Cyber’s AI arms race
Investment and M&A in cybersecurity are surging even as attackers adopt AI — defenders and adversaries are effectively in an "AI versus AI" contest. The expanding attack surface is driving bigger deals and more VC money into AI‑driven cyber tools as firms race to keep pace. (govinfosecurity.com) (govinfosecurity.com)
Momentum Cyber’s year‑end tally put 2025 cybersecurity M&A at roughly $96 billion across about 400 transactions, with venture and private financing reaching $20.7 billion across 820 deals — a 52% increase in financing versus 2024. (momentumcyber.com) Several mega‑transactions anchored that surge: Google agreed to buy cloud security firm Wiz for $32 billion, Palo Alto Networks announced a roughly $25 billion deal for CyberArk, and HPE completed a $14 billion acquisition of Juniper. (blog.google) Momentum’s analysis shows strategic buyers deployed about 92% of disclosed M&A capital in 2025, with eight transactions topping $1 billion and 38 deals exceeding $100 million — underscoring concentrated, high‑value consolidation. (momentumcyber.com) Investor behavior shifted alongside dealmaking: median Series C+ cybersecurity rounds rose from about $50 million in 2023 to more than $80 million in 2025, and AI‑native security startups consistently drew premium valuations. (momentumcyber.com) Offense is changing fast: a Gartner survey found 62% of organizations reported deepfake‑style attacks in the prior 12 months, while analysis of phishing campaigns showed roughly 82.6% of phishing emails sampled used some AI‑generated content. (gartner.com) Dealflow reflects that pressure — acquirers are buying AI security capabilities directly (for example, Palo Alto’s purchase of Protect AI to bolster its Prisma AIRS platform), and Momentum cites cloud security (led by Wiz) as the single subsector with the highest deal value in 2025. (csoonline.com)
