Sepio

Sepio (also referred to as Sepio Systems) provides a hardware asset risk management platform built on physical-layer device identification. The platform performs continuous asset discovery across networks, endpoints and peripherals, covering IT, OT, IoT and IoMT environments, and identifies devices by their inherent physical characteristics rather than by identifiers such as MAC addresses or VID/PID that can be changed or spoofed. The company markets this capability under the patented AssetDNA name and positions the product as not requiring traffic or activity monitoring, making it, per the company, use-case and device agnostic.

The platform is organized around a framework the company calls Zero Trust Hardware Access (ZTHA), built on five stages: discovery of connected assets; verification of true device identity via physical-layer intelligence; validation against expected role, location, ownership, behavior and policy; risk scoring using identity, posture, vulnerability and business context; and enforcement through alerts, access restriction, isolation, blocking and third-party orchestration. Sepio correlates discovered assets with external vulnerability sources, OSINT and internal cyber research to flag devices that may be exposed, outdated, unsupported or otherwise associated with hardware, firmware or vendor risk. It is offered as a SaaS or on-premises deployment and includes out-of-the-box integrations with third-party cybersecurity and IT tools. In 2024 the company also introduced a managed service offering called Hardware Detection and Response (HWDR)."]

Founding story

Sepio was founded in 2016 by a team whose members began their careers in the Israeli intelligence community in the early 1990s and had built and sold cybersecurity companies together since the late 1990s. Co-founder and CEO Yossi Appleboum served in the Israeli Army Intelligence Corps (Unit 8200), co-founded WebSilicon in 1998 and became its CTO in 2007; WebSilicon was acquired by Magal (NASDAQ: MAGS) in 2013 and rebranded as CyberSeal, after which Appleboum served as CTO for cyber security at Magal's North American division, Senstar, and relocated to the United States. After two prior exits, the founders started Sepio with the aim of protecting organizations against malicious hardware attacks, a threat they viewed as widespread but lacking effective mitigation.

Business model

Sepio sells its hardware asset risk management platform to enterprise and government organizations, delivered either as SaaS or on-premises software, with an accompanying managed service, Hardware Detection and Response (HWDR). Distribution channels referenced include the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, where the company states it is eligible under the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) program.

Revenue derives from sales of the asset visibility and hardware risk management platform in SaaS or on-premises form, plus a managed service (Hardware Detection and Response), with availability through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

Traction

The company reports growing demand from tier-1 enterprises across multiple verticals and territories, cumulative funding of $48 million as of August 2024, and the formation of a Customer Advisory Board of global customers to inform its product roadmap. It has been recognized in Gartner's Cool Vendor awards and by Frost & Sullivan, and earlier reported approval for the U.S. DHS CDM program.

Latest developments

In August 2024 Sepio announced a Series B extension led by Tau Capital, taking total funding to $48 million and funding expansion of customer-facing teams and its Hardware Detection and Response managed service. The company later announced eligibility under the Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), making asset-level visibility available through the Azure Marketplace. Current product messaging centers on the Zero Trust Hardware Access framework and AssetDNA-based hardware identity, vulnerability intelligence and automated enforcement.