Cybersecurity AI Intern (6 month co-op)

About Us 

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple: safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people. 

How We Work 

At Proofpoint you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity guided by our BRAVE core values:  

Bold in how we dream and innovate 

Responsive to feedback, challenges and opportunities 

Accountable for results and best in class outcomes 

Visionary in future focused problem-solving 

Exceptional in execution and impact  

What you’ll do 

• Apply LLMs and agentic tooling to email security problems (e.g., phishing analysis, intent extraction, triage workflows) 

• Build small prototypes and automation (including browser-based/agent workflows where helpful) 

• Help create and evaluate datasets (including synthetic security datasets) 

• Document findings and turn them into practical recommendations 

What you’ll need to succeed 

• Background in cybersecurity (coursework or projects; familiarity with phishing/social engineering is a plus) 

• Comfortable scripting in Python (or willing to ramp quickly); basic Git 

• Interest in modern AI tools (LLMs, multimodal, prompt/eval workflows) and an experimental mindset 

• Collaborative mindset - communicates clearly, seeks feedback early, and shares learnings with the team 

Nice to have 

• Any exposure to email security, threat intel, or SOC workflows 

• Familiarity with basic data handling (CSV/JSON/logs) and simple evaluation metrics