Anima People, an award-winning female-led cybersecurity startup, has announced the launch of PsycSec, its new AI-driven platform. PsycSec aims to enhance security engagement and improve detection and prevention of insider threats through techniques formerly used by the military to screen potential recruits for high-profile positions.
The London startup was founded by a group of diverse experts, including Cyber Psychologist Nadine Michaelides. Anima People is addressing a significant gap in cybersecurity: human behaviour. “Human behaviour accounts for 85% of cybersecurity incidents, with insider threats costing organisations an average of £15.38 million in 2022,” Nadine Michaelides stated, referencing recent research by Gartner.
PsycSec utilises behavioural analytics and psychometrics to strengthen operational resilience against both external and internal threats. The platform merges cybersecurity with organisational health monitoring to provide data-driven insights that help optimise performance, mitigate risks, and detect insider threats promptly.
“Employee motivation plays a crucial role in cybersecurity. When employees feel their organisation has broken promises or expectations, they’re less likely to follow security policies. This effect is particularly strong for internal motivations, like personal attitudes, rather than external factors like fear of punishment,” explained Nadine Michaelides.
The platform’s key features include advanced AI algorithms and predictive analytics for detecting insider threats, psychometric analysis to identify potential risks, Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyse sentiment and tone in survey responses, and a risk scoring system to enhance intelligence-driven security measures.
“Our PsycSec platform not only addresses critical cybersecurity needs but also promotes fairness and objectivity in threat assessment,” added Michaelides. “We’re proud to offer a solution that reduces discrimination while significantly enhancing security outcomes.”
Anima People has a 100% female leadership and a workforce comprising 70% women and 90% ethnic minorities, so claims to be setting a new benchmark for diversity in the technology sector.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
