Exposure management company Tenable Holdings announced a plan to buy Apex Security, an innovator in securing the rapidly expanding AI attack surface. And Tenable believes the acquisition will enhance Tenable’s ability to help organizations identify and reduce cyber risks. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. And the deal is expected to close later this quarter.
Launched in 2023, Apex attracted early interest from CISOs and top investors, including Sam Altman (OpenAI), Clem Delangue (Hugging Face), and VC firms Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures. And the company quickly emerged as an innovator in securing the use of AI by developers and everyday employees, addressing the growing need to manage usage, enforce policy, and ensure compliance at scale.
Value proposition: GenAI tools and autonomous systems are rapidly expanding the attack surface and introducing new risks, including shadow AI apps, AI-generated code, synthetic identities, and ungoverned cloud services. Last year, Tenable launched Tenable AI Aware, which already helps thousands of organizations detect and assess AI usage across their environments. Adding Apex’s capabilities will expand on that foundation, bringing the ability to govern usage, enforce policy, and control exposure across both the AI that organizations use and the AI they build. This move reinforces Tenable’s long-standing strategy of delivering scalable, unified exposure management as AI adoption accelerates.
Integration: Following the deal’s close, Tenable expects to deliver integrated capabilities in the second half of 2025 as part of Tenable One — the industry’s first and most comprehensive exposure management platform.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI dramatically expands the attack surface, introducing dynamic, fast-moving risks most organizations aren’t prepared for. Tenable’s strategy has always been to stay ahead of attack surface expansion — not just managing exposures, but eliminating them before they can be exploited.”
Steve Vintz, Co-CEO and CFO, Tenable
“As organizations move quickly to adopt AI, many recognize that now is the moment to get ahead of the risk — before large-scale attacks materialize. Apex delivers the visibility, context, and control security teams need to reduce AI-generated exposure proactively. It will be a powerful addition to the Tenable One platform and a perfect fit for our preemptive approach to cybersecurity.”
Mark Thurmond, Co-CEO, Tenable
“The AI attack surface is deeply intertwined with everything else organizations are already securing. Treating it as part of exposure management is the most strategic approach. We’re excited to join forces with Tenable to help customers manage AI risk in context — not as a silo, but as part of their broader environment.”
Matan Derman, CEO and Co-Founder of Apex Security
