Review of cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions: 37 transactions announced in October 2026

SecurityWeek tracked 37 cybersecurity merger and acquisition (M&A) deals announced in October 2026.

For a snapshot of last year’s activity, check out SecurityWeek’s 2025 Cybersecurity M&A Report, which covers more than 420 deals.

Here are some of the most significant cybersecurity M&A deals announced in October 2026:

Absolute Security acquires FirmGuard

Endpoint security and cyber resilience company Absolute Security has acquired FirmGuard, the UEFI BIOS firmware management and security business of Phoenix Technologies. Absolute will integrate FirmGuard with its in-firmware Absolute Persistence technology, adding under-OS management, ongoing firmware integrity monitoring and patching, and compliance enforcement.

Aikido Security acquires OutKept and Cyberly

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Belgian application security unicorn Aikido Security acquired OutKept and Cyberly and used the two startups to launch Noon, a personnel security company. OutKept is based in Belgium and offers phishing simulations and security awareness training. Polish company Cyberly develops AI-based attack simulations and tools to track employees’ use of AI. Both deals were reached in September but were not made public until October.

Anthropic to acquire Opaque Systems

AI company Anthropic has agreed to acquire Opaque Systems, a confidential AI company spun out of research at UC Berkeley. Anthropic described the deal as licensing Opaque’s technology and hiring some of its engineers, including CEO Aaron Fulkerson and CTO Rishabh Poddar. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cohere will acquire AISLE

Canadian AI developer Cohere has signed a letter of intent to acquire AISLE, a startup whose autonomous AI systems find and help fix vulnerabilities in critical software. The fifty AISLE employees will join Cohere, which is setting up a cybersecurity unit called Cohere Cyber. AISLE CEO Ondřej Vlček, former CEO of Avast, will become its senior vice president.

Hex-Rays to acquire HexAI

Hex-Rays, the Belgian company behind reverse engineering tool IDA Pro, has agreed to acquire HexAI, an Israeli startup founded in 2025. HexAI’s AI agents analyze source code and binaries to discover vulnerabilities, malware and backdoors. The deal is reportedly worth between $30 million and $35 million. Hex-Rays plans to expand HexAI’s Israeli operations and create new AI-based research tools.

IonQ to acquire Elisity

Quantum computing company IonQ has agreed to acquire Zero Trust security company Elisity in an all-stock transaction worth up to $1.3 billion, including up to $150 million in performance-based earnouts. IonQ will combine its post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution technology with Elisity’s IdentityGraph platform, which enforces least privilege for users, devices, workloads and AI agents. The deal is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Proofpoint to acquire Varonis

Thoma Bravo-owned Proofpoint has agreed to acquire data security company Varonis for approximately $6.3 billion in cash. Together, the companies aim to provide a single platform to discover, protect, control access to, and prevent data loss as organizations adopt AI.

Other cybersecurity M&A transactions announced in October 2026:

Acture Solutions acquires Digital BackOffice

Axelo acquires Cynch Security

Basware acquires Trustpair

Bendings acquires Scopertos

Bregal Milestone acquires majority stake in Nethive

Bytes Technology Group to acquire CyberOne

ctrl:cyber to acquire Razilio

CyberFOX acquires Optimize365

EC-Council acquires Cyber Insurance Academy

Forte Technologies acquires Business Cyber Security Solutions

GCubed acquires RightDirection Technology Solutions