(José Niño, Headline USA) A company with long standing ties to Israeli intelligence now manages cyber security systems across more than seventy federal agencies in the United States, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
This finding comes from a detailed report on Axonius, a firm created by former spies from Israel’s Unit 8200.
According to a CyberScoop report, the company’s software collects and reviews the digital information of millions of federal employees and gives operators what it calls complete visibility and control over every device in a network.
Axonius states that its platform identifies and repairs digital vulnerabilities by bringing all security tools into one place. Yet its origin inside Israel’s intelligence world raises new concerns about the reach of its technology inside the United States government.
According to a report by Nate Bear, Axonius was founded by Israelis Dean Sysman, Ofri Shur, and Avidor Bartov, who served together in Unit 8200.
Shur and Bartov served until 2017, a period that included Israel’s 2014 war in Gaza, while Sysman left earlier in 2014 to run a cyber hacking venture. Photos of Shur and Bartov remain publicly available.
The three founders rejoined in 2017 and created Axonius with striking speed. They immediately secured four million dollars in seed funding from Yoav Leitersdorf, a fellow Unit 8200 veteran and the managing partner of YL Ventures. Bear noted that same year, they received additional millions from Vertex Ventures, which is led by Israeli intelligence veterans such as Tami Bronner.
Investment from American venture firms with close ties to Israel soon followed. Accel Partners, which has financed more than 30 Israeli companies, including another Unit 8200 spin out, hired former IDF officer Nir Blumberger to open its Tel Aviv office. Bessemer Venture Partners, which employs former Israeli intelligence personnel in its Tel Aviv branch led by Adam Fisher, also joined as a major backer.
Fisher recently gave a presentation on how Israel can shape online information during wartime, as reported by journalist Lee Fang. Another former intelligence officer, Amit Karp, sits on the Axonius board, per the company’s website.
Axonius now holds an extraordinary presence inside the federal government. The company says its platform is deployed in more than seventy organizations and is used by four of the five major service branches within the Department of Defense, according to its own statement. Federal records show contract awards for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
In November 2024, the Department of Homeland Security selected Axonius to modernize its cyber operations, according to the company’s press release. One month later, the Department of Defense awarded Axonius a contract to expand its system of 24 hour digital surveillance across all military networks, as reported in another company release. In April, Axonius received authorization for any federal agency to adopt its cloud based surveillance platform, according to its FedRAMP notice.
Although Axonius presents itself as a United States company, its founders, key executives, and core engineering teams remain concentrated in Tel Aviv. A review of LinkedIn profiles confirms that most of its engineers previously served in Israeli intelligence units.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
