CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Astrix Security vs SSH Communications Security

Astrix Security sells software that maintains a real-time inventory of all AI agents, MCP servers, and NHIs, with context to understand risk and business usage. SSH Communications Security sells privileged access management solutions for tech-driven companies where software and dynamic infrastructure are core to competitive advantage. CISO Tribune files both under Non-human identity security. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Astrix Security
  • SSH Communications Security
Astrix Security vs SSH Communications Security: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
Astrix SecurityAstrix Security sells software that maintains a real-time inventory of all AI agents, MCP servers, and NHIs, with context to understand risk and business usage.astrix.securitySSH Communications SecuritySSH Communications Security sells privileged access management solutions for tech-driven companies where software and dynamic infrastructure are core to competitive advantage.ssh.com
What it sells
  • AI Agent Discovery[4][9]Maintains a real-time inventory of AI agents, MCP servers, and non-human identities, with context on risk and business usage.
  • Secure AI Agents[10]Identifies and remediates AI agents and non-human identities that have excessive privileges, vulnerable configurations, or abnormal activity.
  • Agent Control Plane[4][7]Provisions AI agents with short-lived credentials and precisely scoped, just-in-time access at creation.
  • PrivX PAM[1][3][5][6]Provides Just-in-Time Privileged Access.
  • PrivX OT[5][7]Centralizes identity, authorization, session control and audit across modern and legacy operational environments.
  • Tectia SSH Server[10]Delivers policy-driven secure access.
  • NQX[1][3][8][11]A quantum-safe network encryptor that protects data in transit.
  • SalaX[1][12]Secure email and secure messaging, voice and video.
Categories
Headquarters
New York City, United States[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2021[2][4]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Owned by Cisco since 2026[3][6]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • May 4, 2026Astrix Security announced that Cisco has declared its intent to acquire the company.[16]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[6]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[2]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Astrix Security sells mainly to enterprises that need to govern AI agents and non-human identities that fall outside traditional IAM. Its pages describe security admins who pre-define agent policies and developers who launch agents from their preferred tool. Its inventory correlates data across cloud, SaaS, on-prem, databases, vaults, CI/CD and AI platforms.SSH sells identity security to government agencies and enterprises of all sizes. SSH helps critical infrastructure organizations with Zero Trust access controls across IT and OT environments. For secure collaboration, deployment is offered on-premises, in the cloud or in private air-gapped networks.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security are both filed under Non-human identity security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Astrix Security's primary category is Non-human identity security; SSH Communications Security's is Privileged access management.
  • SSH Communications Security is also filed under Encryption, tokenization and key management and Post-quantum cryptography.
  • Astrix Security lists AI Agent Discovery, Secure AI Agents and Agent Control Plane. SSH Communications Security lists PrivX PAM, PrivX OT, Tectia SSH Server, NQX and SalaX.
  • Astrix Security is headquartered in New York City, United States.
  • Astrix Security was founded in 2021.
  • Astrix Security is owned by Cisco, since 2026.

What it sells: SSH Communications Security

What PrivX PAM does[1][3][5][6]
PrivX PAM provides real-time session monitoring and audit trails. PrivX PAM provides granular control, automated entitlement management and real-time risk analytics. PrivX secures privileged access across hybrid cloud environments with a passwordless, keyless Zero Trust approach.
What PrivX OT does[5][7]
PrivX OT brokers access to authorized assets and services. PrivX governs access to a range of operational assets and lets users work in a browser or an approved native application. PrivX OT provides protocol-agnostic connections and secure file transfers.
What Tectia SSH Server does[10]
Tectia SSH Server provides encrypted file transfers, secure TCP tunneling and remote access. Tectia interoperates with Linux, Windows, UNIX and IBM z/OS mainframes. Tectia Server lets organizations protect against quantum attacks using NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms.
What NQX does[1][3][8][11]
NQX is a TL III (EU Confidential) certified quantum-safe network encryptor that protects data in transit at Layer 2 (Ethernet) and Layer 3 (IP). NQX combines classical and post-quantum cryptography and secures data in transit.
What SalaX does[1][12]
SalaX protects email with encryption, authentication and data sovereignty, and is integrated with existing email systems, including Gmail and Outlook. SalaX includes encrypted messaging, voice and video calls built on the Matrix protocol.

Questions about Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security

What do Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security sell?
Astrix Security sells AI Agent Discovery, Secure AI Agents and Agent Control Plane. SSH Communications Security sells PrivX PAM, PrivX OT, Tectia SSH Server, NQX and SalaX.
Are Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security in the same category?
They share Non-human identity security. Astrix Security's primary category is Non-human identity security and SSH Communications Security's is Privileged access management.
Where are Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security headquartered?
Astrix Security is headquartered in New York City, United States.
When were Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security founded?
Astrix Security was founded in 2021.
Who owns Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security?
Astrix Security is owned by Cisco, since 2026.
Who are Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security sold to?
From its own pages, Astrix Security sells mainly to enterprises that need to govern AI agents and non-human identities that fall outside traditional IAM. SSH sells identity security to government agencies and enterprises of all sizes.
What have Astrix Security and SSH Communications Security announced recently?
May 4, 2026: Astrix Security announced that Cisco has declared its intent to acquire the company.

About Astrix Security

Astrix Security sells software that maintains a real-time inventory of all AI agents, MCP servers, and NHIs, with context to understand risk and business usage. Astrix Security identifies and remediates AI agents and NHIs with excessive privileges, vulnerable configurations, abnormal activity, and policy violations. Astrix Security provisions secure-by-design AI agents with short-lived credentials, just-in-time, precisely scoped access, and policy at creation. Astrix Security offers Agent Control Plane (ACP), which lets you deploy AI agents rapidly and responsibly without access chaos or compliance risk.[1][7][10]

Astrix says it protects enterprises from AI agents and Non-Human Identities (NHIs) that fall outside traditional IAM. Agents and NHIs outnumber humans 100:1, yet remain outside IAM and audit review cycles, according to Astrix. Employees grant agents NHIs with broad, often static, permissions to corporate assets, according to Astrix. Astrix also says many agents operating autonomously remain shadow agents, without clear human ownership.[8]

On discovery, Astrix Security automates discovery of all agents, whether custom, third-party, or home-grown, including shadow, unregistered agents. Astrix Security connects in minutes to discover AI agents, MCP servers, non-human identities, and secrets across an environment. The inventory covers NHIs such as service accounts, OAuth apps, API keys, SSH keys, and IAM roles. Each AI agent, NHI, and secret automatically receives a risk score, based on dynamic access analysis, behavioral patterns, and security findings.[5][9]

On securing agents, Astrix Security describes posture management that reduces excessive privileges, fixes configuration weaknesses, and automatically assigns human ownership for each agent. Allow, flag, and block rules can be scoped by user, department, platform, and resource type, and are evaluated before any action is executed. ML-based engines analyze agent behavior across access patterns, IP call addresses, permission changes, secret usage, and connected apps or vendors to surface anomalies. Astrix Threat Center consolidates fragmented alerts into prioritized Threat Cases.[5][10]

On deployment of agents, security admins pre-define policies for AI agents with granular, least-privilege permissions for various use cases. Developers launch an agent from their preferred tool, selecting a pre-approved permission profile for onboarding. Security admins can then view and manage the deployed agent in the inventory with its policies attached. Managed agents receive instant access backed by short-lived, precisely scoped tokens that auto-expire. Astrix Security also lets customers use discovery and security to uncover shadow agents or those with sensitive permissions, then onboard them into ACP with precise, least privilege access.[7]

Astrix Security offboards NHIs automatically when employees leave, vendor contracts end, or identities are inactive. Astrix Security discovers exposed secrets and provides context and risk prioritization to remediate them. Astrix Security integrates with Slack notifications, Jira tickets, API automations, and ITSM, SIEM and SOAR systems. Astrix Security generates compliance reports on NHI usage, risk, and lifecycle events and simplifies audits for frameworks like PCI DSS, SOX, and GDPR.[11][12][13]

On how it is delivered, Astrix Security is agentless, non-proxy, and API-based, reads metadata only, and requires minimal permissions. Astrix Security says a consolidated, real-time inventory of all AI agents, NHIs, and secrets is available within hours. Astrix Security correlates data across cloud, SaaS, on-prem, databases, Vaults, CI/CD, and AI platforms to uncover shadow agents and their owners. Astrix Security says it protects environments from NHI risks, from AWS, Azure, ChatGPT, GitHub and BigQuery to Salesforce, Office365, and CoPilot.[5][9][14]

Since 2021, Astrix says it has pioneered and defined NHI security, helping Fortune 1,000 enterprises extend traditional IAM to cover NHIs. Alon Jackson is CEO and co-founder of Astrix. An international travel agency used Astrix to reduce the number of new high-risk NHIs by 97%. A Senior Director, Identity Security at Workday describes Astrix as a strategic solution to provide visibility and control of non-human identities. Astrix Security lists an address at 33 Arch Street Boston, MA 02110, USA. Astrix Security is now part of Cisco. Astrix has ended standalone sales of new licenses effective June 30th, 2026, and existing customers continue to receive the service and support outlined in their current agreements.[1][5][8][9][11][13][14][15]

Astrix Security on the record

Sources

Astrix Security full record

  1. [1]astrix.securityAstrix Security · astrix.security · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Astrix security establishes north american headquarters as demand for third party connectivity grows in 2023 301719691Astrix Security via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published January 12, 2023 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cisco announces intent to acquire astrix securityCisco · blogs.cisco.com · published May 4, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Identity Security for AI Agents & NHIs | Astrix SecurityAstrix Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Secure AI Agents & NHIs with One Platform | AstrixAstrix Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Astrix AI Agent Security Platform Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  7. [7]Agent Control Plane | Deploy Secure-by-Design AI AgentsAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]About Astrix Security: Mission, Team & VisionAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Agent Discovery & Visibility Platform | AstrixAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Secure AI Agents & NHIs at Scale | Astrix SecurityAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]NHI Lifecycle Management: Automate, Control & Secure NHIsAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Next-Gen Secret Scanning - Astrix SecurityAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]NHI Auto-Remediation - Astrix SecurityAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]NHI Discovery | Discover Non-Human IdentitiesAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]NHI Posture Management - Astrix SecurityAstrix Security · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]A New Chapter: Astrix Security is Joining CiscoAstrix Security · published May 4, 2026 · Tier A

SSH Communications Security full record

  1. [1]ssh.comSSH Communications Security · ssh.com · undated page, accessed September 30, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]SSH PrivX Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 31, 2026 · Tier C
  3. [3]Privileged Access, Quantum Readiness & Secure Connectivity Solutions | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Identity Security with Zero Trust IAM & PAM Solutions | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Secure Vendor and Contractor Remote Access | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Zero Trust Cloud Access Management | PrivX™ by SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Secure Remote OT Access Management with PrivX OT | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Zero Trust Security Solutions | PrivX by SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Secure File Transfers at Enterprise Scale | Tectia | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Enterprise SSH for Mission-Critical Workloads | Tectia® | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Quantum-Safe Cryptography | Become Quantum Safe with SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]SalaX Secure Collaboration - Secure Business Communications | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Operational Security for IT/OT Environments | SSHSSH Communications Security · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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