Akamai Joins Growing Chorus of Vendors Betting Big on Secure Enterprise Browsers

REMOTE WORKFORCE ENDPOINT SECURITY СLOUD SECURITY News, news analysis, and commentary on the latest trends in cybersecurity technology. Akamai Joins Growing Chorus of Vendors Betting Big on Secure Enterprise Browsers When Akamai announced its LayerX acquisition, the company joined a growing list of vendors adding secure enterprise browsers to their product portfolios. Jeffrey Schwartz,Contributing Writer May 22, 2026 4 Min Read SOURCE: ROBERT AVGUSTIN VIA SHUTTERSTOCK Secure enterprise browsers continue to gain traction as more vendors add them to their portfolios, with the latest coming from Akamai Technologies, which last week agreed to acquire LayerX for $205 million.  LayerX, a Tel Aviv-based startup founded in 2021, offers a lightweight browser extension that turns Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and other major web browsers into a policy‑enforced, secure workspace, rather than requiring users to switch to a separate enterprise browser. While Akamai will continue to provide the LayerX browser as a standalone product, the company plans to also integrate the browser into its Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) portfolio, which includes Guardicore Segmentation, Secure Internet Access Enterprise, Enterprise Application Access, and a multifactor authentication (MFA) access offering. Integration with ZTNA is important because Akamai's platform controls application access, but not what happens in the browser once authenticated, Mani Sundaram, Executive VP and General Manager of Akamai's Security Technology Group, tells Dark Reading.  Related:Zscaler-SquareX Deal Boosts Zero Trust, Secure Browsing Capabilities LayerX is designed to observe each click, prompt and action in the browser across SaaS and AI tools and enforce policy before traffic is encrypted and transmitted, effectively extending Akamai ZTNA's access decisions into the browser session once access is granted. "LayerX, by itself, has a great product that we intend to take to our customers just as it is right now," Sundaram says, but in the long term, the plan is to extend the combined ZTNA+LayerX model across the broader set of Akamai offerings, including API security, AI/LLM protection, its content delivery network (CDN), and Akamai Cloud. Secure Enterprise Browsers as Hot Acquisition Targets The Akamai deal, set to close next quarter, is the latest in a crowded market of companies that have introduced or acquired secure enterprise browsers in recent months. Earlier this year, Zscaler acquired early-stage startup SquareX and CrowdStrike acquired Seraphic Security.  Palo Alto Networks was one of the first large cybersecurity companies to enter the secure enterprise browser market when it acquired Talon in 2023. Palo Alto Networks upgraded its Prisma browser with new agentic AI capabilities last March.  "There has been quite a bit of M&A activity in both these areas as major vendors, particularly ones that offer [secure access server edge] SASE functionality for securing SaaS app usage, such as Akamai, have recognized the need for something on the endpoint as well as in the cloud for this purpose," says Rik Turner, chief analyst in Omdia's security research group. Related:Torq Moves SOCs Beyond SOAR With AI-Powered Hyper Automation In addition to M&A activity, there have also been organic developments. Earlier this week, Versa Networks released a Secure Enterprise Browser designed to extend its SASE policies directly into the browser workspace. Versa developed a new Model Context Protocol‑based zero-trust layer in its Versa Verbo AI‑based co‑pilot, which runs on the VersaONE platform. The new capability is designed to validate every agent‑generated action against identity, roles and policies before execution.  As more work has shifted to SaaS-based applications, the browser has become the primary computing interface, in turn driving increased traction for secure enterprise browsers. According to Gartner, 10% of the organizations the research firm surveyed were using SEBs, a trend forecast to reach 25% by 2028. Adding Control Points to the Browser Is Key While LayerX is a browser extension that adds security policies to major web browsers, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Browser and Netskope One Enterprise Browser are distinct, standalone Chromium‑based browsers. "Layer-X was one of the early, full-featured browser security extensions," says Forrester Research senior analyst Paddy Harrington. "They've done a lot of work with the product, and when it comes to controlling data and access to AI through the browser. For an add-on, they do a good job of monitoring and managing things." Related:CrowdStrike to Buy Seraphic Security in Bid to Boost Browser Security Akamai's Sundaram says he has been following the secure browser market for some time. "What became an inflection point for us was the fact that AI adoption has moved across our customer base, and it became very clear that the adoption of AI, a different set of capabilities and tools was required, and the secure browser was the right one," Sundaram says. Sundaram believes the LayerX secure browser will give Akamai a significant control point for identifying how employees interact with AI. "Traditional control points in the SASE/SSE environment are typically at a proxy level, potentially far from where employees are, which results in performance issues," he says. "[We realized that] the right control point for us was in the browser, before encrypting all the data." About the Author Jeffrey Schwartz Contributing Writer Jeffrey Schwartz is a journalist who has covered information security and all forms of business and enterprise IT, including client computing, data center and cloud infrastructure, and application development for more than 30 years. Jeff is a regular contributor to Channel Futures. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Redmond magazine and contributed to its sister titles Redmond Channel Partner, Application Development Trends, and Virtualization Review. Earlier, he held editorial roles with CommunicationsWeek, InternetWeek, and VARBusiness. Jeff is based in the New York City suburb of Long Island. Want more Dark Reading stories in your Google search results? 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