What Cylance does

Cylance, founded in 2012 by Stuart McClure, Paul Nguyen, and Ryan Permeh in Irvine, California, was an AI-native cybersecurity vendor that built a machine learning-based engine (Cylance AI) to predict and prevent endpoint threats prior to execution, rather than relying on signature-based detection. Its product portfolio spanned consumer (Cylance Smart Antivirus), enterprise endpoint (CylancePROTECT, CylanceENDPOINT), detection and response (CylanceOPTICS), network and gateway (CylanceGATEWAY), identity and user behavior (CylancePERSONA), on-premises deployment (CylanceON-PREM), edge (CylanceEDGE), virtualization (CylanceV), and a licensable OEM Engine protected by U.S. Patent 9,495,633. Cylance served enterprise organizations on a horizontal segmentation basis, addressing advanced persistent threats, malware, and zero-day attacks via ML-based behavioral and predictive analysis.

From a business model standpoint, Cylance generated revenue primarily through direct enterprise licensing of its endpoint security platform, supplemented by OEM licensing arrangements that embedded its AI engine into third-party products; no public pricing detail is disclosed in the available sources. The company raised approximately $277 million in venture capital across seven rounds between 2013 and 2018, with Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, Insight Partners, KKR, Dell Technologies Capital, and Ten Eleven Ventures among its institutional backers. BlackBerry acquired Cylance in February 2019 for approximately $1.4 billion — then BlackBerry's largest acquisition — to add AI-driven endpoint protection to its security portfolio. Roughly six years later, in December 2024, BlackBerry announced the sale of Cylance to Arctic Wolf for $160 million (closing February 2025), at which point Cylance ceased operating as an independent company and was absorbed into Arctic Wolf's security operations platform.

Name

Cylance

Legal name

Cylance Inc.

Website

https://blackberry.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Cylance is an AI/ML-based cybersecurity company, founded in 2012, that built a patented machine learning engine for endpoint threat prevention. It served enterprise and consumer customers with endpoint, network, and edge security products before being absorbed into Arctic Wolf in 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Endpoint Security Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (51321), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Extended Detection & Response (XDR) (HDADAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) (HDAEAJAH), Endpoint Security Managed Services (EDR/XDR) (BPAEADAH)

Keywords

• Endpoint protection
• AI cybersecurity
• Machine learning security
• Antivirus software
• Threat detection

Headquarters

HQ city

Irvine

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Core offering

Cylance develops and sells AI- and machine learning-driven cybersecurity software for endpoint, network, identity, edge, and virtualization protection. Its core engine, Cylance AI, uses predictive ML models to identify and block malware and advanced threats before execution, and is delivered through enterprise products (CylancePROTECT, CylanceENDPOINT, CylanceOPTICS, CylanceGATEWAY, CylancePERSONA, CylanceEDGE, CylanceV, CylanceON-PREM) plus a consumer antivirus (Cylance Smart Antivirus) and a licensable OEM engine for embedding into third-party products.

Product overview

Cylance was a pioneering AI-powered cybersecurity company founded in 2012 that developed machine learning-based threat detection and prevention solutions. The product portfolio centered on the Cylance® AI core engine, which powered multiple endpoint, network, and mobile security products. The lineup included Cylance Smart Antivirus® (consumer), CylancePROTECT® and CylanceENDPOINT™ (enterprise endpoint), CylanceOPTICS® (XDR/EDR), CylanceGATEWAY™ (network security), CylancePERSONA™ (identity security), CylanceON-PREM® (on-premises deployment), CylanceEDGE™ (edge security), CylanceV® (virtualization security), and the Cylance OEM Engine for third-party integration. Cylance was acquired by BlackBerry in February 2019 for approximately $1 billion and was subsequently sold to Arctic Wolf in December 2024 for $160 million, with the acquisition closing in February 2025.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CylanceEDGE: Edge security platform
• CylanceENDPOINT
• CylanceGATEWAY
• CylanceON-PREM
• CylanceOPTICS
• CylancePERSONA
• CylancePROTECT
• Cylance AI
• Cylance OEM Engine
• Cylance Smart Antivirus
• CylanceV

Products and services

• CylancePROTECT
• CylanceOPTICS
• CylanceENDPOINT
• CylanceGATEWAY
• CylancePERSONA
• CylanceEDGE
• CylanceV
• CylanceON-PREM
• Cylance Smart Antivirus
• Cylance OEM Engine

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• CrowdStrike: AI-driven endpoint and XDR platform (Falcon) competing head-to-head with CylancePROTECT/CylanceOPTICS across enterprise and mid-market segments; closest scaled competitor in AI-native endpoint.
• SentinelOne: Autonomous AI endpoint platform (Singularity) directly comparable to Cylance's ML-based prevention and EDR capabilities, targeting the same enterprise and government buyers.
• Bitdefender: AI/ML-augmented endpoint security vendor (GravityZone) competing against Cylance Smart Antivirus and CylancePROTECT, especially in mid-market and via OEM/MSSP channels.
• VMware Carbon Black: Endpoint and workload protection platform (now part of Broadcom-adjacent VMware) directly comparable to CylancePROTECT and CylanceV in enterprise endpoint and server security.
• Darktrace: AI-based cybersecurity platform applying unsupervised ML to detect anomalies across endpoint, network and cloud — closely comparable to Cylance's ML-driven approach and predictive analytics positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: Bundled, broad-incumbent endpoint security inside the Microsoft security stack; competes with CylancePROTECT on price/attach within Microsoft 365 enterprise environments.
• Palo Alto Networks (Cortex XDR): Broad-incumbent XDR and endpoint platform from Palo Alto Networks; directly overlaps CylanceOPTICS in detection/response and Cortex XDR is sold into the same enterprise SOCs.
• Trend Micro: Long-standing endpoint and hybrid-cloud security vendor with an AI-augmented platform; competes with Cylance in mid-market and enterprise endpoint protection.
• Sophos: Endpoint and managed detection & response vendor with Intercept X; overlaps CylancePROTECT/OPTICS and is frequently compared in enterprise EDR evaluations.
• Arctic Wolf (post-acquisition parent): Now the parent of Cylance; Arctic Wolf's managed detection & response and SOC-as-a-service platform is the new home for Cylance's products, replacing standalone competition with integration into a broader MDR incumbent.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cylanceinc
• Facebookfacebook.com/CylanceInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cylanceinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A3 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cylance