Typing on a computer, illustrative. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

CTech – Palo Alto Networks Inc. is in talks to acquire Israeli information security firm Demisto Inc., according to three people familiar with the matter.

Demisto co-founder Dan Sarel declined to comment on the matter. “The company is now experiencing significant growth in both sales and number of employees,” Sarel said.

Palo Alto has yet to reply to Calcalist’s request for comment.

Israel-based Demisto develops and markets automation tools for information security management, including a chatbot that assists security analysts in handling tasks. Customers listed by the company include geographic information company ESRI, and Kansas City.

In October, the Cupertino, California-headquartered company announced it had raised a $43 million Series C funding round led by Greylock Partners, bringing its total equity funding to $69 million. The deal put the company’s pre-money valuation at $175 million, according to Seattle-based market research company Pitchbook Data Inc.

Accel Partners, ClearSky Security, Slack Technologies, Wipro Ventures, Secure Octane, and Cerca Partners are also backers.

Demisto was founded in 2015 by four McAfee executives — Sarel, Slavik Markovich, Guy Rinat, and Rishi Bhargava. Markovich, Sarel, and Rinat joined McAfee in 2011 when the latter bought Israel-based database security company Sentrigo Ltd.

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto appointed former Softbank and Google executive Nikesh Arora as chairman and CEO in June 2018. The company founded by Israel-born entrepreneur Nir Zuk reported $656 million in total revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2019.

So far, Palo Alto acquired three Israeli companies: Cyvera Ltd. in 2014, Lightcyber Ltd in 2017, and Cyber Secdo Ltd., also known as Secdo, in 2018.