Confirmed *The Information Oct 13 2026 7:20pm ET early talks.*$GNS $TRUTH $WAL
- *Deal:* OpenAI in early-stage talks to acquire NYC *Trail of Bits (founded 2012, 40+ employees, no VC, 3 founders)* — size undisclosed — neither confirmed publicly — described as OpenAI attempt to *build sizable cybersecurity business* — part of model companies racing to snap up security teams
- *Trail of Bits track record:*
- *Blockchain:* Not 475/59 — those numbers inflated — real public: *Uniswap v3 Core 2021 (symbolic execution), Uniswap v4 Core, Aave upgrades (multi-auditor), Worldcoin, Arbitrum* — also crypto tooling standard: *Slither, Echidna, Manticore* — reviews spanning contracts, nodes, bridges, DeFi where failure puts real value at risk
- *Beyond crypto:* DARPA, Cyber Grand Challenge, AIxCC, Pentagon audits — low-level crypto, appsec, infra
- Open source focus: open-sources methods vs locking in client reports
- *Already partnered:* *Patch the Planet June 2026* — joint initiative with HackerOne + 30+ OSS projects (cURL, Python, Go, Sigstore, pyca) — *Codex + GPT-5.5-Cyber found hundreds bugs in one week, 37 patches merged* — OpenAI also launched Codex Security (scanned 30M commits across 30k codebases, 70k fixed) + Daybreak Cyber Partner Program with Cisco, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, etc — XBOW used GPT-5.6 to collect *$250k Chrome bug bounty* last week
- *Why now for OpenAI:* Security week — *Saudi engineer 35 charged for hidden recorder wrapped in toilet paper in exec conference room covering proprietary research + gov dealings* — plus need to harden infra as AI becomes exploit-capable — also defensive play vs competitors
*BREAKING 🚀 OpenAI early talks to buy Trail of Bits per The Information Oct 13 — NYC security firm (2012, 40+ staff) known for Uniswap/Aave/Worldcoin/Arbitrum audits + Slither/Echidna/Manticore tools — OpenAI already joint Patch the Planet June (37 patches merged in 1st week via Codex + GPT-5.5-Cyber) + building cybersecurity business — no deal size confirmed 🔒*
- *Deal:* OpenAI in early-stage talks to acquire NYC *Trail of Bits (founded 2012, 40+ employees, no VC, 3 founders)* — size undisclosed — neither confirmed publicly — described as OpenAI attempt to *build sizable cybersecurity business* — part of model companies racing to snap up security teams
- *Trail of Bits track record:*
- *Blockchain:* Not 475/59 — those numbers inflated — real public: *Uniswap v3 Core 2021 (symbolic execution), Uniswap v4 Core, Aave upgrades (multi-auditor), Worldcoin, Arbitrum* — also crypto tooling standard: *Slither, Echidna, Manticore* — reviews spanning contracts, nodes, bridges, DeFi where failure puts real value at risk
- *Beyond crypto:* DARPA, Cyber Grand Challenge, AIxCC, Pentagon audits — low-level crypto, appsec, infra
- Open source focus: open-sources methods vs locking in client reports
- *Already partnered:* *Patch the Planet June 2026* — joint initiative with HackerOne + 30+ OSS projects (cURL, Python, Go, Sigstore, pyca) — *Codex + GPT-5.5-Cyber found hundreds bugs in one week, 37 patches merged* — OpenAI also launched Codex Security (scanned 30M commits across 30k codebases, 70k fixed) + Daybreak Cyber Partner Program with Cisco, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, etc — XBOW used GPT-5.6 to collect *$250k Chrome bug bounty* last week
- *Why now for OpenAI:* Security week — *Saudi engineer 35 charged for hidden recorder wrapped in toilet paper in exec conference room covering proprietary research + gov dealings* — plus need to harden infra as AI becomes exploit-capable — also defensive play vs competitors
*BREAKING 🚀 OpenAI early talks to buy Trail of Bits per The Information Oct 13 — NYC security firm (2012, 40+ staff) known for Uniswap/Aave/Worldcoin/Arbitrum audits + Slither/Echidna/Manticore tools — OpenAI already joint Patch the Planet June (37 patches merged in 1st week via Codex + GPT-5.5-Cyber) + building cybersecurity business — no deal size confirmed 🔒*