Cisco Buys Astrix Security for $400M to Secure AI Agent Explosion

Quick Facts

• Cisco acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Astrix Security for approximately $400 million to strengthen AI agent security capabilities
• Only 24% of businesses can properly control AI agents with guardrails, while non-human identities outnumber human users 100:1
• 95% of organizations now run autonomous AI agents for IT and security tasks, but 48.9% cannot monitor what their agents are doing

Cisco acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Astrix Security for approximately $400 million, according to reports from Calcalist. The deal strengthens Cisco’s ability to discover and govern AI agents as enterprises face mounting security challenges from autonomous systems.

The acquisition targets a critical security gap. According to Cisco’s AI Readiness Index, only 24% of businesses can control AI agents with proper guardrails and live monitoring. Just 31% of enterprises believe they can fully secure their AI agent deployments.

Peter Bailey, senior vice president of Cisco’s Security Business Group, said Astrix focuses on securing machine-to-machine connections and non-human identities. “The addition of Astrix Security brings deep capability to discover and secure every AI agent and non-human identity, including excessive privileges and real-time threats,” Bailey wrote in a blog post.

The scale of the challenge is massive. Non-human identities outnumber human users by roughly 100:1, creating blind spots for security teams. Recent research shows 95% of organizations run AI agents that autonomously perform IT or security tasks, but 48.9% cannot monitor agent activity effectively.

Astrix was founded in 2021 by CEO Alon Jackson and president Idan Gour, both veterans of Israel’s elite Unit 8200. The company raised $85 million in total funding, including a $45 million Series B round in December 2024. Its platform provides discovery, governance, and identity management for AI agents and their credentials.

The startup’s customer base includes Fortune 500 companies like Workday, NetApp, Priceline, and Figma. Its technology manages AI agents from provisioning to decommissioning while detecting threats like compromised credentials and unauthorized actions.

Cisco plans to integrate Astrix’s capabilities into its Identity Intelligence platform and zero trust access solutions, including Secure Access and Duo Identity and Access Management. The integration will provide centralized visibility across agent activity and feed intelligence into Splunk and other security information systems.

The Global Agentic AI Security market is valued at $55 billion in 2026, growing at 36.2% annually through 2035. Astrix marks Cisco’s second AI-related acquisition in recent weeks, following its planned purchase of AI observability firm Galileo Technologies in April.

The acquisition addresses what experts call an identity crisis amplified by AI adoption speed. While 80.9% of technical teams have moved past planning into active AI agent testing or production, only 14.4% report full security approval for deployments.

Read more: Cisco buys Astrix Security to strengthen AI agent discovery and governance