✉️ EmailAlexis

# Task

Design and evaluate a next-generation email security solution, EmailAlexis, to address the growing threat of phishing attacks that bypass traditional filters. The system should integrate authentication protocols, blacklist checks, machine learning content analysis, and URL scanning to prevent malicious emails from reaching end-users and strengthen organisational cyber resilience.

# Solution

The project, EmailAlexis, is a multi-layered email security system designed to detect and block phishing attacks before they reach end-users. It integrates SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication checks, blacklisted IP monitoring, machine learning–based email content analysis, and URL classification (via MaliceSpotter). A weighted risk-scoring model combines these checks to classify emails as legitimate, suspicious, or phishing.

The system achieved high accuracy (~94.8%) in phishing detection and includes preventive, detective, and corrective measures such as MFA, firewalls, TLS encryption, employee training, and incident response protocols. It complies with EU cybersecurity regulations (GDPR, NIS2, DORA, AI Act) and follows a continuous monitoring and improvement process, including retraining the ML model with new phishing data and integrating threat intelligence feeds.

Overall, EmailAlexis strengthens organisational resilience by reducing financial, reputational, and data security risks from phishing, while offering scalability and adaptability to evolving threats.

Research Work: https://openpress.universityofgalway.ie/perspectivesoncybersecurityriskmanagementvol1/chapter/chapter2/