Palo Alto Networks has agreed to acquire Protect AI for an undisclosed sum to expand its capabilities to help government agencies and enterprises protect their ecosystems of artificial intelligence models, agents and related tools from security risks.
Palo Alto Networks said Monday it expects the transaction to close by the first quarter of its fiscal 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Protect AI CEO Ian Swanson, the founders and employees are expected to join Palo Alto Networks upon the deal’s closing.
Expanding AI Security Capabilities
“As AI-powered applications become core to businesses, they bring risks traditional security tools can’t adequately handle. By extending our AI security capabilities to include Protect AI’s innovative solutions for Securing for AI, businesses will be able to build AI applications with comprehensive security,” said Anand Oswal, senior vice president and general manager of network security at Palo Alto Networks.
“With the addition of Protect AI’s existing portfolio of solutions and team of experts, Palo Alto Networks will be well-positioned to offer a wide range of solutions for customers’ current needs, and also be able to continue innovating on delivering new solutions that are needed for this dynamic threat landscape,” added Oswal.
Palo Alto Networks expects the acquisition to further advance its vision for an AI security platform, called Prisma AIRS.
The new platform will help organizations develop and deploy AI tools by protecting the AI development lifecycle to meet requirements for risk assessment, model scanning, runtime security, posture management and AI agent security.
What Does Protect AI Do?
Protect AI provides platforms to help secure the use of AI and machine learning models and applications.
The Seattle-based company recently partnered with Leidos to provide end-to-end and full-lifecycle security for AI systems used by U.S. government agencies.
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