SentinelOne Inc. today announced plans to buy Prompt Security Ltd., a startup with a platform for protecting workers from risky artificial intelligence applications.

The acquisition price was not disclosed. Globes reported that the deal values Prompt Security at $250 million to $300 million, more than 10 times what the startup has raised from investors. The transaction is expected to close by November.

Nasdaq-listed SentinelOne sells a cybersecurity platform called Singularity that uses AI to scan corporate networks for malware. It can detect hacking attempts across cloud environments, employee devices and other systems. It also automates several of the tasks involved in remediating breaches.

Prompt Security’s platform, in turn, helps enterprises mitigate the risks associated with third-party AI services. It installs a browser extension on employee devices that determines what AI applications are used by a company’s workforce. From there, the platform identifies applications and user accounts that may pose a cybersecurity risk.

Prompt Security allows administrators to regulate which team may use what AI service. The platform can block a service outright, or permit its use but filter employee prompts that contain sensitive business data. Administrators may also have Prompt Security display AI risk explainers to workers. 

A second set of features included in the platform can mitigate risks posed by programming assistants. According to Prompt Security, its platform automatically scans AI-generated code for vulnerabilities. The software can also monitor whether developers use AI coding tools in compliance with data protection policies.

Prompt Security’s third focus is helping companies protect their custom AI applications. The software can block several types of hacking campaigns including so-called DOW, or denial of wallet, attacks. Those are cyberattacks in which hackers send a larger number of requests to an AI application with the goal of increasing its operator’s infrastructure costs.

SentinelOne plans to integrate Prompt Security’s technology into its Singularity cybersecurity platform. “This acquisition unlocks a new frontier of platform expansion for SentinelOne and represents a step forward in our AI strategy – from AI for security to security for AI,” SentinelOne Chief Executive Officer Tomer Weingarten wrote in a blog post.

Prompt Security is the latest in a series of AI cybersecurity startups to have been acquired by established market players.

In April, Palo Alto Networks Inc. bought Protect AI Inc. for more than $500 million. The startup developed a platform that uses simulated cyberattacks to find vulnerabilities in AI applications. More recently, Snyk Inc. acquired Invariant Labs AG, a Swiss developer of open-source AI security tools. 

Photo: SentinelOne