter of growth, driven by a continually increasing demand for our new-school approach to security awareness training.

KnowBe4 also makes the #1 slot for 2017 in Tampa Bay's Best Place To Work for midsize companies.

May 2017

Kevin Mitnick and KnowBe4 Stu Sjouwerman do the Cyber Investing Summit Keynote at The NYSE, showing how easy it is to clone a prox card, send someone a phishing attack with a malicious PDF and more.

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June 2017

KnowBe4 moves from #38 to #6 on the Cybersecurity 500, the list of the world's hottest security companies. We also welcome employee #300.

July 2017

Q2 of 2017 is well over double that of Q2 2016, marking our 17th straight quarter of growth. June is an all-time high month and, for the first time ever, we add more than 1,000 new customers in one month.

August 2017

KnowBe4 establishes our UK subsidiary: KnowBe4 UK, LTD. We also make it in the Inc. 500 for the second year in a row.

October 2017

KnowBe4's record Q3 2017 is our 18th-straight quarter of growth, with a 263% year-over-year sales increase.

We close a $30 million Series B investment led by Goldman Sachs. In the same week, Gartner positions KnowBe4 as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training. We also acquire a company in our space, Securable.io.

2018
January 2018

KnowBe4's record Q4 2017 is our 19th straight quarter of growth, with a year-over-year sales increase of 255%, bringing customer accounts to well over 15,000.

We secure the #70 spot in Fastest-Growing Companies in North America on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 for 2017, and the #5 spot in Florida’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies.

April 2018

With another record quarter, KnowBe4 acquires Popcorn Training and opens a new office for our EMEA headquarters in the Netherlands. CBInsights names KnowBe4 the best-funded cybersecurity startup in Florida.

May 2018

KnowBe4 is awarded Best Place To Work by Tampa Business Journal and breaks 700 positive reviews at Gartner's Peer Reviews, more than all MQ leaders section competitors combined.

July 2018

KnowBe4 doubles year-over-year sales for Q2 2018, for 21 straight quarters of growth. June shows highest-ever numbers in sales per day, week, month and quarter. Customer accounts are now 19,000+.

We acquire exploqii in Berlin, expanding our footprint in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We also achieve the #2 spot on the Cybersecurity Ventures 500 list and the #60 spot on Fortune's 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials.

August 2018

KnowBe4 appears on the Inc. 500 list for the third time in a row.

October 2018

KnowBe4 again almost doubles year-over-year sales in Q3 2018, for 22 straight quarters of growth.

Knowbe4 hires seasoned finance and tech executive Krish Venkataraman as CFO to support our rapid growth strategy. We also release a massive upgrade of our platform, which now includes AI and Machine Learning to deliver game-changing new Advanced Reporting, as well as the Virtual Risk Officer functionality.

November 2018

KnowBe4 is ranked #2 on the list of Largest Software Developers in Tampa Bay by Tampa Bay Business Journal. We are also awarded the #2 spot for Small and Medium Companies on Great Place to Work’s Best Workplaces for Women 2018 list.

2019
January 2019

KnowBe4 announces over 60% year-over-year growth for Q4 2018, and now has 647 employees and 23,000 customers worldwide. This is the 23rd straight quarter of growth.

KnowBe4 is named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training, and introduces a new product called PhishER that allows SOC teams to prioritize reported suspect emails.

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March 2019

KnowBe4 acquires El Pescador, a leading security awareness training company in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

SC Awards 2019 names KnowBe4 CEO Stu Sjouwerman a Top Executive Leader of the Last 30 Years. KnowBe4 also wins Cyber Defense Magazine awards for Editor’s Choice Anti-Phishing and Next Gen Security Training.

April 2019

KnowBe4's Q1 year-over-year sales grow 70% over 2018. Here is the blog post with the full update. KnowBe4 is chosen as a top workplace for the fourth time in a row by the Tampa Bay Times, and for the third consecutive year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

June 2019

KnowBe4 raises $300 million in a round led by KKR, which values Knowbe4 at a $1 billion "UNICORN" level. Stu is named a Glassdoor Top CEO for 2019.

IDG’s Computerworld announces KnowBe4 as a 2019 Best Place to Work in IT. KnowBe4 is also awarded Network Computing Awards UK Security Training and Consultancy Provider of the Year.

July 2019

KnowBe4 announces 50% year-over-year growth in Q2, takes the #2 spot in the Tampa Fast 50 and ranks #16 in the Florida Top 100 Best Companies List.

September 2019

KnowBe4 is included in the Inc. 500 for the fourth time. We are also named the Best Workplace for Women by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE.

Renowned Gartner Analyst Joanna G. Huisman joins KnowBe4, and we acquire Twist and Shout Group to expand Live Action Video production.

October 2019

In Q3 of 2019, KnowBe4 achieves 55% growth over Q3 2018, increasing customer accounts to well over 28,000.

November 2019

KnowBe4 ranks #7 out of 50 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work US SMB List, with an overall company rating of 4.8.

2020
April 2020

Q1 2020 is 40% over Q1 2019. KnowBe4 is named a Leader in a new Forrester Wave™ report.

We enable all 884 KnowBe4 employees to work from home in just one day, and set up a new coronavirus and work-from-home resource center.

July 2020

Despite COVID-19 challenges, Q2 2020 is 25% over Q2 2019.

June 2020 is a month of achievements, including the highest sales per day, highest sales per month, highest PhishER sales, second-best quarter, and amazing international sales.

We also receive the following awards:

  • Gold NYX Award in the E-learning category
  • Silver Telly Award for “The Inside Man” security awareness training series
  • Two 2020 EdTech Awards for Leadership and Cool Tools
August 2020

KnowBe4 makes it in the Inc. 500 for the 5th time in a row, and celebrates 10 years and 1,000 employees by planting 10,000 trees worldwide.

September 2020

G2 Ranks KnowBe4 the #1 Security Awareness Training Platform for the 5th consecutive quarter in their Fall 2020 G2 Grid Report for Security Awareness Training.

2023
February 2023

Vista Equity Partners takes KnowBe4 private.

2024

Empower Your Employees to Make Smarter Security Decisions

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