Palo Alto Networks today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Talon Cyber Security, an enterprise browser technology provider. This deal, reportedly worth more than $600 million, is the security giant’s latest move to augment its secure access service edge (SASE) solution by securing both managed and unmanaged devices.

Talon Cyber Security, a 2.5-year-old Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup, has raised $143 million over three funding rounds by far. Their most notable round was a $100 million Series A in August 2022, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Ballistic Ventures, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, Merlin Ventures, SYN Ventures and previous investors CrowdStrike co-founder and CEO George Kurtz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sorenson Ventures and Team8.

“Talon is one of Palo Alto Networks' largest acquisitions ever. Leading Talon’s seed round in 2021 was an easy decision,” Lightspeed Partner David Gussarsky said in a statement.

The startup was co-founded by entrepreneurs Ofer Ben-Noon and Ohad Bobrov in 2021 and the Talon team won the RSA Conference's Innovation Sandbox contest in 2022. The co-founders will join Palo Alto Networks’s Prisma SASE team and continue to lead their team after the deal closes.

Talon Cyber Security is the second acquisition announced by Palo Alto Networks in less than a week, following its Dig Security acquisition.

Palo Alto Networks integrates Talon with Prisma SASE

Today, most of the security teams are focused on securing managed devices. However, often a larger number of unmanaged devices connect to enterprise applications and access sensitive information, and attackers are taking advantage of this opportunity, Palo Alto Networks noted.

"The average enterprise uses hundreds of SaaS and web applications, meaning that most work is now done primarily via the browser. Talon enables organizations to secure all work activity via an enterprise browser, without touching the personal usage of the device or impacting user privacy,” Palo Alto Networks CPO Lee Klarich said in a statement. “Integrating Talon with Prisma SASE will enable Palo Alto Networks to securely connect all users and devices to all applications, including private applications, and apply consistent security no matter who the user is and what device they use for work."

“SASE needs to evolve to secure all devices – managed and unmanaged – for complete zero-trust security,” Anand Oswal, SVP and GM at Palo Alto Networks, echoed in a blog post.

Oswal added this necessity stems from the bring your own device (BYOD) trend. "While BYOD offers an advantage for productivity, it is also a source of significant security risk. Talon's Enterprise Browser empowers security teams with deep visibility and control over all work-related SaaS and web activity on all devices, including personal and unmanaged endpoints.

He noted how Talon’s enterprise browser secures BYOD adoption:

• Talon's enterprise browser safeguards unmanaged devices used in BYOD by protecting against a spectrum of cyberthreats such as malware and phishing, malicious domains and keylogging.
• It offers data security controls natively in the browser to prevent data exfiltration, while providing visibility into work-related online activities on these unmanaged devices, without touching the personal usage of the device.
• The browser simplifies new user onboarding tasks with a single sign-on (SSO) integration framework on all devices and operating systems.