The Geography of Cybersecurity Is Not What You Think

Technology has a geography problem. We tend to measure innovation by where companies are headquartered, where they are listed, and where their headquarters appear on a map.

But that tells only part of the story.

Consider Fortune's 2027 Cyber 60, a selection of 60 promising cybersecurity companies drawn from more than 300 candidates. Twenty-nine of them were founded or co-founded by Israelis.

Not headquartered in Israel. Founded by Israelis.

That distinction matters. Some of these companies have moved their headquarters, raised American capital and built global operations. Their commercial identity may be American, but their entrepreneurial origins are Israeli.

Almost half of Fortune's selected cybersecurity companies have that connection.

This is not a story about a small country's technology sector punching above its weight for another year. It is about how a relatively small talent ecosystem has become deeply embedded in one of the most strategically important industries of the digital economy.

And the timing is significant. As artificial intelligence expands the attack surface, the need to secure the systems, data and autonomous agents that power the next generation of businesses is becoming more important, not less.

The question is no longer simply who builds the technology. It is who makes it safe to use.

What Is the Fortune Cyber 60?

The Fortune Cyber 60, produced in partnership with Lightspeed Venture Partners and AWS, identifies 60 significant venture-backed cybersecurity companies that have not yet completed an IPO, acquisition or other major exit.

More than 300 companies were evaluated, with consideration given to annual recurring revenue, growth rates and business performance.

The companies are divided into three groups of 20: early-stage, early-growth and growth-stage. This is not a ranking from first to sixtieth, but a selection of companies considered important to the industry's development.

It provides a useful snapshot of where cybersecurity innovation, investment and entrepreneurial activity are concentrated.

The Israeli Presence Goes Beyond Israel's Borders

The most significant finding is not simply how many companies are headquartered in Israel. It is how many were established by Israeli entrepreneurs, regardless of where they subsequently based their businesses.

Many Israeli-founded technology companies operate internationally, with headquarters, investors and customers in the United States and other markets. Looking exclusively at headquarters would therefore understate the contribution of Israeli entrepreneurship to the global industry.

According to Ynet's analysis of the Fortune selection, 29 companies were founded or co-founded by Israelis, representing 48.3% of the list.

The representation is particularly striking among younger companies:

• Early stage: 12 of 20 companies (60%).
• Early growth: 11 of 20 companies (55%).
• Growth stage: 6 of 20 companies (30%).

This suggests that Israeli entrepreneurs are not merely responsible for a generation of established cybersecurity businesses. They continue to produce a substantial pipeline of new companies.

The 29 Israeli-Founded Companies

Growth stage (6)

Cato Networks, Cyera, Eon, Island, Torq and Upwind Security.

Early-growth stage (11)

Blink Ops, Clutch Security, Descope, Irregular, Linx Security, Noma Security, Ocean, Onyx Security, Reco, 7AI and Vega.

Early stage (12)

A Security, Act Security, Air Security (AIR), Artemis Security, Astelia, Bold Security, Corma, Cylake, Frontier Security, Glow, Neo and Oz Security.

These companies cover a broad spectrum of cybersecurity, from cloud infrastructure and identity management to enterprise data protection, vulnerability detection and AI security.

Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the Battlefield

One of the clearest themes emerging from this year's selection is the growing relationship between artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

AI is creating a dual challenge.

First, it is giving attackers new capabilities. Cybercriminals can increasingly automate attacks, identify vulnerabilities and operate at a speed and scale that traditional security teams struggle to match.

Second, businesses are rapidly introducing AI agents into their operations. These systems can access corporate information, interact with software, execute tasks and make decisions with varying degrees of human supervision.

This creates an entirely new security problem: how do organisations control what their AI systems can access, what they are permitted to do and what happens when they act outside their intended boundaries?

Several Israeli-founded companies on the list are addressing precisely these challenges. Noma Security focuses on protecting AI applications and agents. Neo monitors software and autonomous agents. Other companies are developing AI-powered tools to automate defensive cybersecurity operations.

The industry is moving beyond protecting computers and networks. Increasingly, it must protect the decisions, identities, data and autonomous systems operating across an organisation.

Where Is the Industry Heading?

Cybersecurity is becoming foundational infrastructure for the global economy.

As businesses become more dependent on cloud computing, interconnected systems and artificial intelligence, security is no longer simply an IT department's responsibility. It is a fundamental requirement for operating a modern business.

The growing importance of AI will accelerate this trend. The more autonomous businesses become, the greater the need for systems that can monitor, restrict and verify what machines are doing.

For Israel, the Fortune Cyber 60 provides an important indicator of its position in this emerging industry.

Having 29 Israeli-founded companies among 60 selected businesses is not just a reflection of historical success. Their representation across all three development stages points to an ongoing entrepreneurial pipeline.

It also highlights something important about Israel's technology industry: its influence is not confined to companies physically located within its borders. Israeli founders continue to build businesses that become international enterprises, attract global capital and compete in markets around the world.

The next generation of cybersecurity leaders may emerge from companies that are not yet household names. Almost half of the companies Fortune has chosen to highlight this year have an Israeli founding connection.

That is a remarkable position in one of the world's increasingly important technology industries.