SecurityWeek tracked 37 cybersecurity merger and acquisition (M&A) offers introduced in October 2026.
For a take a look at final 12 months’s exercise, see SecurityWeek’s 2025 Cybersecurity M&A Report, which covers greater than 420 offers.
Listed below are a number of the most vital cybersecurity M&A offers introduced in October 2026:
Absolute Safety acquires FirmGuard
Endpoint safety and cyber resilience agency Absolute Safety has acquired FirmGuard, the UEFI BIOS firmware safety and administration enterprise of Phoenix Applied sciences. Absolute will combine FirmGuard with its firmware-embedded Absolute Persistence expertise, including below-the-OS administration, steady firmware integrity monitoring and patching, and compliance enforcement.
Aikido Safety acquires OutKept and Cyberly
Belgian software safety unicorn Aikido Safety has acquired OutKept and Cyberly and used the 2 startups to launch Midday, a workforce safety enterprise. OutKept relies in Belgium and gives phishing simulations and safety consciousness coaching. Poland’s Cyberly develops AI-powered assault simulations and instruments for monitoring worker AI utilization. Each offers closed in September however weren’t made public till October.
Anthropic to amass Opaque Methods
AI firm Anthropic has agreed to amass Opaque Methods, a confidential AI firm that grew out of analysis at UC Berkeley. Anthropic has described the deal as licensing Opaque’s expertise and hiring a few of its engineers, reportedly together with CEO Aaron Fulkerson and CTO Rishabh Poddar. Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
Canadian AI developer Cohere has signed a letter of intent to amass AISLE, a startup whose autonomous AI programs discover and assist patch vulnerabilities in essential software program. AISLE’s roughly 50 staff will be part of Cohere, which is organising a cybersecurity unit known as Cohere Cyber. AISLE CEO Ondřej Vlček, the previous CEO of Avast, will develop into its senior vp.
Hex-Rays, the Belgian firm behind the IDA Professional reverse engineering instrument, has agreed to amass HexAI, an Israeli startup based in 2025. HexAI’s AI brokers analyze supply code and binaries to uncover vulnerabilities, malware and backdoors. The deal is reportedly value $30 million to $35 million. Hex-Rays plans to develop HexAI’s Israeli operations and construct new AI-powered analysis instruments.
Quantum computing firm IonQ has agreed to amass zero belief safety agency Elisity in an all-stock deal value as much as $1.3 billion, together with as much as $150 million in performance-based earnouts. IonQ will mix its post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution expertise with Elisity’s IdentityGraph platform, which enforces least-privilege entry for customers, units, workloads and AI brokers. The deal is predicted to shut within the fourth quarter of 2026.
Thoma Bravo-owned Proofpoint has agreed to amass knowledge safety firm Varonis for roughly $6.3 billion in money. Collectively, the businesses wish to supply a single platform for locating and defending delicate knowledge, controlling entry to it, and stopping knowledge loss as organizations undertake AI.
Different cybersecurity M&A offers introduced in October 2026:
Acture Options acquires Digital BackOffice
Bregal Milestone acquires Majority Stake in Nethive
Bytes Know-how Group to amass CyberOne
EC-Council acquires Cyber Insurance coverage Academy
Forte Applied sciences acquires Enterprise Cyber Safety Options
GCubed acquires RightDirection Know-how Options
Macnica to amass Majority Stake in CyberSec IT Consulting
Maximus to amass Agile Protection
Protectt.ai acquires Majority Stake in AIShield
SAIC acquires Info Safety Company
Sequrio acquires Althammer & Kill, DATATREE and Nextwork
SGS acquires Majority Stake in Prescient Safety
V-Key acquires Majority Stake in CloudsineAI
Vista Fairness Companions to amass HID’s PKI Enterprise
Xopero Software program acquires Vigil Guard
Associated: Cybersecurity M&A Roundup: 39 Offers Introduced in September 2026
