Agentic AI,
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning,
Cloud Security
Calypso’s Red-Teaming and Agentic Threat Tools Enhance F5’s Application Security Strategy
F5 Networks, an established provider of application and API security, announced plans to acquire CalypsoAI, a Dublin-based artificial intelligence security startup. This acquisition aims to bolster security measures for modern application environments that increasingly support complex AI workloads.
The integration of CalypsoAI’s advanced features, such as AI guardrails and red-teaming capabilities, has been identified as essential in addressing the rising risks associated with AI. F5’s Senior Vice President of Product Management, Shawn Wormke, highlighted that CalypsoAI’s alignment with F5’s customer-focused approach and their enhanced deployment flexibilities made the acquisition a compelling fit.
CalypsoAI, founded in 2018 and currently employing about 50 personnel, has successfully raised $43.2 million in external funding. Its latest funding round, which secured $5 million from Crosspoint Capital Partners, coincided with CalypsoAI being named a finalist in the RSAC Innovation Sandbox. Notably, CalypsoAI is led by Donnchadh Casey, a former Qualtrics executive, reflecting a strong leadership team experienced in customer engagement.
In a bid to reinforce its capabilities, F5 also launched its AI Gateway offering earlier in the year, which performed well in customer environments. This indicates a strategic shift towards robust AI security measures, particularly in areas prone to risk such as inference points in AI applications. Wormke emphasized that the integration of CalypsoAI’s unique approach to security through agentic warfare and red-teaming feeds crucial insights back into their AI firewall system.
The operational synergy, showcasing a closed-loop method for threat identification and mitigation, reinforces F5’s commitment to application security. This continuous adaptive methodology allows CalypsoAI to detect over 10,000 new attack vectors each month, significantly enhancing its defense mechanisms against emerging threats. Such capabilities are vital in today’s landscape, where data leakage and other vulnerabilities are potent risks.
Initially, F5 will facilitate traffic routing to CalypsoAI’s platform, allowing existing customers to integrate new capabilities with minimal infrastructural changes. This setup will gradually evolve into a more embedded system, with CalypsoAI’s technology becoming an integral part of F5’s runtime platform. The goal is to provide a seamless experience for clients, promoting ease of access to vital security features without undergoing substantial changes.
As organizations increasingly face cybersecurity challenges driven by advancements in AI, the collaboration between F5 and CalypsoAI is poised to create a formidable platform for defending against tech-savvy adversaries. Evaluating potential tactics used in such integrations through the lens of the MITRE ATT&CK framework can reveal techniques related to initial access, persistence, and privilege escalation—playing essential roles in threat mitigation strategies moving forward.
