Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders.<\/em> Subscribe Now<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You thought gen AI was a technological tidal wave of change coming for enterprises, but the truth is \u2014 at 2-and-a-half years since the launch of ChatGPT \u2014 the change is only just starting. A whopping 96% of IT and data executives plan to increase their use of AI agents this year alone, according to a recent survey from Cloudera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, with this comes a whole host of other considerations for organizations, perhaps foremost of which is: How to protect the security of the organization\u2019s software, data and other digital systems, especially as more and more agents arrive that can conduct actions autonomously, on their own, with minimal human oversight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyata, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup, was founded to tackle this mission head on and is today emerging from stealth to show enterprises how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s backed by $8.5 million in seed funding in a round led by TLV Partners, with participation from notable angel investors and former Cellebrite CEOs Ron Serber and Yossi Carmil. Meanwhile, Cellebrite\u2019s former VP of business development Shahar Tal serves as Cyata\u2019s CEO. Cellebrite, you may recall, is the infamous security firm that developed ways to bypass the security of, or \u201ccrack\u201d Apple\u2019s highly secure and encrypted iPhone for law enforcement customers, so the bona fides of the founders are real.<\/p> \u201cThis is a paradigm shift,\u201d Tal said in an interview with VentureBeat. \u201cLike the move to cloud, we\u2019re watching software change in front of us. Enterprises need new guardrails to handle the velocity and autonomy of these systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AI Impact Series Returns to San Francisco – August 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The next phase of AI is here – are you ready? Join leaders from Block, GSK, and SAP for an exclusive look at how autonomous agents are reshaping enterprise workflows – from real-time decision-making to end-to-end automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secure your spot now – space is limited: https:\/\/bit.ly\/3GuuPLF<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyata\u2019s platform introduces a purpose-built solution to govern what it refers to as \u201cagentic identities\u201d \u2014 AI that performs tasks autonomously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese agents don\u2019t work like traditional identities \u2014 they spin up in milliseconds, fork into sub-agents, make privileged calls and vanish before identify access management (IAM) or privileged access management (PAM) systems can react,\u201d Tal explained. \u201cThey\u2019re faster, more privileged and more error-prone. The legacy IAM tooling simply can\u2019t handle that architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The offering includes three integrated capabilities: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re the control plane for authentic identities of autonomous digital workers,\u201d Tal explained. \u201cThe moment an agent authenticates, we recognize it, trace what it\u2019s doing and enforce least privilege in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyata automatically scans cloud and SaaS environments to surface all AI agents in use and maps each to a human owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It then monitors agent behavior for risky access patterns or anomalies and maintains a full audit trail of actions, including intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe fingerprint agents by detecting behaviors that don\u2019t match human activity \u2014 like high-speed actions, technical headers or unusual access patterns,\u201d Tal added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of Cyata\u2019s most novel features is its ability to interrogate agents in natural language. When an agent attempts to execute a task, Cyata can prompt it for an explanation, then evaluate the justification using both rules-based logic and AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the nice things about AI agents is they speak English,\u201d said Tal. \u201cWe can ask them why they\u2019re calling a tool, and they\u2019ll provide evaluable, contextual justifications we can assess for validity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The platform uses AI models to assess these justifications in real time, creating an added layer of interpretability and risk scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s AI evaluating AI \u2014 scoring context and intent as part of our risk assessment,\u201d Tal explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what about malicious agents spun up by hackers or cyber criminals? Cyata is ready for those, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to make sure that this is an agent coming from the source,\u201d said Tal. \u201cSo, for example, coming from the Copilot environment, that\u2019s a good signal. Or maybe it\u2019s been doing correct things for a while now. Or if it\u2019s a new identity and we\u2019ve never seen it, that\u2019s a bit riskier. So we have to evaluate the entire risk for each of these tool call requests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyata emphasizes a rapid deployment model, offering near-immediate value to enterprise security and identity teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Integration with common platforms like Microsoft Copilot, Salesforce AgentForce and other popular identity providers is already supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve designed our system to integrate very quickly,\u201d said Tal. \u201cWithin 48 hours, we can scan cloud environments, copilots and other tools to surface agentic identities and their risks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once discovered, Cyata connects each AI agent to a human stakeholder for accountability, helping bridge the gap between legacy identity systems and the emerging AI workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The growing use of AI agents isn\u2019t limited to technical teams. While developers were an early audience, Cyata quickly realized adoption was broader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInitially, we thought developers would be the primary audience. But we\u2019ve seen non-developers deploying agents rapidly \u2014 sales, finance, support \u2014 so centralized governance became essential,\u201d Tal noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations often discover unexpected usage patterns once Cyata is deployed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In several cases, tools like Cursor or Copilot were found to be acting with elevated permissions, impersonating users or accessing sensitive data without oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen cases where companies think they haven\u2019t deployed AI, but suddenly there\u2019s Cursor or Copilot running in full impersonation mode, acting on someone\u2019s behalf,\u201d said Tal. \u201cIt\u2019s already happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyata\u2019s platform operates in multiple modes \u2014 from passive monitoring to active enforcement \u2014 allowing security teams to adopt it without disrupting workflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system can flag risky activity, suggest mitigations or enforce human approvals for high-privilege actions. Pricing follows a SaaS model, based on the number of managed agentic identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company sees its role as not just patching current gaps, but preparing enterprises for a broader shift in how work is conducted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a team of cybersecurity veterans from Unit 8200, Check Point and Cellebrite, Cyata is positioned to lead in this emerging category. The company will unveil new research at the upcoming Black Hat conference and is building out a partnership program to deepen integrations with identity vendors and enterprise platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As AI agents become more prevalent, Cyata is betting that enterprises will need better tools to understand who \u2014 or what \u2014 is acting on their behalf.<\/p>\n Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n An error occured.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n<\/div>A new control dashboard for agentic identities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Real-time justification and AI-to-AI verification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
From discovery to deployment in 48 hrs.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the developers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Future-proofing AI agent identity and compliance for enterprises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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