Zscaler Buys SPLX to Secure AI Investments
▼ Summary
– Zscaler has acquired AI security company SPLX to extend its Zero Trust Exchange platform with AI security capabilities.
– The acquisition aims to secure the entire AI lifecycle from development through deployment on a single platform.
– Organizations face expanding AI attack surfaces and shadow AI sprawl as AI infrastructure investments are projected to exceed $250 billion by end of 2025.
– SPLX’s technology adds AI asset discovery, automated red teaming, runtime guardrails, and governance features to Zscaler’s platform.
– The combined capabilities will help organizations shift from reactive defense to proactive protection for their AI investments.
Zscaler has announced its acquisition of SPLX, a specialist in artificial intelligence security, to enhance its Zero Trust Exchange platform with advanced capabilities for protecting AI systems. This strategic move integrates shift-left AI asset discovery, automated red teaming, and governance tools, enabling businesses to safeguard their AI projects from initial development through full deployment. As companies pour billions into AI infrastructure, this acquisition directly addresses the urgent need to manage risks across an expanding digital landscape.
Jay Chaudhry, Zscaler’s Chief Executive Officer, emphasized the importance of securing AI to unlock its full potential. He explained that by merging SPLX’s technology with Zscaler’s existing data protection and classification features, the platform will now offer comprehensive protection for the entire AI lifecycle. This unified approach helps customers confidently adopt AI technologies, knowing their sensitive data, including prompts, models, and outputs, is governed and secured against loss or misuse.
With global AI infrastructure spending expected to surpass $250 billion by the close of 2025, organizations are grappling with a rapidly growing attack surface and the challenge of “shadow AI”, unofficial or unmanaged AI tools. Continuously evolving large language models, AI agents, and Model Context Protocol servers require persistent discovery, risk evaluation, and remediation. New security techniques are essential to enforce strict guardrails around these dynamic assets.
SPLX brings deep expertise in AI red teaming, threat inspection, and governance, which will expand Zscaler’s current offerings. The integration establishes a new, natively embedded layer of AI security within the Zero Trust Exchange. Key enhancements include AI asset discovery and risk assessment that goes beyond public generative AI apps and cloud environments to cover models, workflows, code repositories, and RAGs across both public and private deployments.
Another major addition is automated AI red teaming and remediation, featuring over five thousand specialized attack simulations designed to identify vulnerabilities from development to production stages. Real-time remediation helps organizations address risks promptly. The platform also extends AI runtime guardrails and prompt hardening, building on Zscaler’s existing runtime protections to block malicious attacks and prevent sensitive data exposure between AI applications and large language models. This now includes deeper visibility into development environments and automated guardrails for high-risk AI assets.
Governance and compliance support round out the new capabilities, helping organizations shift from reactive security measures to proactive protection of their AI investments. This ensures alignment with industry governance frameworks and reduces overall risk.
Kristian Kamber, CEO and co-founder of SPLX, noted that both companies share a commitment to tackling the security challenges posed by rapid AI adoption. He expressed confidence that integrating SPLX’s innovations into Zscaler’s trusted security platform will allow customers to secure AI systems at the same speed they are deploying them, fostering safer and more responsible AI innovation.
(Source: HelpNet Security)
