The cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks has closed the purchase of CyberArkidentity security specialist. Palo Alto Networks thus places this capacity among the central pillars of its platformization strategy. The addition of CyberArk’s identity security platform to its portfolio allows Palo Alto Network to offer the ability to protect all company identities. Both human, machine and agentic.
Identity security is becoming increasingly important in protecting businesses, especially as they scale their use of cloud, automation, and AI. In this context, identity has become the main avenue of attack, driven by the rapid increase in human, machine and AI identities that continuously have privileged access to systems and data.
Additionally, machine identities outnumber human identities by more than 80 to 1, and 75% of organizations recognize that their human identities are governed by outdated and overly permissive privilege models. Attackers are increasingly exploiting weaknesses in identity management, making credential abuse and excessive privileges the main threat vectors.
Palo Alto Networks’ recently completed CyberArk purchase responds to this shift by extending privilege security controls beyond a group of administrators to all company identities.
By democratizing privileged access across human, machine, and AI identities, companies can reduce persistent privileges, limit lateral movement, and stop identity-based attacks more quickly. Companies that use identity-based security controls can accelerate the response to these breaches by preventing attackers from abusing excessive credentials and access.
Following the purchase, CyberArk identity security solutions will continue to be available as a standalone platform. Additionally, integration is already underway to incorporate the company’s capabilities into the Palo Alto Networks ecosystem of security products and services. The company’s current customers will not experience any interruptions in service.
According to the purchase agreement, once this is formalized, CyberArk shareholders have the right to receive $45 in cash for each share they own in the company, as well as 2.2005 Palo Alto Networks common shares for each of theirs.
Nikesh Arora, CEO and President of Palo Alto Networkshas highlighted that «the The new wave of AI agents will require us to secure all identities: human, machine, and agent. That’s why we acted decisively by announcing our intention to acquire CyberArk last July and I’m excited to see product integration begin. For our clients, this means the end of ‘identity silos’. “Now they can manage privileged access across their entire hybrid cloud environment from the same company they trust for Network Security and Security Operations, ensuring they are protected in the age of AI.”
Matt Cohen, CEO of CyberArkhas recognized that «bind forces with Palo Alto Networks creates the ultimate cyber guardian for the modern enterprise. It’s a win-win: our clients gain access to the most comprehensive security portfolio in the world and our employees become part of a global engine of innovation. “Together, we are creating the most robust combination of proven technologies to stop identity-driven breaches.”
