ManagedMethods launches Advanced Phishing solution against rising tide of malicious emails 

Earlier this year, a report from non-profit organization the Center for Internet Security shone a spotlight on the barrage of cyberattacks against schools and educational institutions. 

The 18-month study collected data from more than 4,600 schools, and found that “Eighty-two percent of reporting K-12 organizations said they had experienced cyber incidents in the past 18 months.” 

Further, the data suggested these are far from random, as attacks often occurred during high-stakes periods like the beginning of the school year or exam periods. 

These figures combine to paint a sobering picture of the reality facing educational institutions in 2025. It’s clear that new solutions and innovations are needed to help schools stay ahead of these threats and avoid catastrophic data breaches that could lead to worrying repercussions. 

For example, PowerSchool, a student information system commonly used by K-12 schools, suffered from a major data breach in December 2024. 

Now, reports are starting to emerge that cybercriminals with access to stolen student and teacher information are attempting to extort a number of schools. 

Although the attacks are coming from many angles, malicious emails represent a significant vulnerability that demands new solutions on the horizon. 

An AI-Powered Phishing Solution 

The 2024 Sophos State of Ransomware in Education found that 63% of K–12 organizations were hit by ransomware last year, and 26% of those attacks started with a phishing email. 

Although staff are taught to watch out for malicious emails, it’s now getting harder to detect these as cybercriminals employ sophisticated socially engineered emails that can fool both IT professionals and screening tools. 

To get ahead of this major vulnerability, ManagedMethods, a leading provider of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cybersecurity, student safety, and compliance for K-12 school districts, has launched an Advanced Phishing solution to enhance its core cybersecurity product Cloud Monitor. 

According to Charlie Sander, CEO of ManagedMethods, “Bad actors use sophisticated, socially engineered emails to impersonate trusted sources like administrators, vendors, and even students and parents in order to steal credentials, deploy ransomware, or trick staff into wiring funds.” 

Advancing Phishing represents the first time chain-of-thought (CoT) AI comes to K–12 schools to provide an advanced detection tool with unparalleled capabilities. 

Given that the median recovery cost for education data breaches skyrocketed to $3 million in 2024, the solution offers a way to stop malicious attempts in their tracks and avoid these huge losses for school districts. 

AI sets the bar for robust cybersecurity defenses. 

According to Sander, the company saw the critical need to introduce enterprise-grade security to help schools mitigate against the threats posed by sophisticated phishing techniques. 

“Traditional email filters often miss these more advanced attacks, leaving schools vulnerable,” he explained. 

Advanced Phishing includes an AI model that learns from real-world attacks targeting schools to improve detection accuracy and reduce false positives. It also leverages CoT AI to better understand the intent behind the senders’ email to flag risky emails and automatically provide IT teams with recommended response actions and automated remediation to save valuable time and reduce exposure.

The new feature expands the existing protections offered by Cloud Monitor with no additional platforms to manage and is fully compatible with Gmail and Outlook. The solution seamlessly expands the existing protections offered by Cloud Monitor with no additional platforms to manage.

Furthermore, it also flags risky emails and provides IT teams with recommended response actions and automated remediation to save valuable time and reduce exposure. This offers comprehensive protection for the entire school district from one easy-to-use platform. 

The announcement follows the launch of ManagedMethods’ Classroom Manager, a solution for online instruction and learning in the classroom that puts control back into the hands of teachers with a suite of features that monitor students’ browser activity and enable personalized learning.