Malanta: 10 Key Things You Must Know

Overview

Malanta is an innovative cybersecurity startup founded in 2024 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company has rapidly gained attention for pioneering a revolutionary approach to enterprise cybersecurity: pre-attack prevention. Unlike conventional cybersecurity solutions that respond only after a breach has occurred, Malanta’s platform focuses on identifying and disrupting cyberattacks before they even begin. This proactive method addresses the growing threat of AI-powered cyber adversaries, dubbed AI.Attackers, who automate reconnaissance and exploit vulnerabilities at unprecedented speeds. With $10 million in seed funding and partnerships with entities like the Israel National Cyber Directorate, Malanta is transforming how organizations anticipate and combat cyber threats. The following points delve into key facets of Malanta’s technology, mission, and impact.

1. Founding Vision and Company Background

Malanta was founded in 2024 by a team of cybersecurity veterans, including CEO Kobi Ben Naim who brings over 20 years of experience in cyber defense and entrepreneurship. The founding team previously collaborated at CyberArk, a well-known cybersecurity firm. They identified a critical gap in traditional cybersecurity: defenses often react too late, after attacks have already begun. Malanta’s vision centers on stopping cyber attacks in the “pre-attack” phase, disrupting adversaries while they are still setting up their malicious infrastructure. This early intervention approach aims to dramatically shorten attack windows and protect enterprises before incidents occur.

2. The Pre-Attack Prevention Paradigm

Malanta introduces a novel cybersecurity paradigm called pre-attack prevention. This shifts the mindset from reactive detection of breaches to predictive intelligence gathering and disruption of attacker preparations. By identifying Indicators of Pre-Attack (IoPA)—digital breadcrumbs such as new domain registrations, command-and-control servers, and phishing kits still under development—Malanta can forecast when and how attacks will be weaponized. This disruption of attack infrastructure before weaponization is a core differentiator, enabling organizations to neutralize threats weeks ahead of traditional detection methods.

3. AI.Attackers: Combating AI-Driven Threats

The company’s platform specifically addresses the rise of AI-powered adversaries or AI.Attackers. These attackers use artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the reconnaissance and exploit processes, reducing attack preparation time from days to minutes. Malanta leverages advanced AI algorithms and an agentic framework to autonomously detect and analyze these sophisticated threats at scale. This proactive stance is crucial to counteract the speed and sophistication of modern AI-driven cybercrime.

4. Key Technology and Patented Innovations

Malanta’s platform is built on patented technology that tracks attacker behaviors during the Resource Development phase of the MITRE ATT&CK framework’s pre-attack stage. It maps a company’s entire digital footprint and correlates it with hostile infrastructure build-ups using neural exposure mapping. This technology ranks threats by their immediacy and potential impact, providing CISOs with prioritized, actionable intelligence. The platform runs autonomously with minimal human intervention, reducing the operational burden on security teams.

5. Real-World Impact and Adoption

Malanta’s technology is already deployed in critical environments, including the Israel National Cyber Directorate, where it has proven effective in dismantling real adversary infrastructure targeting hundreds of Israeli companies. This collaboration strengthens national cybersecurity resilience by proactively identifying exposures and closing security gaps with reliable intelligence sharing. In addition to government use, Malanta is gaining traction across financial services, technology, and software sectors, with several customers moving from pilot phases toward full commercial adoption.

6. Funding and Investor Confidence

In November 2025, Malanta publicly exited stealth mode with a $10 million seed funding round led by Cardumen Capital, a global venture firm. The round also included investors such as The Group Ventures, CyberArk’s founder Udi Mokady, and other notable angel investors. This funding aims to accelerate platform development, expand engineering and go-to-market teams, and enhance integrations with enterprise security systems. Investor confidence highlights the perceived potential of Malanta’s disruptive approach in the rapidly evolving cybersecurity market.

7. Addressing the Challenge of Digital Exposure

Beyond detecting imminent attack campaigns, Malanta actively reveals the digital exposure of enterprise assets—domains, servers, routers, and IoT devices—that attackers leverage to build their infrastructure. A notable example includes a comprehensive scan of all Israeli IP addresses, uncovering hundreds of devices with outdated or unsecured software that posed critical risks. Such proactive exposure detection is vital to mitigating vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

8. Leadership and Team Expertise

Malanta’s leadership combines deep experience in cybersecurity research, product development, and offensive and defensive operations. CEO Kobi Ben Naim emphasizes the team’s expertise in AI, deep-tech engineering, and scaling cybersecurity products from startup to enterprise-level successes. The founding group has over 20 years of combined experience and a track record of innovation, including previous successful exits. This expert team underpins Malanta’s rapid progress and technological advances.

9. Future Prospects and Roadmap

With substantial seed funding secured, Malanta plans to expand its capabilities by adding new IoPA types and additional data sources, broadening the scope of pre-attack intelligence. The company is also focused on deeper integrations that allow customers to automate the application of Malanta’s insights across existing cybersecurity defenses. Continual refinement of AI and machine learning models is ongoing to maintain pace with evolving attacker tactics. Malanta envisions becoming the indispensable preemptive defense layer for enterprises worldwide.

10. Influence on the Cybersecurity Industry

Malanta is redefining the CISO mindset and enterprise security strategies by promoting a shift from reactive cleanup metrics to preventive action based on predictive threat intelligence. By offering the first patented pre-attack prevention platform, Malanta fills a critical gap in cybersecurity, especially amid the rise of AI-accelerated threats. The company's approach represents a foundational change, potentially reshaping how cybersecurity teams operate globally to maintain a step ahead of increasingly automated and agile attackers.

Conclusion

Malanta represents a bold leap forward in cybersecurity, shifting the focus to beating adversaries at their own game before attacks unfold. Its cutting-edge pre-attack prevention platform leverages AI-driven intelligence to identify and dismantle hostile infrastructure during its build-up phase, prior to weaponization. Backed by deep industry expertise, strategic partnerships, and strong investor support, Malanta is already demonstrating real-world impact and scalability. As cyber threats become faster and more complex with AI, Malanta’s proactive model may become the new standard for safeguarding digital assets. Will other cybersecurity firms follow suit, and how will this pre-attack mindset evolve to protect the digital frontier in the coming years?