Mend.io, a leader in application security, today announced that it has been named a finalist in both the Top InfoSec Innovator Awards and the Top 25 Most Innovative Cybersecurity Companies in the World 2026 by Cyber Defense Magazine. The recognition highlights Mend.io’s leadership in AI Security and its innovative approach to helping organizations secure AI-powered applications throughout the software lifecycle, from development through runtime.

Mend.io was recognized for its approach to securing the full AI application lifecycle, helping organizations identify, assess and protect the growing number of AI components introduced into modern applications, including models, agents, system prompts, and runtime interactions.

As AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a rapidly expanding attack surface that traditional application security approaches were not designed to address. Through Mend AI, Mend.io helps security teams gain visibility into AI risks, test AI behavior, secure system prompts, prioritize vulnerabilities, and enforce protections in production environments.

“Being named a finalist in Cyber Defense Magazine’s InfoSec Awards program underscores the growing need to secure AI-powered applications as organizations rapidly accelerate AI adoption,” said Azi Cohen, CEO of Mend.io. “AI is transforming how applications are built, deployed, and secured, creating new challenges that require security solutions designed for this evolving landscape. This recognition reflects our commitment to helping organizations stay ahead of AI-driven risk by enabling teams to secure applications throughout the entire software lifecycle, from development to runtime.”

The Top InfoSec Innovator Awards recognize companies demonstrating innovation, impact and the ability to address emerging cybersecurity challenges. Mend.io was selected as a finalist by a panel of industry experts for its work advancing AI security and helping organizations manage the risks introduced by AI-powered applications.

“Mend.io embodies three major features we judges look for with the potential to become winners: understanding tomorrow’s threats, today, providing a cost-effective solution and innovating in unexpected ways that can help mitigate cyber risk and get one step ahead of the next breach,” said Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.

Mend.io will be at Black Hat USA in Las Vegas from Aug. 4-6, 2026. Visit the team at Booth #5347, or schedule a meeting with one of Mend.io’s experts by visiting www.mend.io/black-hat-usa-2026/.

For more information on Mend.io’s latest AI application security capabilities, visit www.mend.io/newsroom/mend-io-enhances-ai-application-security/.

About Mend.io

Mend.io is a leading application security solution that helps organizations fix less and reduce risk faster. Built for both AI-driven and modern development workflows, Mend.io gives teams visibility into all code: human-written, AI-generated, open-source, third-party and container components, and helps them prioritize and remediate the risks that matter most.

About Cyber Defense Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazine’s thirteenth year of honoring InfoSec innovators from around the Globe. Our submission requirements are for any startup, early stage, later stage, or public companies in the INFORMATION SECURITY (INFOSEC) space who believe they have a unique and compelling value proposition for their product or service. Learn more at www.cyberdefenseawards.com.

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of cyber security news and information for InfoSec professions in business and government. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products, and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and special editions exclusively for the RSAC Conferences, Black Hat Conferences and Cyber Defense Conferences. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit https://www.cyberdefensetv.com and https://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these award winning company executives. Search for a Cybersecurity job at https://www.cyberdefenseprofessionals.com or post an infosec job for free, anytime. Join a webinar at https://www.cyberdefensewebinars.com and realize that infosec knowledge is power.

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