(José Niño, Headline USA) On Tuesday, Google confirmed that it is buying cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion in an all-cash transaction. This acquisition is the largest in the tech giant’s history. Wiz is set to operate as an independent platform, maintaining compatibility with multiple cloud providers beyond just Google Cloud.
The deal still needs to go through other regulatory hoops before it is officially closed. The company expects the deal to be fully consummated in 2026. Prior to the Wiz purchase, Google’s biggest acquisition took place in 2011, when it purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion
The primary actors who midwifed the deal were Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, and Assaf Rappaport, the CEO of Wiz. Although Wiz is headquartered in New York City, Rappaport is an Israel national who served in Unit 8200—an elite intel unit comparable to the U.S. National Security Agency.
“Google Cloud and Wiz share a joint vision to make cybersecurity more accessible and simpler to use for organizations of any size and industry,” Kurian declared in a statement published on March 18. “Enabling more companies to prevent cyber attacks, including in very complex business software environments, will help organizations minimize the cost, disruption and hassle caused by cybersecurity incidents.”
Rappaport’s background immediately caught the attention of independent journalists on Twitter. Nate Bear, the publisher of the Substack newsletter ¡Do Not Panic!, noted that Google’s purchase of “Wiz will mark the single largest transfer of former Unit 8200 Israeli spies into any American company.”
Google's acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz will mark the single largest transfer of former Unit 8200 Israeli spies into any American company. All Wiz founders are former 8200 as are dozens of staff, from office managers to product analysts to software engineers https://t.co/FWnWK8XP7T
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) March 18, 2025
Rappaport’s connections with fellow Unit 8200 members such as Roy Reznik, Ami Luttwak, and Yinon Costica played a key role in the founding of cloud security company Adallom in 2012, which ended up being sold to Microsoft in September 2015.
Wiz co-founder Luttwak led a “mission critical R&D team” for Unit 8200, a unit that wrote the programming which automated Israel’s punitive military campaign in Gaza.
Wiz co-founder Ami Luttwak led a "mission critical R&D team" for Unit 8200, a unit that wrote the programming which automated the genocide of Gaza. Luttwak and team won the 'Israel Defence Award 2012' for his work in 8200
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) March 18, 2025
Bear highlighted that Rappaport, Luttwak, Costica, and Reznik are all former Unit 8200 members who served beyond mandatory service. He also has a list of close to “50 former Unit 8200 members who are current Wiz employees.”
The other co-founders of Wiz – Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica and Roy Reznik – are all former Unit 8200 members who served beyond mandatory service. I have a list of around 50 former Unit 8200 members who are current Wiz employees
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) March 18, 2025
The U.S. tech sector has become increasingly intertwined with elements of the Israeli government in recent years.
For example, IQT, formerly known as In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm with a unique and close relationship to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently made its first investment in Israeli startup Kela, contributing to the total $39 million raised by the company in recent founding rounds.
Kela’s mission consists of integrating “commercial and military technologies, for applications such as border defense.” IQT official Clayton Williams claimed Kela’s experience in helping Israel prosecute its war in Gaza is why the CIA is interested in funding it.
Outside of the tech sector, the Justice Department also announce this week that the FBI is embedding agents in Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing (NBCTF), which is under the purview of Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
