Surfshark is expanding its privacy and cybersecurity portfolio with the acquisition of a majority stake in Optery, a U.S.-based personal data removal company. The deal brings Optery’s data-broker scanning and removal technology into Surfshark’s growing privacy ecosystem while leaving Optery, Incogni and Ironwall operating as independent businesses.
Surfshark is betting that protecting people online increasingly means controlling what information about them is already available on the internet.
The cybersecurity company has acquired a majority stake in Optery, a U.S.-based service that finds and removes personal information from data brokers, people-search websites and search engine results. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Optery will remain a standalone company under the Surfshark Group, retaining its existing team, customer base and technical infrastructure. The structure is similar to Surfshark’s broader strategy of building a portfolio of specialized privacy companies rather than folding every acquisition into a single product.
The deal gives Surfshark access to technology focused on a particularly difficult privacy problem: information that has already escaped into the commercial data ecosystem.
Data brokers aggregate details such as names, addresses, phone numbers and other personal information, often combining information from public records and other sources. People-search services then make portions of those profiles searchable. Removing the information is consequently a recurring process rather than a one-time deletion.
According to Surfshark, Optery’s technology scans hundreds of data broker and people-search sites and provides detailed reporting, including screenshots showing where information has been identified. The company says this capability will complement its existing privacy brands, including Incogni and Ironwall.
The acquisition comes as artificial intelligence creates another reason for consumers and organizations to pay attention to publicly exposed information. Personal data can increasingly become input for automated search, profiling and AI-generated summaries, expanding the potential consequences of information that was previously difficult to find or connect.
Gartner has identified privacy as an increasingly important technology investment area as organizations adapt to AI-driven data use. Its 2025 privacy research says privacy technology has become a multi-billion-dollar market since the introduction of GDPR, while its research on AI and privacy warns that AI adoption amplifies existing privacy risks.
The relationship between AI and personal data is also becoming more complicated. Large language models and AI-powered search systems can synthesize information from multiple sources, potentially making scattered personal details easier to discover and interpret. Gartner has separately warned that data collection, management, quality and protection are frequent sources of failure in AI projects.
That makes data removal a potentially important component of the wider AI security stack. Traditional cybersecurity has largely focused on protecting devices, networks, identities and applications. Privacy services address a different layer: reducing the amount of sensitive information that attackers, marketers, data brokers or automated systems can find in the first place.
Surfshark’s acquisition also illustrates how the consumer privacy market is consolidating around specialized capabilities. The company acquired Ironwall in 2024, a data-removal service aimed at public officials, government employees and executive teams. Optery now becomes the group’s second strategic acquisition.
Incogni operates in a related segment, helping customers request the removal of personal information from data brokers. Surfshark says Optery will retain its own identity and operations rather than being merged with Incogni. The companies will maintain separate teams, customer bases, technical architectures and product features.
That separation could allow the group to target different parts of the data-removal market. Optery brings deeper expertise in the U.S. market, while Incogni has broader international reach. Surfshark says the companies will be able to share expertise while continuing to operate independently.
The competitive landscape is also changing beyond conventional VPN and antivirus products. Companies including Surfshark, Proton and other privacy-focused providers are expanding into identity protection, data removal and broader digital-security services. At the same time, AI is making information exposure a more complex problem because users increasingly interact with systems that aggregate and summarize large volumes of publicly available data.
For enterprises, the issue extends beyond consumer privacy. McKinsey has found that organizations are increasingly addressing cybersecurity and privacy risks associated with generative AI, while its research on agentic AI highlights the risks created when autonomous systems gain access to data and business systems.
That creates a broader market opportunity for privacy-enhancing technologies. Instead of treating personal information exposure as an isolated consumer problem, cybersecurity providers are increasingly positioning data minimization and removal as part of digital risk management.
Surfshark’s Optery acquisition therefore represents more than an expansion of its consumer privacy catalog. It reflects a market where controlling personal information is becoming part of the security conversation itself—and where the rise of AI could make the ability to find, combine and reuse that information significantly more consequential.
Market Landscape
The privacy market is moving beyond VPNs, password managers and antivirus software toward personal data removal, identity protection, privacy-enhancing technologies and AI-era data governance.
Surfshark’s portfolio approach places Optery alongside Incogni and Ironwall, giving the company exposure to different parts of the data-removal market. The acquisition also arrives as AI-powered search and agentic systems increase the importance of controlling publicly accessible personal information.
Gartner describes privacy technology as a multi-billion-dollar market and says AI is increasing pressure on organizations to strengthen privacy capabilities.
For cybersecurity vendors, the opportunity is shifting from simply defending information to reducing the amount of exposed information available to begin with.
Top Insights
- Surfshark acquired a majority stake in Optery, expanding its portfolio into U.S.-focused personal data removal and privacy protection.
- Optery will remain an independent business with its existing team, customers, technology architecture and product identity.
- The acquisition strengthens Surfshark’s position in a privacy market increasingly shaped by AI-powered search, profiling and data aggregation.
- Optery’s scanning and reporting capabilities complement Surfshark’s existing Incogni and Ironwall data-removal businesses.
- The deal reflects a broader cybersecurity shift toward data minimization, privacy-enhancing technologies and digital-footprint management.
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