Proofpoint has acquired Acuvity to expand its AI security and governance capabilities across what it describes as the “agentic workspace,” where humans and AI agents collaborate on business-critical workflows.
The deal strengthens Proofpoint’s platform with AI-native visibility, governance, and runtime protection for AI and agent-driven workflows. By integrating Acuvity’s technology, the company aims to provide enterprises with greater oversight and control as generative AI tools become embedded across functions such as software development, customer support, finance, and legal.
As organizations deploy AI copilots, autonomous agents, and model-connected applications at scale, they face a new range of risks. These include the use of shadow AI, exposure of sensitive data, loss of intellectual property, regulatory violations, and AI-specific threats such as prompt injection and model manipulation. Proofpoint said the acquisition positions it to address these emerging challenges with a unified approach that spans people, data, and AI systems.
With the addition of Acuvity, Proofpoint expands its human- and agent-centric cybersecurity platform to deliver visibility and governance across endpoints, web browsers, and emerging AI infrastructure, including Model Context Protocol servers and locally installed AI tools. Acuvity’s platform also provides runtime inspection and enforcement capabilities designed to secure how users and systems interact with external AI services, while protecting internally developed or deployed AI models and applications.
Proofpoint said the combined offering brings together collaboration security to protect users from human-centric threats, data security and governance to safeguard sensitive information wherever it resides, and AI security to oversee enterprise AI usage and defend AI models and applications. The company believes this integrated approach will resonate with CISOs and CIOs navigating rapid AI adoption and increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Acuvity, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, was founded by cybersecurity and engineering veterans and built its platform specifically for autonomous AI environments. Its technology is designed to provide real-time inspection and enforcement across applications, agents, and Model Context Protocol servers, enabling organizations to operate AI systems safely at scale.
Proofpoint, which counts more than 80 of the Fortune 100 and over 10,000 large enterprises among its customers, said Acuvity’s capabilities are expected to enhance its portfolio in securing how people and AI agents work, communicate, and interact with data. The company positions the acquisition as a step toward delivering end-to-end protection for enterprises embracing AI-driven workflows.
KEY QUOTES
“AI agents are becoming active participants in the enterprise, accessing data, executing tasks and making decisions alongside people. Securing this new model of work requires understanding human intent, agentic behavior and risk in real time. Together, Proofpoint and Acuvity enable organizations to confidently adopt AI tools and agents with the governance, visibility and control required to manage risk. By securing humans, defending data and governing AI through a unified platform, Proofpoint is uniquely positioned to protect the agentic workspace end to end—something no other cybersecurity company delivers today.”
Ryan Kalember, Chief Strategy Officer, Proofpoint
“AI is fundamentally reshaping how work gets done and enterprises are overwhelmed by the pace of AI adoption and the complexity of securing it. In an AI-accelerated world, intelligence is no longer confined to applications or infrastructure; it lives in interactions, decisions and autonomous agents acting on our behalf. Securing that future requires a new approach — one that governs how AI thinks, acts and learns in real time.”
Satyam Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO, Acuvity
