Palo Alto Networks Aims To ‘Plant The Flag’ In Agentic AI With CyberArk Deal: CEO Nikesh Arora

CyberArk’s capabilities for protecting identities and privileges in the emerging world of AI agents are a key driver for Palo Alto Networks and its $25 billion M&A deal with the company, says Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora.

Palo Alto Networks sees a massive opportunity to meet both the identity security needs of today as well as security requirements for the coming wave of agentic AI with its planned acquisition of CyberArk, CEO Nikesh Arora said Wednesday.

Following the announcement of the $25 billion M&A deal, Arora told analysts during a call Wednesday that CyberArk’s capabilities for protecting identities and privileges in the emerging world of AI agents is among the key drivers of the move.

[Related: Palo Alto Networks To Acquire CyberArk For $25B In Identity Security Push]

“CyberArk allows us the opportunity to go ahead and plant the flag in the future market of agentic AI,” Arora said during the call.

The deal is expected to close during the second half of Palo Alto Networks’ fiscal 2026, which ends July 31, 2026. It represents Palo Alto Networks’ “formal entry” into the identity security category, the company said in a news release. CyberArk specializes in privileged access management as well as identity and access management, identity governance and other categories related to protecting identities.

Arora said during the call that CyberArk’s specialty around protecting machine identities—in part through its $1.5 billion acquisition of machine identity security vendor Venafi in 2024—has set up the vendor to become a top player in protecting the identities associated with AI agents.

Agents will need to be granted some level of autonomy to take actions on a user’s behalf if the technologies are going to prove useful, and “all these agents are going to need permissions and access to deliver these capabilities,” he said. “We need to manage these agents just the way you manage identities for machines or humans.”

Through combining capabilities for privileged access management and machine identity security, “we believe that CyberArk is well-positioned to expand into the opportunity that is going to be presented by agentic AI,” Arora said.

Speaking during the call with analysts, CyberArk CEO Matt Cohen said that CyberArk and Palo Alto Networks are “incredibly aligned on where the world is headed next, and that’s agentic AI.”

“Autonomous agents are by nature privileged actors,” Cohen said. “They need to be governed and secured like every other identity, only in this case, more dynamically. That’s where we come in. Together [with Palo Alto Networks], we’re uniquely positioned to secure the next wave of innovation.”

Ultimately, upon completion of the acquisition of CyberArk, Palo Alto Networks will have offerings in practically every major category in cybersecurity today, Arora said

“That allows us to cover the majority of the [total addressable market] in cybersecurity,” he said.

The cash and equity deal represents a 26 percent premium over CyberArk’s 10-day average share price prior to media reports posted about the negotiations Tuesday, according to the Palo Alto Networks news release.