Tenable, a US-based cybersecurity company, has acquired the Israeli AI cybersecurity firm Apex for around $100 million. Apex, founded just two years ago, had raised $7 million from investors like Sequoia, Index Ventures, and OpenAI founder Sam Altman. Apex focuses on preventing the manipulation of AI models through faulty training, a growing concern as language models become more widely used and exploited by hackers.
Since 2022, these models have been a significant target for cyber-attacks, with hackers finding ways to exploit them by convincing chatbots to divulge sensitive information or by feeding them malicious data. Apex’s founders, CEO Matan Derman and CPO Tomer Avni, had ambitions of becoming a giant in the AI data security field. The acquisition by Tenable has provided a substantial return on investment for its backers, including Altman, who continues to invest as an angel investor alongside his role as CEO of OpenAI.
Derman has shared insights on their interaction with Sam Altman, noting that they sought his connection anticipating the AI market’s growth. Altman’s investment in Apex aligns with his extensive engagement in the AI sector, although he does not serve on the company’s board of directors. Apex has demonstrated its capability to manage security across various AI models, including those from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, and is preparing to work with more open models like Meta’s Llama.
The company also focuses on ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and addressing challenges such as misinformation and biased content in AI outputs. Derman, who served in the IDF Intelligence Division for 18 years, has leveraged his extensive military and security experience in steering Apex. Many of his former colleagues have gone on to found successful companies in the cybersecurity field, contributing to Israel’s reputation as a hotspot for tech innovation.
No official response has yet been made by Tenable or Apex regarding the acquisition news. The acquisition aims to expand Tenable’s exposure management platform into the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence, which represents one of today’s most significant technological revolutions and the fastest-growing threat vector in the cybersecurity world. After evaluating various companies in the AI security space, Tenable identified Apex as a market leader.
Tenable’s strategic AI acquisition
Despite having raised just $8.6 million, Apex is being acquired for over $105 million, an impressive outcome for a company founded just two years ago. Apex already caters to various Fortune 500 companies, providing them with a comprehensive visibility platform for their AI activities.
This platform allows organizations to define how AI is used and enforce security policies, thereby detecting and responding to AI-related threats such as data leaks, malicious data injections, privacy and legal violations, and cyberattacks. This acquisition marks Tenable’s sixth deal in Israel. The deal is intended to strengthen Tenable’s executive presence in the country.
Tenable, founded in 2002 and headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, specializes in cyber exposure management. The company is best known for developing Nessus, one of the most widely used vulnerability scanners in the world. Tenable’s previous Israeli acquisitions include Indegy, Cymptom, Ermetic, Eureka, and Vulcan.
In addition to its Israeli acquisitions, Tenable has expanded its cybersecurity capabilities through several other acquisitions in the U.S. and France. This latest acquisition of Apex Security underscores Tenable’s aggressive strategy to integrate advanced technologies to address the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats. Generative AI tools and autonomous systems have rapidly expanded the attack surface, introducing new risks such as shadow AI apps, AI-generated code, synthetic identities, and ungoverned cloud services.
In response to these emerging threats, Tenable launched Tenable AI Aware in 2024 to help organizations detect and assess AI usage across their environments. The integration of Apex Security’s capabilities will further enhance this foundation by adding governance, policy enforcement, and exposure control features for both AI used and built by organizations. “AI dramatically expands the attack surface, introducing dynamic, fast-moving risks most organizations aren’t prepared for,” said Steve Vintz, Co-CEO and CFO of Tenable.
Our strategy has always been to stay ahead of attack surface expansion, not just managing exposures, but eliminating them before they can be exploited.
Tenable plans to deliver integrated capabilities from the acquisition in the second half of 2025 as part of Tenable One, the industry’s first comprehensive exposure management platform. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, with the acquisition expected to close later this quarter.
Kirstie a technology news reporter at DevX. She reports on emerging technologies and startups waiting to skyrocket.
