What happened
Social Links, a Netherlands-based OSINT and digital-investigations firm, secured a €2.6 million (~$3 million) follow-on funding round to accelerate the development of its next-generation AI tools. These tools are designed to detect fraud, scam messages, and brand misinformation across social media, messaging services, and other digital platforms.
Who is affected
The company says it currently serves over 450 customers across more than 90 countries, including about 170 government entities and 280 private-sector clients, mostly in EMEA and the US, with a growing presence in APAC and LATAM.
Given the reach of its platform, organizations that rely on digital communications or have public-facing brands, including enterprises, public-sector bodies, and global firms, are directly in scope.
Why CISOs should care
- The move underscores rapidly evolving threats: as fraudsters leverage AI for scams, deepfakes, and misinformation, traditional security controls focused solely on infrastructure or perimeter defenses are becoming inadequate. Social Links argues their AI-agent approach fills that gap.
- The broader market is reinforcing this shift: other European startups are raising capital this year for deepfake detection, synthetic-identity prevention, and AI-driven fraud detection.
- For CISOs, this signals that risk surfaces tied to brand, communications, and digital identity are now first-order concerns, not just network or endpoint security.
3 practical actions for security leaders
- Reassess risk models to include AI-driven deception: Expand your threat model beyond traditional malware, phishing, and network intrusions to cover AI-enabled scams, deepfakes, and misinformation targeting both employees and external stakeholders.
- Pilot digital-risk tools that monitor brand and communication channels: Evaluate platforms like Social Links (or comparable OSINT/AI-powered risk solutions) to monitor for fraudulent messaging, impersonation, or brand-related misinformation across social, email, and collaboration services.
- Integrate detection with incident response and awareness training: If automated tools flag suspicious content, ensure that security operations, legal/compliance, and communications teams are ready to act, and augment these efforts with updated employee awareness programs on AI-driven social engineering.