McLaren Construction Group Builds Layered Email Defense with Abnormal AI

McLaren Construction Group is a leading construction, property, development, and investment firm operating across the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates. Over the past decade, the group has grown from £400 million to more than £1 billion in annual revenue, delivering projects ranging from industrial and logistics villages to advanced data centers for both public and private sector clients. McLaren brings sector-leading expertise in sustainability and digital construction to every engagement.

The McLaren Construction Group Email Security Challenge

After moving from a legacy email gateway to native Microsoft 365 security in 2019, McLaren's IT team kept hearing the same complaint from leadership: too much spam and promotional email crowding the inbox. The chairman flagged it repeatedly. At the same time, threat patterns shifted. Attackers ramped up phishing, compromised supply chain partners to impersonate them, and targeted finance teams with business email compromise (BEC) scams. Microsoft's native tools also generated a flood of configuration warnings with no clear remediation path, and impossible travel alerts pointed to attackers probing accounts directly. That's when McLaren turned to Abnormal.

Customer Key Challenges:

• Graymail messages flooded colleague mailboxes, distracting from important communication.
• Phishing, BEC, vendor impersonation, and account compromise attempts bypassed native filters.
• Microsoft 365 security settings proved difficult to monitor and manage, leading to misconfigurations.

Abnormal Solution:

• Inbound Email Security and Account Takeover Protection stop advanced threats and shut down compromised accounts.
• AI Phishing Coach turns real attack data into personalized simulations.
• Security Posture Management grades Microsoft 365 with continuous checks and clear letter grades.

"The partners I ultimately invest in are simple out of the box and deliver a white-glove experience. That's ultimately what Abnormal has delivered since Day One and why we have invested in every product that you offer." — Daniel Blackman, Group IT and Security Director

The Abnormal AI Solution

McLaren deployed Abnormal alongside Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as a layered defense built on behavioral AI. Inbound Email Security models every sender's behavior to catch phishing, BEC, and vendor impersonation. Email Productivity filters graymail into a dedicated promotions folder. Account Takeover Protection locks out compromised accounts automatically. AI Security Mailbox triages user-reported messages. AI Phishing Coach runs personalized simulations built on real threats Abnormal catches in production. Security Posture Management runs continuous Microsoft 365 configuration checks every six hours. Messaging Security extends the same defense into Microsoft Teams.

Why McLaren Construction Group Keeps Choosing Abnormal

Abnormal first proved its value when leadership stopped complaining about junk mail with the help of Email Productivity. Today, its perceived value has expanded across vectors and use cases. Inbound Email Security stops advanced phishing, BEC, and supply chain impersonation. Account Takeover Protection auto-disables compromised accounts within seconds after detection. AI Security Mailbox saves a full workweek of analysts' time on user-reported messages, while Messaging Security locks down an emerging attack vector. AI Phishing Coach generates personalized simulations realistic enough to catch even McLaren's own IT staff, turning awareness training into measurable behavior change. Security Posture Management cuts through Microsoft 365 configuration noise with four daily checks and clear letter grades, giving the team a remediation path they review every day.

Investing in What's Next with Abnormal AI

For McLaren, every Abnormal module has been an easy internal sell. The team built a security posture where threats are shut down before reaching a SOC analyst, leadership stopped raising the alarm about inbox noise, and IT spends its time on higher-leverage work. As Abnormal evolves from email security into an AI-native security platform, McLaren plans to keep adopting what comes next. Six years ago, Blackman invested in a company he expected only to solve graymail. Today, he depends on it to solve the modern attack landscape.

"The Security Posture Management product is great. It checks our posture four times a day, every six hours, and tells us exactly what we need to remediate and how. And rather than a number, it gives us a grade that tells us clearly where we stand." — Daniel Blackman, Group IT and Security Director

Abnormal Products in Use:

• Inbound Email Security
• Account Takeover Protection
• AI Security Mailbox
• Email Productivity
• Security Posture Management
• Messaging Security