TL;DR
Tal Kollender, CEO of Remedio, says defenders must adopt a hacker mindset and AI to keep pace with attackers. Her startup uses AI to find and auto-remediate security gaps and recently closed a $65 million funding round at a $300 million valuation.
What happened
In an interview, Tal Kollender recounted how early experience reverse-engineering online games and later roles in the Israeli Air Force and enterprise security shaped her approach to cyber defense. She co-founded Remedio (formerly Gytpol) in 2019 with Gilad Raz and Yakov Kogan to apply automation and AI to vulnerability detection and remediation across corporate environments. The company has signed large clients including Colgate-Palmolive and Kraft Heinz, and announced a $65 million initial funding round that valued the business at about $300 million. Kollender argues that criminals are increasingly using AI to accelerate reconnaissance and exploitation, compressing attack timelines from months to weeks or days. Remedio’s platform is designed to surface misconfigurations, weak controls and compliance gaps and to remediate them automatically, an approach Kollender says is necessary because defenders who don’t ‘think like a hacker’ risk falling behind.
Why it matters
- AI is shortening the time attackers need to find and exploit weaknesses, increasing urgency for faster defensive responses.
- Automated detection and remediation can reduce the window of exposure for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
- Enterprises face pressure to adopt AI-based security tools to avoid being outpaced by AI-enabled attackers.
Key facts
- Tal Kollender is CEO and co-founder of Remedio (formerly Gytpol).
- Remedio was founded in 2019 with co-founders Gilad Raz and Yakov Kogan.
- The startup uses AI to identify and auto-remediate vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, weak controls and compliance gaps.
- Remedio raised $65 million in its first funding round and was valued at approximately $300 million.
- Notable customers named include Colgate-Palmolive and Kraft Heinz.
- Kollender’s background includes hacking video games, service in the Israeli Air Force’s IT/Cyber division, and work as a system security architect at Dell EMC.
- Kollender warns attackers are using AI to speed up scanning for vulnerable systems, reducing dwell time from months to weeks or days.
What to watch next
- Whether defenders broadly adopt AI-driven automated remediation at scale to match attacker speed.
- How quickly AI-driven scanning and exploitation techniques further reduce attacker timelines.
- not confirmed in the source
Quick glossary
- Auto-remediation: Automated processes that detect security issues and apply fixes or mitigations without human intervention.
- Misconfiguration: Incorrect or suboptimal settings in hardware, software, or cloud services that create security weaknesses.
- Vulnerability: A weakness in software, hardware, or processes that an attacker can exploit to compromise a system.
- Lateral movement: Tactics attackers use to move through a compromised network to access additional systems and data.
Reader FAQ
Who is Tal Kollender?
She is the CEO and co-founder of Remedio, a cybersecurity startup; her background includes hacking online games, service in the Israeli Air Force cyber division and a role at Dell EMC.
What does Remedio do?
Remedio uses AI to discover and automatically remediate vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, weak controls and compliance gaps in corporate environments.
How much funding did Remedio raise?
The company raised $65 million in its first funding round at an approximate $300 million valuation.
Are attackers using AI to speed up attacks?
According to Kollender, criminals increasingly use AI to scan for vulnerabilities and speed up compromises, reducing attack timelines from months to weeks or days.
Will this make breaches inevitable?
not confirmed in the source
SECURITY From video games to cyber defense: If you don't think like a hacker, you won't win In supercharged AI race, defenders need to keep up Jessica Lyons Fri 26 Dec 2025 //…
Sources
- From video games to cyber defense: If you don't think like a hacker, you won't win
- Remedio CEO: If you don't think like a hacker, you won't win
- Cybersecurity Careers Require Creativity — and A ' … – MxD
- Winners Circle Ep. 9: Think Like an Attacker—Building …
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