Kiteworks acquires Bonfy.AI to add runtime data governance

Kiteworks has acquired Bonfy.AI, adding runtime data governance to its secure data exchange control plane. The company said the deal lets organisations classify and enforce policy on sensitive data at the moment it is exchanged, whether the sender is a person, a machine or an autonomous agent.

Kiteworks argues that existing data discovery and posture management tools only classify data at rest, while risk is created in motion, in an email about to be sent, a file about to be attached or a response an agent is about to generate. Bonfy.AI evaluates the context of an exchange, including sender, recipient, counterparty relationship, channel and business purpose, then applies policy before the send completes.

The acquisition is Kiteworks’ eighth in under five years. Amit Toren, the company’s chief business officer, said Bonfy.AI’s team will accelerate development of its unified Data Control Plane. Bonfy.AI chief executive Gidi Cohen said the deal gives the technology a control plane and reach it could not have built alone.