Cybersecurity M&A Targets AI Agents and Browser Security

https://www.channelinsider.com/security/cybersecurity-ma-ai-agents-browser-security/

Publish Date: 2026-05-06 13:28:00

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AI has upended long-held assumptions about cybersecurity, and a wave of acquisitions by large vendors indicates a race to secure the tools and talent needed to navigate the new landscape.

This is a new layer to the cybersecurity stack, adding agents, prompts, and data flows to the list of items that need to be monitored, checked, and verified.

Agents, which enterprises are rushing to implement across systems, exacerbate the problem because they can take actions autonomously across many devices and applications. Agent-to-agent communication makes it far more difficult to ascertain where a problem started and how to fix it without jeopardizing the whole workflow.

Palo Alto Networks adds agentic AI and endpoint security capabilities

Palo Alto Networks has been one of the most active of the old guard, investing in several startups to build out its AI security portfolio. It acquired Portkey, which secures the connection between AI agents and other models and tools, and enforces rules for the agent to follow.

Palo Alto Networks said it would embed Portkey into its Prisma AIRS security system as the AI gateway.

A month earlier, it spent $400 million on the endpoint security company Koi. While it operates a traditional endpoint security system, it has been tailored to monitor new connections with AI models, AI agents, browser extensions, and automated coding tools. Its risk-scoring tool helps businesses understand what tools employees are using, and whether they should be.

The two deals are small compared with Palo Alto Networks’ total M&A last year, when it spent $29 billion acquiring CyberArk, Chronosphere, and Protect AI. However, the shift in focus indicates Palo Alto Networks sees AI agents as an important part of the future cybersecurity stack.

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