EC-Council Invests Over $20 Million in FireCompass to Scale Offensive Security with Agentic AI

Tampa, Fla., September 03, 2025: EC-Council, a global leader in cybersecurity education and creator of the world-renowned Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) credential, today announced a landmark investment of more than $20 million in FireCompass, the AI-powered Offensive Security Platform. This strategic move is part of EC-Council’s $100 million Cybersecurity Innovation Commitment, created to accelerate the development of next generation of cybersecurity innovation that redefine how enterprises defend against evolving threats.

FireCompass integrates six key capabilities into one unified platform: Attack Surface Management, Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM), Network and Application Pen Testing, Red Teaming, and Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS). Recognized by Gartner, Forrester, and GigaOm, FireCompass patented Agentic AI foundation enables real-world adversary emulation by chaining vulnerabilities, moving laterally, and validating risks continuously at machine scale, with near-zero false positives.

Cybercrime is projected to surpass $10.5 trillion annually in 2025, according to the White House’s AI Action Plan. Attackers are already leveraging artificial intelligence to outpace human defenders, creating an urgent need for equally intelligent, automated defenses.

This investment goes far beyond financial backing. EC-Council is mobilizing its worldwide partner network, alumni base, and enterprise research programs to accelerate FireCompass innovation and global expansion, ensuring enterprises gain access to the most advanced adversarial simulation technologies available today.

“With this investment, EC-Council is not only contributing significant capital but will also invest in growth opportunities, research collaborations, and provide access to our vast global ecosystem,” said Jay Bavisi, Group President, EC-Council. “This is about building the future of cybersecurity by combining the power of AI technology with the scale of the world’s most trusted cybersecurity education platform.”

FireCompass has uncovered more than 2.5 million real attack paths and exploitable vulnerabilities, and reduced remediation times by an average of 40 percent for its customers. The platform also delivers immediate value in high-stakes environments by validating exposure within 24 hours of CVE disclosure and aligning multi-stage attack emulations to the MITRE ATT&CK® framework.

“The AI race in cybersecurity isn’t coming; it’s here. Attackers are already using AI to move faster than human defenders can respond,” said Bikash Barai, Co-founder and CEO of FireCompass. “Our AI-driven platform thinks and acts like a real attacker chaining vulnerabilities, moving laterally, and validating risks continuously at machine scale. It outpaces humans by orders of magnitude. This investment from EC-Council not only accelerates our innovation but also connects us to the strength of their global ecosystem, an incredible boost as we scale worldwide.”

FireCompass is already trusted by Fortune 500 companies, defense agencies, and MSSPs in more than 40 countries, continuously validating millions of assets and identifying thousands of exploitable weaknesses each month. With EC-Council’s backing, the platform is expanding rapidly into critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, telecom, and government.

Internationally recognized security technologist, author, and Harvard lecturer Bruce Schneier, an advisor to FireCompass, said “FireCompass is tackling one of cybersecurity’s most significant challenges by helping defenders match the speed and persistence of attackers in an ever-evolving landscape”. “Their AI-powered approach to automating multi-stage attacks and penetration testing is a game-changer. In particular, Agentic AI provides a promising solution to an otherwise unsolved problem.”

The investment also strengthens EC-Council Global Services (EGS) by integrating FireCompass Agentic AI into offerings like Automated Pen Testing, Red Teaming, and CTEM. This delivers continuous adversarial emulation and executive-level threat intelligence to help organizations stay prepared for tomorrow’s most sophisticated attacks.