This week's issue is backed by SpecterOps and Maze.
Hope you had a great weekend, and a great Hacker Summery Camp if you attended!
I’ve been told that the Monday after Black Hat and DEF CON is an “unofficial cybersecurity holiday.” I’m not sure if that’s universal, but let me know if you think I should make it “official” by sending the newsletter next year on Tuesday instead of Monday.
It was really great to catch up with so many folks last week! Thanks to everyone who stuck around to see my closing talk at the Innovators & Investors Summit, and for all the kind words and support throughout the week. Many apologies if I didn’t catch you this time around, and I hope to connect at the next one.
A few of my takeaways from Black Hat
2026 is the year of Offensive Security, and I got the chance to interview the CEO of Horizon3 about it
Having unique, hard-to-replicate datasets and being in the path of the agent are the biggest advantages one could have right now in the security world
There was a higher degree of creativity at Black Hat, which was refreshing to see, and some killer shirts
Now it’s time to dig out from all the connection requests and the half-remembered to-dos, and lock in so we can all get this bread on the back half of 2026. 😤 🍞
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Table of Contents
😎 Vibe Check
Click the options below to vote on whether you are a practitioner, founder, or investor. Leave a comment, and I'll anonymously feature the best takes in the next issue!
Offense is compounding faster than defense. What actually closes the gap?
Last issue’s vibe check:
Who wins the non-human identity land grab?
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IAM incumbents bolting it on
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Data security platforms buying it
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Dedicated NHI-only startups
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Cloud providers
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Frontier AI Labs
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Other (tell me)
Last week’s answers were a blowout for the IAM incumbents. The market has been voting the same way with cash, with Okta buying Permiso, Keyfactor buying Cofide, and Cyera paying about $1B for Oasis, over the last few weeks.
Some of the top comments from last week’s vibe check:
💬 "Hoping to abate vendor sprawl and learn from the past using strategic vendors already part of a portfolio.”
💬 “IAM orgs are too focused on traditional means of auth and traditional models, and the role assumption / operating on behalf of model that agents etc often use doesn’t lend itself well to that. Also needs an element of introspection/agent understanding that any incumbents wouldn’t really have - so I don’t think cloud vendors even could do it. Frontier AI labs have probably the raw capability but lack the context/reason to care on that. So I sadly think the many “agentic operating system layer” startups are best placed. I’d love to be proven wrong and see a cloud or IAM vendor go properly into it though!”
💬 “Fundamentally, the identity systems, whatever key identifiers and secrets, are the same regardless of who manages it. What really matters is who has the resources to provide that IdP fast enough for continuous authentication -- at least, in my opinion :P”
💰 Market Summary
Private Markets
11 deals from 10 companies across 4 countries raised $529.2M across 10 unique categories
Average disclosed deal size was $66.2M (median: $33.5M)
90% of funded companies were product companies
10 companies from 6 countries were acquired for $2.4B across 9 unique categories
60% of acquired companies were product companies
Public Markets
3 companies had an earnings report last week - $DDOG ( ▲ 11.48% ) , $FSLY ( ▲ 20.86% ) , $QLYS ( ▲ 1.26% )
📸 YoY Snapshot
Rolling 13-week charts that compare funding and acquisitions week over week, year over year, comparing 2025 to 2026
$9.4B across 168 deals over the past quarter, and down only 1% from the same timeframe a year ago.
74 acquisitions over the past quarter, and down 33% from the same timeframe a year ago.
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AI agents investigate every finding with context from your code and cloud, close false positives, and catch business logic flaws other tools miss. Then they help you fix what's left, right in your IDE or coding agent.
Finally, inbox zero for your code and cloud vulnerabilities is possible.
🧩 Funding By Product Category
$250.0M for Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) across 1 deal
$132.0M for AI Governance across 3 deals
$85.0M for SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) across 1 deal
$60.0M for Application Detection and Response (ADR) across 1 deal
$1.3M for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) across 1 deal
$500.0K for Human Risk Management across 1 deal
$400.0K for Threat and Risk Prioritization across 1 deal
An undisclosed amount for Insider Threat across 1 deal
An undisclosed amount for Cybersecurity News and Media across 1 deal
🏢 Funding By Company
» Interact with all the data in real-time on The Signal dashboard or via the MCP.
Product Companies:
Horizon3.ai, a United States-based autonomous penetration testing and threat exposure management platform, raised a $250.0M Series E from NightDragon and New Enterprise Associates. (more) Unicorn Alert 🦄
Obsidian Security, a United States-based SaaS security posture management (SSPM) platform, raised an $85.0M Series D from Crescent Cove Advisors. (more) Unicorn Alert 🦄
Oligo Security, an Israel-based runtime application security platform for open source libraries, raised a $60.0M Series C from Ballistic Ventures, Canon Capital, Eyal Waldman, Greenfield Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Red Dot Capital Partners, and TLV Partners. (more)
Actualyze AI, a United States-based enterprise AI governance and security optimization platform, raised a $7.0M Seed from Storm Ventures, Canaan Partners, Morado Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures. (more)
InnerActiv, a United States-based insider risk and data loss prevention platform, raised a $1.3M Venture Round. (SEC Filing - may be incomplete)
Safehire.ai, a United Kingdom-based AI-powered digital risk screening for safer hiring decisions, raised a $500.0K Seed. (more)
EmulateAI, a United States-based threat and risk prioritization platofrm, raised a $400.0K Seed. (SEC Filing - may be incomplete)
Above Security, an Israel-based agent-driven insider threat platform, raised an undisclosed Venture Round from CrowdStrike Falcon Fund. (more)
Service Companies:
Information Security Media Group (ISMG) (formerly ISMG), a United States-based cybersecurity news, marketing, and media group, raised an undisclosed Private Equity round from Peak Rock Capital. (more)
SEC filings may reflect partial or interim fundraising and can understate the final round numbers.
🌎 Funding By Country
$343.7M for the United States across 6 deals
$185.0M for Israel across 4 deals
$500.0K for the United Kingdom across 1 deal
🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions
Product Companies:
Enkrypt AI, a United States-based secure web gateway for AI applications, was acquired by Anaconda for an undisclosed amount. Enkrypt AI had previously raised $2.4M in funding. (more)
Kustom Entertainment (formerly Digital Ally), a United States-based in-car video and body-worn camera systems for public safety, was acquired by Cycurion for an undisclosed amount. Kustom Entertainment has not previously disclosed funding. (more)
pQCee, a Singapore-based post-quantum cryptography governance platform, was acquired by Universal Digital for an undisclosed amount. pQCee had previously raised $3.9M in funding. (more)
Service Companies:
Romeo Computer Company, a United States-based managed IT and cybersecurity services provider for SMBs, was acquired by Image Solutions for $2.4M. Romeo Computer Company has not previously disclosed funding. (more)
GigaNetworks, a United States-based managed security services provider, was acquired by BlueAlly for an undisclosed amount. GigaNetworks has not previously disclosed funding. (more)
Loial, a United States-based managed security services and cybersecurity consulting firm, was acquired by Logicalis US for an undisclosed amount. Loial has not previously disclosed funding. (more)
PAGO Networks, a South Korea-based managed detection and response (MDR) platform, was acquired by LG Uplus for an undisclosed amount. PAGO Networks has not previously disclosed funding. (more)
🤘 IPO-h Yeah
None
🪦 Stop, Drop, Shut’em Down…
None 😮💨
❌ Layoffs
None 😮💨
📚 Great Reads
The OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident - The Black Hat talk from OpenAI about the OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident, along with technical reconstruction and implications for AI. This is a MUST-watch.
*Maze Code automates security triage - AI agents that investigate every vulnerability automatically and close the ones that aren't exploitable before they reach your engineers.
Should You Use AI for a Task? Here’s a Simple Way to Decide - Bruce Schneier shares how he thinks about whether or not to use AI for a given task, while referencing my friend Daniel Miessler and his post about not using robots in the gym. A timely reminder for everyone.
*Sponsored
🧪 Labs
Advice I should have used more last week at Black Hat 🍺
🫡 Signing Off
Have questions, comments, or feedback? Just reply back directly, I’d love to hear from you.
If you find this newsletter useful and know others who would, I'd really appreciate it if you'd forward it to them!
Mike P
P.S. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.