Global cybersecurity leader Fortinet has announced the acquisition of Virtue AI, a developer of solutions designed to protect artificial intelligence systems, automate security validation, and safeguard autonomous AI operations.
As more organizations adopt AI applications and intelligent agents, the scope of security risks has expanded beyond traditional networks and devices. New vulnerabilities now involve AI models, prompts, tools, infrastructure, and data flows. To address this growing need, Fortinet built FortiAIGate earlier this year to defend large language models from threats such as prompt injection, data leaks, and model manipulation.
The addition of Virtue AI extends this protection across the entire lifecycle of AI systems – from development to actual operation. Its key capabilities include red-teaming for agentic systems, which tests AI agents across dozens of simulated environments and high-risk scenarios to identify potential weaknesses. It also provides full visibility and governance by detecting authorized and unauthorized AI tools, scanning for hidden risks in code and tools, and monitoring behavior to block harmful actions in real time. Virtue AI offers continuous validation, checking for new risks with every model update and generating records to support security audits and compliance. Furthermore, it enables customizable guardrails, enforcing safety policies across different types of content to prevent harmful output and sensitive data exposure.
“AI is transforming how businesses operate, and security must keep pace with this change,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman and CEO of Fortinet. “Virtue AI’s technology helps us deliver continuous assurance, so organizations can safely build, run and scale AI systems with confidence.”
According to industry research firm Gartner, the market for securing AI ecosystems is expected to grow from $2.8 billion in 2026 to $16.4 billion by 2030.
The acquisition builds on Fortinet’s existing AI-native Security Fabric and FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
