From AI Endpoints to IAM: 5 Cybersecurity CEOs to Watch This Summer
September 27, 2026 - 6:02 pm
Credit: Redmind Studio on Unsplash
Cybersecurity has seen a surge of new companies and innovative ideas this summer. Behind these developments are entrepreneurs who have dedicated years to understanding and addressing the evolving landscape of security challenges. Their ventures span various layers of the security stack, but they share a common focus: adapting cybersecurity solutions in an era defined by AI, cloud infrastructure, software advancements, and identity management (IAM).
Here’s a look at five standout cybersecurity CEOs who have caught our attention this season:
Rob Gurzeev - CyCognito
Rob Gurzeev, with a background in both offensive cybersecurity and R&D, founded CyCognito. His experience includes work with Israel's Unit 8200 and senior roles in cybersecurity development. CyCognito's unique approach to external attack surface management (EASM) differs from traditional methods that rely on an organization’s existing asset inventory. Instead, the platform discovers what potential attackers can uncover by starting with a company's name.
CyCognito’s platform maps external attack surfaces and uses automated analysis and testing to identify exposed, exploitable, and sensitive assets without requiring customers to provide initial configuration or inventory data. Gurzeev's work grapples with a critical security question: how would an attacker perceive an organization without any prior knowledge of its internal infrastructure?
Asaf Wiener - Mate Security
Asaf Wiener brings substantial product experience from prominent security firms like Wiz and Microsoft. At Wiz, he led the Vulnerability Management product for Fortune 500 companies, while at Microsoft, he contributed to developing Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management. Now, as CEO and co-founder of Mate Security, Wiener is revolutionizing security operations by merging AI with agentic security frameworks.
Mate's focus lies in its Security Context Graph and agentic security operations, enabling security teams to orchestrate and guide AI agents while maintaining control. The ultimate goal is to transcend the limitations of traditional AI assistants and explore a new era of proactive, autonomous security responses.
Itay Keren - Bloom Security
Itay Keren garnered significant attention this summer with Bloom Security's emergence from stealth mode, securing a $20 million seed round led by Glilot Capital Partners and Ten Eleven Ventures. Bloom takes aim at endpoint security, but with an expanded definition. Keren argues that today’s endpoints encompass AI agents, MCP servers, IDEs, browser extensions, packages, and other software interacting with sensitive data and systems.
Bloom aims to provide visibility and control over this intricate endpoint ecosystem, challenging traditional endpoint security products designed primarily around applications, processes, and devices. Keren's vision is at the forefront of a growing conversation surrounding securing AI-native computing.
Barak Klinghofer - Reclaim Security
Barak Klinghofer brings a wealth of experience from both founding Hexadite (acquired by Microsoft) and working within Microsoft Security. Now, as the CEO of Reclaim Security, Klinghofer is addressing a familiar pain point for security teams: remediation.
Reclaim Security focuses on streamlining incident response and reducing the time between identifying a breach and containing it. By automating repetitive tasks and providing real-time insights, the platform aims to empower security teams to respond more efficiently and effectively to cyber threats.