Cygrid is a Berlin-based cybersecurity startup building technology to help businesses adopt artificial intelligence without losing control over security and access to company systems. Founded by military intelligence veterans Dmitry Kharchenko and Dekel Paz, the company focuses on managing and enforcing identities across employees, software systems and AI agents.
As businesses increasingly use AI agents to perform tasks on their behalf, cybersecurity teams face a growing challenge: ensuring that every identity accessing company systems has the right permissions and cannot misuse its access.
Cygrid aims to address this problem by bringing different types of identities into one platform, helping businesses understand what each identity can access and enforcing security controls wherever it operates.
How Cygrid Is Tackling AI Security
Traditional cybersecurity systems were largely designed around human users and established software applications. However, AI agents are changing how businesses interact with their technology systems. These agents can act on behalf of employees, access business data and carry out tasks using assigned permissions.
This creates new security risks. If an identity is compromised or an AI agent receives excessive permissions, attackers may be able to exploit that access to reach sensitive systems and information.
Cygrid is developing an identity enforcement platform that maps human, non-human and AI agent identities into a single graph. The platform evaluates what each identity can do and applies security controls wherever it has the ability to act.
The goal is to help businesses adopt AI without having to choose between blocking new technology and accepting security risks they cannot properly monitor or control.
Who Founded Cygrid?
Cygrid was founded by Dmitry Kharchenko and Dekel Paz, two technology and cybersecurity professionals with backgrounds in military intelligence and enterprise security.
Dmitry Kharchenko — Co-founder and CEO
Kharchenko served in military intelligence before spending around 20 years building technology and fintech companies. He previously worked as CTO at bonify, which was acquired by SCHUFA, and as CTO/CDO at Friendsurance, which was acquired by Cover Genius.
He also worked as a technology leader at Firelayers, which was acquired by Proofpoint.
His experience in technology leadership, financial services and compliance helped shape Cygrid’s focus on identity security and access enforcement.
Dekel Paz — Co-founder and Chief Security Architect
Paz also served in military intelligence and has around 15 years of experience building and testing enterprise security systems.
His previous experience includes leadership roles at Zero Networks, Novartis and LightCyber, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks. He has also developed open-source tools used by security practitioners.
At Cygrid, Paz leads the company’s security architecture, bringing experience in security research and enterprise defence to the challenge of protecting AI-driven organisations.
Investors and Company Background
Cygrid is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and operates as Cygrid GmbH. According to the company, it is backed by Atlantic, D11Z.Ventures and cybersecurity industry operators.
The startup is positioning itself within the growing market for enterprise AI security, where companies need to manage the permissions and risks associated with increasingly autonomous software.
Its approach centres on identity enforcement rather than treating AI agents as a separate category outside existing security systems. By connecting identities and their permissions, Cygrid aims to give security teams a clearer picture of who or what can access company resources.
Why Cygrid Matters for the Future of AI
AI adoption is creating new opportunities for businesses to automate workflows, improve productivity and reduce repetitive work. But these benefits also depend on maintaining control over the systems and data that AI agents can access.
As organisations deploy more AI agents, managing their identities and permissions could become an important part of enterprise cybersecurity. Each agent that can access business systems introduces another identity that must be monitored and protected.
Cygrid is building its platform around this challenge, aiming to help companies enforce security policies across employees, software and AI agents through a unified approach.
The company’s long-term mission is to make safe AI adoption possible by ensuring that every identity is subject to appropriate controls.
For Cygrid, the goal is straightforward: help businesses unlock the benefits of AI while keeping control over who—and what—can access their systems.
