- ESET announces a €40 million investment to increase its R&D team and accelerates the development of cybersecurity-first foundational AI models, a layered AI stack, and a new generation AI SOC.
- The new capabilities will protect AI workflows, strengthen cybersecurity-specific AI, and revolutionize the analysis and understanding of cybersecurity telemetry.
- ESET has scanned nearly 800,000 unique AI Skills since March 2026, flagging some 25,000 as suspicious and blocking more than 3,000 as malicious.
BERLIN, May 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ESET WORLD -- ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, today announced an investment of €40 million into the future of AI-powered cybersecurity, as the company warns of a rapidly emerging new attack surface driven by autonomous and agentic AI systems.
The commitment - announced today by ESET CEO Richard Marko at ESET World 2026 - comes in response to a shift already visible in ESET's own data. Since March 2026, ESET technologies have scanned nearly 800,000 unique AI skills - modular components that instruct AI agents how to perform tasks, use tools, access services, and interact with external systems. Approximately 25,000 of the skills were classified as suspicious and more than 3,000 are blocked as outright malicious. The overall figure represents a 13-fold surge from the approximately 60,000 publicly available skills observed at the beginning of this year. According to ESET researchers, AI skills are part of a rapidly growing software supply-chain layer, often connecting sensitive systems to external repositories, plugins, datasets, and third-party services.
"Cybersecurity is entering a completely new era," said Richard Marko, CEO of ESET. "Artificial intelligence is no longer only a tool for defense. It is becoming part of the attack surface itself. Our investment is focused on ensuring that AI strengthens cybersecurity rather than weakens it - and on building technologies capable of protecting organizations in a world of autonomous AI."
The initiative is intended to strengthen ESET's technological independence and European cybersecurity sovereignty at a time when access to advanced AI systems is increasingly concentrated among a small number of global technology companies. "We believe the future of cybersecurity cannot depend entirely on models controlled by Big Tech," Marko added. "In cybersecurity, sovereignty matters."
Supported by a three-year hiring plan which will see ESET's R&D team increase to 1,000 researchers and engineers, the €40 million investment will focus on three strategic areas:
- independent security-first foundational AI models;
- a complete layered AI security stack;
- the new generation AI SOC.
"ESET has long led the way in applying AI to cybersecurity," said Juraj Jánošík, ESET VP of Artificial Intelligence. "What's changing now is the role that AI plays. AI tools are becoming part of everyday work, agentic systems are expanding the attack surface, and security teams need faster ways to respond to threats. This investment lets us work across the full horizon: securing AI use, building AI models for cybersecurity, and bringing autonomous capabilities into security operations under human oversight."
Independent security-first foundational AI models
ESET will accelerate the development of its own security-focused AI models designed specifically for cybersecurity applications. Unlike general-purpose AI systems trained on broad internet content, ESET's models will be optimized using cybersecurity telemetry and real-world threat intelligence gathered over the almost 35 years of ESET's existence.
The company will continue expanding its existing AI-powered technologies (such as ESET LiveGrid, ESET LiveCortex and ESET LiveGuard), while also exploring emerging AI concepts, including World Models capable of understanding behavior, context, and intent within digital environments.
Building a complete layered AI security stack
As AI becomes integrated into everyday business operations, ESET is building a comprehensive AI-native security architecture designed to protect organizations from emerging AI-driven risks and threats. The investment will include the development of ESET Secure AI Relay - a secure intermediary layer between users, AI agents, business applications, and AI models.
The cybersecurity firm will also build network-level security protections for communication between AI agents. ESET AI Skills Checker (a free tool launched at RSAC 2026 Conference), together with its enhanced versions integrated into ESET products, was designed specifically for this emerging ecosystem of agentic AI systems.
Building the new generation AI SOC
A new generation of AI Security Operations Center (SOC) technologies will be designed to address the growing scale and complexity of modern detection and response environments. Rather than simply replacing analysts with AI agents, ESET aims to fundamentally rethink how cybersecurity telemetry is processed, correlated, and understood. The company's vision is to make advanced AI-powered cybersecurity accessible not only to large enterprises, but also to mid-sized and smaller organizations through highly automated, supervised protection technologies.
"Cybersecurity cannot scale by adding more alerts, more dashboards, and more complexity," Marko added. "The industry needs another major leap forward. We believe AI must help make world-class cybersecurity effortless and available to everyone."
About ESET
ESET provides cutting-edge cybersecurity to prevent attacks before they happen. By combining the power of AI and human expertise, ESET stays ahead of emerging global cyberthreats, both known and unknown - securing businesses, critical infrastructure, and individuals. Whether it's endpoint, cloud, or mobile protection, our AI-native, cloud-first solutions and services remain highly effective and easy to use. ESET technology includes robust detection and response, ultra-secure encryption, and multifactor authentication. With 24/7 real-time defense and strong local support, we keep users safe and businesses running without interruption. The ever-evolving digital landscape demands a progressive approach to security: ESET is committed to world-class research and powerful threat intelligence, backed by R&D centers and a strong global partner network. For more information, visit www.eset.com or follow our social media, podcasts, and blogs.
Media contact: Jessica Beffa jessica.beffa@eset.com 720-413-4938
