The share price of dual traded data collection company Alarum Terchnologies (Nasdaq: ALAR; TASE: ALAR) was one of the top performers on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in 2024, when it soared to a market cap of over NIS 1.1 billion. However, since then, the enthusiasm surrounding the stock has waned and its market cap has fallen to the levels seen before it soared.
However, at the end of last week, the stock crashed by more than 70%, which brought it to a value of only about NIS 50 million – a slump of 96% from the peak.
Behind the latest crash in the share price is a report by the company that some of its domains have been seized as part of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to publications in leading US media outlets, the FBI is investigating whether Alarum’s subsidiary, NetNut, a proxy network for web data collection, was involved in connecting Internet-connected home electronics (routers, smartphones, laptops, and televisions), without their owners’ consent, and has been linked to routing and disguising online attacks and other malicious activity.
Network services have been suspended
Following publication about the investigation, Alarum, which is managed without a controlling shareholder, was quick to report on the seizure of the domains and commented that the company, “Takes the matter very seriously and will cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities to ensure that any misuse of infrastructure is thoroughly investigated and those responsible are brought to justice.”
Alarum subsequently reported that domains associated with the subsidiary had been seized, and “As a result of these developments, the company is currently experiencing disruptions to a portion of its services. If these disruptions continue for an extended period, they are expected to have a material adverse effect on the company’s operations, its financial results and its ability to provide certain services to customers,” the company stated..
Alarum added, “The company is devoting substantial resources to investigating the circumstances surrounding these events and is working intensively to obtain additional information regarding the nature and scope of the incident.
“Neither the company nor NetNut has been formally contacted by the FBI or any other governmental or regulatory authority in connection with these matters.”
Due to the investigation, Alarum decided to temporarily suspend data traffic through the relevant network services for several days. A step the company said that was intended to allow it, “To investigate the incident, assess the affected infrastructure, determine whether any malicious activity occurred, and implement any measures the company deems appropriate before returning to normal operations.”
The suspicion: malicious use
Alarum defines itself as a “Global provider of Internet access and online data collection solutions.” The company helps its customers collect data from the Internet. This while bypassing the restrictions imposed by some websites, based on the user’s IP address, and the different data presented to browsers depending on the IP address they are using..
Sources report that the FBI investigation is into the company’s flagship product, which allows organizations and companies to collect data from the Internet, using proxy networks. These allow companies (Alarum customers) to access websites, while appearing to be browsing from a location other than where they are. This lets, for example, businesses to customize their websites for different regions.
Networks of this type route Internet traffic through consumers’ IP addresses, while masking their origin. While this activity has legitimate uses, such as the services offered by Alarum, which is regularly used by companies to test products in different geographic regions, it has also been used by cybercriminals, who exploit it to disguise malicious traffic. “Bloomberg” reports that for more than a year FBI agents have been monitoring and examining potential connections between NetNut, which sells access to such networks, and software known as Popa, which is allegedly used to take over people’s devices. This is part of a series of investigations conducted by US law enforcement agencies.
One company involved in the investigation linked to the Israeli company is tech giant Google, which announced that it had disabled accounts and services that were allegedly used by the malware linked to NetNut. Google has also shared technical intelligence about the company’s infrastructure with law enforcement authorities and industry partners “to support broader enforcement efforts.”
“We believe our coordinated actions have caused significant degradation to NetNut’s proxy network and its business operations, reducing the available pool of devices for the proxy operator by millions,” Google said.
Listed as a stock exchange shell
Alarum, founded in 2013 as Safe-T, was engaged in its early years in cybersecurity, developing software solutions for secure data transfer and access to data in the enterprise. The company listed on the TASE in 2016, ‘through the back door,’ in a reverse merger into a stock market shell after meager demand in an IPO a few months earlier led to a cancellation of the flotation. The company valuation of NIS100 million, which was tens of percent lower than the valuation sought in the IPO. Two years after it began trading on the TASE, when its market value was NIS 45 million, it successfully conducted a small offering on Nasdaq.
After difficulties in demonstrating profitability and a competitive market, Alarum’s management chose to change direction. “We decided to make acquisitions that would expand the product portfolio and introduce us to less crowded markets with more potential, in order to grow revenue and move towards balance. We did some serious research and came to the data field,” the company’s CEO, Daniel Shachar, told “Globes” two years ago.
“In 2019, we bought NetNut, which was full of talent and at the beginning of its journey, with annual revenue of $2 million, was losing money and needed additional investment. We recognized that we had a ‘superstar,’ when after a major investment we made in infrastructure and stabilizing its revenue increased significantly,” Shachar added. “We saw the potential and in mid-2023 we made the most significant decision… to focus on NetNut. We took the talents from the other two companies and changed the name to Alarum.
The strategic change led to a jump in the share price, which climbed 2,800% in 18 months, reaching a record market cap of about NIS 1.1 billion in July 2024. However, it has since lost most of its value and in recent months its market cap has been in the NIS 100-200 million range. Behind the decline was the slowdown in growth in results and the erosion of profit, which Alarum attributed to an increase in R&D expenses, as it adapted to the AI era.
Alarum ended 2025 with $40.7 million revenue, up 28% from 2024. Net profit was $1 million, down about 83% from $5.8 million in 2024.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 5, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
-1024x683.jpg "Independence Day 2026: One for the Books!")
