Palo Alto closes privileged access gap with $25B CyberArk acquisition

Palo Alto Networks acquired CyberArk for $25 billion to strengthen its ability to manage privileged access (controlling who can access sensitive systems and accounts) across human, machine, and AI identities through a unified platform. This addresses a critical security gap because identity has become the primary target in enterprise attacks, especially with the rise of AI agents (autonomous software that performs tasks independently) that operate 24/7 with broad permissions. The integration aims to help organizations prevent credential-based attacks and reduce breach response time by up to 80%.