Unique AI builds AI agents for banks, wealth managers and asset managers. Since May 2026, Kora, the security AI worker from Square8, has been testing Unique's employees with phishing emails tailored to each person. Within two months the click rate fell from 36% to 12%, and employees now report more simulated phishing emails than they click.
- Company
- Unique AI AG, Zurich
- What Unique does
- Enterprise AI platform and AI agents for banks, wealth managers and asset managers
- AI worker
- Kora, the security AI worker from Square8 (formerly Korix)
- Working with Kora since
- May 2026
- Employees covered
- Around 100
- Main goal
- A stronger security mindset, built through continuous, documented phishing tests, with evidence for Unique's security certifications
The challenge
AI has changed cyberattacks. Attackers now use AI to write flawless, personalised phishing emails in any language and send them at a volume that was out of reach a few years ago. AI agents also let them run coordinated campaigns around the clock, and supply chain attacks reach companies through the vendors and tools they trust. One successful attack can damage a company's reputation and value within a day, so phishing is now on many board agendas.
Unique's team works with AI every day, so it knows better than most how convincing a generated message can be. That knowledge helps, but it doesn't make anyone immune. Assuming you would spot a fake is a risk in itself.
Unique's certification audits require evidence of regular phishing tests, and Unique treats that as the minimum. The simulation in its Microsoft licence met the requirement but had a weakness: as soon as one person got the test email, word spread on Slack and everyone was warned. The results showed how fast colleagues talk to each other, not how they would handle a real attack.
Why Unique chose Kora
Unique sees phishing simulation as one of the most effective ways to build lasting security awareness across the company. With threats rising, that awareness has to be continuous, not a once-a-year exercise. Daylan Araz, Data Compliance Officer at Unique, oversees Kora with colleagues and decides what it is allowed to do.
What Unique values most:
- Next-level phishing emails: Kora writes each email with an agent and tailors it to the person's function and seniority, often with the names of real colleagues.
- A continuous approach: Kora tests in small weekly batches, so no one has to build campaigns by hand and the Slack warning effect disappears.
- Tight Outlook integration: reports from the Outlook button go straight into Kora's results.
- Strong setup support: Square8 helped with integration, settings and onboarding throughout.
- Clear results: Kora's dashboard shows clicks, reports and trends at a glance.
- A high report rate: employees learn to check the sender and context of a message, and to report it when in doubt.
How Kora works at Unique
After a short onboarding, in which Unique uploaded its employee list, Kora took over the testing. Every week it sends simulated phishing emails to 20 to 30 employees and changes the scenarios so that no one sees the same test twice. At first Unique wondered why the emails didn't go to everyone at once. It then found that the continuous approach raises awareness much more.
Every result shows up in Kora's dashboard: how many people clicked and, more importantly, how many reported the email. Once the Outlook report button was connected to Kora, the programme ran on its own and Unique's team no longer had to step in.
Unique pairs the programme with a no-blame rule. Nobody is criticised for clicking, and reports are always welcome. Rankings don't show employee names, and the results aren't used in performance reviews.
The results
The improvement was visible in the first month. Employees now report simulated phishing emails more often than they click on them, which is exactly the behaviour the programme is designed to build.
- 185 simulated phishing emails sent since August, each targeted at an individual employee, on a weekly schedule since September.
- More reports than clicks: from three reports for every four clicks in August to more reports than clicks in October.
- Click rate down by two thirds: from 36% in August to 12% in October.
- Evidence for audits: continuous, documented proof of phishing testing for Unique's certification work.
- Suspicious emails get flagged: employees found the emails very convincing, and people now raise suspicious messages in Unique's security channel before they click.
The tests also reached Unique's most security-aware people. One colleague spotted a simulated email only because it asked for an ISO 42001 update on a topic the supposed sender was not working on at the time.
Unique is an AI-first company whose people deal with security often, and other companies click far more often. Companies at an earlier stage of working with AI may have even more to gain from the same approach.
"In times of AI-driven attacks that run around the clock, a phishing test once a year is no longer enough. What convinces me about Kora is the security mindset it builds: continuous training, tailored to each person's role, that takes very little of their time. That is what we need now and in the future to recognise an attack when it comes."
"I would rather have something reported ten times too often than once too little. And the AI-written emails, with colleagues' names in them, are on a different level from what Microsoft offers."
What comes next
Next, Unique will add Kora's micro-trainings. When an employee clicks a simulated email, they get a short lesson right away: a video of no more than 90 seconds plus a quiz, about five minutes in total, at the moment the mistake happens.
Kora is also moving to Square8's AI worker model. Unique's team will be able to work with Kora directly in Slack or Microsoft Teams, and a person at Unique will act as its line manager.
About Unique AI and Square8
Unique AI builds AI teammates that automate research, client and compliance work for financial institutions, including leading private banks and asset managers in Switzerland and globally.
Square8 builds AI workers that take over defined roles in a company, each with clear responsibilities, scoped access and a person who manages it. Kora is Square8's security AI worker, built by the team behind Korix, the Zurich cybersecurity company that is now part of Square8. Kora tests a company's people the way real attackers do, continuously and within limits the company sets.
FAQ
What is Kora?
Kora is the security AI worker from Square8. It sends tailored phishing simulations to a company's employees every week, collects clicks and reports in a dashboard and provides documented evidence of phishing testing for audits.
How often does Kora test employees at Unique AI?
Every week, in small batches of 20 to 30 employees, with changing scenarios so that no one sees the same test twice.
What results did Unique AI achieve with Kora?
The click rate on simulated phishing fell from 36% in August to 12% in October 2026, and employees now report more phishing emails than they click.