F5 and Forcepoint have partnered to protect enterprise AI systems by linking data security and runtime protection for AI deployments.
This arrangement is designed to protect AI systems throughout their lifecycle, from discovering and classifying sensitive data to monitoring the applications, APIs, models, and agents in use. This comes as companies move AI projects from pilot to production and face increased scrutiny of how data is handled within the system.
Many organizations are now using AI for assistants, co-pilots, and automated workflows, but security management often remains fragmented. Data governance tools, application security products, and runtime monitoring may reside in separate teams or systems, creating a gap between internal policies and actual AI service behavior.
Under this partnership, Forcepoint will provide data discovery and classification through AI-native data security posture management tools. F5 provides red teaming and guardrails through its application delivery and security platform to enforce post-execution controls on AI systems.
This collaborative approach aims to enable security teams to identify data risks in real-time, rank AI use cases by risk, increase control over AI interactions, and monitor for misuse or anomalous behavior. Continuous telemetry and policy validation is intended to help organizations ensure that their AI systems meet governance requirements.
fill the gap
The partnership reflects broader challenges for companies deploying generative AI and automated decision-making tools. Enterprises must decide what internal data can be exposed to the model, which applications pose the highest risk, and how to maintain control after deployment without replacing existing security architecture.
Forcepoint’s role focuses on finding and classifying sensitive and business-critical data across cloud, software-as-a-service, endpoint, and enterprise environments. This visibility helps you determine if your data is suitable for AI use and where additional controls are needed.
F5’s contributions focus on runtime applications across APIs, gateways, applications, and AI agents. Its tools are aimed at testing model weaknesses, monitoring for rapid exploitation, and preventing data breaches and other emerging threats impacting AI workloads.
The companies are positioning this partnership as a way to connect these two tiers, rather than asking customers to wait for a single integrated platform. This may be attractive to companies that want to use existing security tools and add AI-specific controls without a major overhaul.
“Enterprises are moving their AI efforts from experimentation to production faster than most security programs can adapt,” said John Madison, chief marketing officer at F5. “By combining Forcepoint’s deep data intelligence and context awareness with F5’s advanced application security and runtime protection, organizations close operational security gaps with unparalleled confidence and control over their AI operations.As the AI threat surface continues to expand, the combined power of DSPM technology and F5’s AI Red Team and AI Guardrails enables enterprises to leverage AI at every stage of the lifecycle. with proactive tools to securely scale and manage your
The partnership also focuses on how suppliers are addressing AI security concerns by combining products from adjacent regions of the market. While data security providers focus on where sensitive information resides and how it is classified, application security companies focus on protecting the interfaces and systems that are running. With the introduction of AI, there is increasing pressure to connect these perspectives.
market pressure
For enterprises, the question is not just whether the model is accurate, but whether the model leaks sensitive information, responds to malicious prompts, or operates outside the boundaries of approved policies. As AI tools spread across internal operations and customer-facing services, it becomes difficult to track these risks through manual monitoring alone.
Forcepoint claims that AI has changed data security requirements by exposing the limitations of static policy models. In that view, controls must continually adapt as data moves through the system and as AI applications change in production.
“AI has fundamentally redefined data security and made it clear that static policies are inadequate,” said Naveen Palavalli, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Forcepoint. “F5 and Forcepoint are establishing a new standard for continuous, adaptive protection that tracks data through every stage of its lifecycle from the moment of creation, including the runtime layer where AI systems operate, evolve, and extend risk vectors. The threats posed by AI require new categories for proactive data and AI risk mitigation, and today our partnership is delivering on this.”
