#FoundersOnFire Alumni NewsFlash

Quantum recognition, an industrial cyber acquisition and the new work of protecting AI agents

Seven Tech Trailblazers alumni making news this week, from post-quantum security and operational AI to the human pressure behind cyber resilience.

We have watched these companies at different stages of their journeys. This week brought an acquisition, new product capabilities, a regional expansion, a research finding worth taking seriously and recognition for a quantum security pioneer. Here are seven stories from the Tech Trailblazers alumni community.

Cohesity gives AI agents a recovery plan

If an agent changes or deletes something it should not, spotting the problem is only half the job. Cohesity has introduced Agent Resilience to protect agent memory and configuration and help recover the data and services agents affect.

The 2017 Storage Trailblazers winner says the capability currently supports Amazon Bedrock agent services and is available to select customers, with wider availability targeted by the end of 2026. Microsoft and Google agent platforms are on its roadmap. Cohesity also outlined a broader vision for automated cyber resilience, which remains a future direction rather than a generally available product.

There is a neat continuity here. A company we recognised for secondary storage is now asking what a reliable restore point means when software agents can take action on behalf of an enterprise. Read Cohesity’s announcement.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2017 Storage Trailblazers winner. Award record

Cynomi makes each client’s risk register its own

For a virtual CISO working across several clients, a standard risk list can be a frustrating starting point. Cynomi’s latest product update allows partners to add client-specific risks, import an existing register, connect risks to mitigating tasks and record formal decisions to accept a risk.

The 2025 AI Trailblazers runner-up says its suggested task links show a rationale and confidence level but still require a person to confirm them. That detail matters. A risk register is useful when it records the client’s actual exposure and the reasoning behind treatment decisions, not when it merely fills a template.

The enhanced Risk Register is available to all Cynomi partners in version 3.45.0. Explore the product update.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 AI Trailblazers runner-up. 2025 winners

NetRise joins Dragos as industrial security widens its view

Dragos has acquired NetRise and runZero, bringing software supply chain intelligence and asset discovery into its operational technology security platform. For 2025 Security Trailblazers runner-up NetRise, this is a significant new chapter.

NetRise examines the firmware and software inside connected devices, helping teams find outdated components and hardcoded credentials. Dragos says runZero will add broader asset visibility across IT, OT and cloud. Put together, those capabilities could help defenders see a device, understand what is inside it and judge the risk it presents to a physical operation.

The acquisition is complete, according to Dragos. The integration work comes next, with the NetRise team continuing to serve existing customers as it joins the larger platform. Congratulations to Thomas Pace, Michael Scott and the NetRise team.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Security Trailblazers runner-up. Dragos announcement · 2025 winners

Object First puts the people behind cyber recovery into focus

Object First’s second annual *Under Pressure* survey asked 1,100 IT and security professionals in the US, UK and Germany about cyber risk and workplace stress. The findings are striking: 91% said they were uncomfortably stressed by IT security risks; 70% said AI-powered threats had affected their workplace stress; and just 37% were confident they could recover all company data after a ransomware attack.

Our 2025 Storage Trailblazers runner-up sells immutable backup storage, so the survey also connects to its product argument. The broader story deserves attention in its own right. Recovery plans depend on the people expected to run them during a crisis, and those people are reporting heavy pressure. Object First is offering mental resilience resources with Cybermindz, another Tech Trailblazers alumnus.

These are self-reported survey results, rather than a measure of every security team. They still give leaders a useful reason to ask whether their recovery tooling, practice and staffing make the job manageable. Read the Object First findings.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Storage Trailblazers runner-up. 2025 winners

QuSecure earns a place in Gartner’s data security Cool Vendors report

The post-quantum conversation is moving from distant risk to practical migration work. QuSecure, the 2025 Quantum Trailblazers winner, says it has been named a Cool Vendor in Gartner’s *Coolest Vendor Innovations in Data Security* report for QuProtect R3.

The platform is designed to give security teams an inventory of the cryptography in use across their networks and a way to change policies as they move towards quantum-resistant protection. The announcement points to TLS 1.3 and ML-KEM migration, automated certificate rotation and compliance reporting. For organisations with sprawling legacy estates, the operational question is how to find what needs changing and then keep those changes manageable.

It is good to see our inaugural Quantum winner recognised for a product aimed at that unglamorous but essential job. The Gartner designation is reported by QuSecure; Gartner’s standard disclaimer says it does not endorse vendors or products named in its research.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Quantum Trailblazers winner. QuSecure announcement · 2025 winners

Salt Security Extends Its Agentic Security Platform with Native AI Detection and Response

An attack on an AI agent can begin in a prompt and end in a business system. Salt Security’s newly announced AI Detection and Response capability is designed to show that path, joining runtime protection for language models to its existing view of agents, MCP servers and downstream APIs.

Salt, our 2021 Security Trailblazers winner, says the capability detects direct and indirect prompt injection and helps teams see whether an attack has moved from the model into tools and APIs. Its example is a billing agent manipulated into exposing a refund tool, with an attacker then targeting the API behind it. That is a concrete reminder of why agent security needs visibility beyond the chat window.

The native AI-DR capability is available within Salt’s Agentic Security Platform. Read Salt Security’s announcement.

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2021 Security Trailblazers winner.

Spectro Cloud builds out its Middle East AI presence

Spectro Cloud is expanding its Middle East business with a growing local team and new partner agreements aimed at sovereign and private AI deployments. Tamer Riyal has joined as regional sales director, while FutureTEC has become its first managed services provider partner in the region. Agreements also include Phaza and Dubai-based distributor VAD Technologies.

The 2022 Containers Trailblazers runner-up is taking its infrastructure management experience into a market where customers want to run AI on their own terms. Phaza’s Arabic-first Salam model, for example, is designed to run air-gapped on an institution’s own hardware. Spectro Cloud’s role is to help operate the underlying environments across Kubernetes, virtual machines and AI workloads.

For a company once recognised for container technology, that is a substantial evolution of the original 

Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2022 Containers Trailblazers runner-up

Once a Trailblazer, always a Trailblazer 

This week’s seven stories show how enterprise technology keeps moving after an Awards win: a quantum security product earns analyst recognition, a device security team joins an industrial cyber platform, and AI creates fresh work for identity, infrastructure and recovery specialists. Object First’s research is a useful reminder that the people carrying out that work matter too.

If you are a previous Tech Trailblazers winner or runner-up with a funding round, launch, customer win, partnership, expansion or other milestone to share, email innovate@techtrailblazers.com for consideration in a future Alumni NewsFlash.

Entries for the 2026 Tech Trailblazers Awards close on Sept 30, 2026. Find your category and enter.

Keep blazing those trails!

Rose Ross  

Founder and Chief Trailblazer  

Tech Trailblazers Awards