CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Astrix Security vs Symmetry Systems

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. Symmetry Systems sells a Data + AI Security Platform that discovers, classifies, protects, and monitors sensitive data. 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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Up to four companies side by side.

  • Astrix Security
  • Symmetry Systems
Astrix Security vs Symmetry Systems: 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.securitySymmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems sells a Data + AI Security Platform that discovers, classifies, protects, and monitors sensitive data.symmetry-systems.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.
  • DataGuard[1][8]A data security product from Symmetry Systems.
  • DataEnforce[1][4]Remediates misconfigurations, revokes excess permissions, and enforces policy.
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]Owned by Zscaler
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: Not stated on its pages
  • 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.From its own pages, Symmetry Systems sells to federal agencies and contractors that need data discovery, classification, monitoring and reporting across cloud and on-premises environments. Symmetry Systems describes an air-gapped DSPM for defense, federal and healthcare environments. Symmetry Systems runs a partner program for managed security services providers. Symmetry Systems offers separate instances per region, and a deployment where classification compute runs inside the customer's VPC or on-prem network. Symmetry Systems offers a managed service for data security.
Last verified
November 2, 2026October 23, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems are both filed under Non-human identity security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Astrix Security's primary category is Non-human identity security; Symmetry Systems's is Data security posture management.
  • Symmetry Systems is also filed under AI governance and Workforce AI usage security.
  • Astrix Security lists AI Agent Discovery, Secure AI Agents and Agent Control Plane. Symmetry Systems lists DataGuard and DataEnforce.
  • Astrix Security is headquartered in New York City, United States.
  • Astrix Security was founded in 2021.
  • Astrix Security is owned by Cisco, since 2026. Symmetry Systems is owned by Zscaler.

What it sells: Symmetry Systems

What DataEnforce does[1][4]
DataEnforce automatically remediates misconfigurations, revokes excess permissions, and enforces policy. DataEnforce does this without requiring a separate DLP or PAM tool.

Questions about Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems

What do Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems sell?
Astrix Security sells AI Agent Discovery, Secure AI Agents and Agent Control Plane. Symmetry Systems sells DataGuard and DataEnforce.
Are Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems in the same category?
They share Non-human identity security. Astrix Security's primary category is Non-human identity security and Symmetry Systems's is Data security posture management.
Where are Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems headquartered?
Astrix Security is headquartered in New York City, United States.
When were Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems founded?
Astrix Security was founded in 2021.
Who owns Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems?
Astrix Security is owned by Cisco, since 2026. Symmetry Systems is owned by Zscaler.
Who are Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems 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. From its own pages, Symmetry Systems sells to federal agencies and contractors that need data discovery, classification, monitoring and reporting across cloud and on-premises environments.
What have Astrix Security and Symmetry Systems 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

Symmetry Systems full record

  1. [1]symmetry-systems.comSymmetry Systems · symmetry-systems.com · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Symmetry systems launches symmetry aiguardSymmetry Systems · symmetry-systems.com · published February 25, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Data-Centric Security Roadmap Template for Modern CISO'sSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Symmetry Systems - The Data+AI Security Company.Symmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Data Security Posture Management Solution - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Zero Trust and Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Security Compliance Statement - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Data Security Posture Management as a Service - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Symmetry for Managed Security Services Providers - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]How DataGuard helps with FedRAMP compliance - Symmetry SystemsSymmetry Systems · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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