US Startup Sues Koi Security and Palo Alto Over Faulty Cyber Threat Report
In March, American media company MeetingTV filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Southern California against Israeli cybersecurity firm Koi Security, its four founders (Amit Asraf, Idan Dradikman, Tuval Admoni, and Gal Hakhamov), and cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, which acquired Koi in April for hundreds of millions of dollars. The dispute centers on a December 2025 Threat Intelligence report named DarkSpectre, published by Koi Security before its acquisition, which implicated MeetingTV’s webinar recording service, Zoomcorder, as a front supporting a Chinese government-backed hacking group.
MeetingTV alleges the report’s claim was fundamentally false, resulting from an AI hallucination by Koi’s proprietary AI system, Wings, rather than traditional forensic research. The AI erroneously linked MeetingTV’s domain to a non-existent browser extension called "Twitter X Video Downloader," which was cited as evidence of malicious activity. MeetingTV accuses Koi of negligent public disclosure without adequate human oversight, causing immediate and severe damage to its business operations, reputation, and revenues due to widespread blocking by security providers worldwide.
Although Koi later issued a clarification stating no evidence linked MeetingTV to malicious Chinese activities, MeetingTV insists the harm was irreversible. CEO Michael Robertson highlighted ongoing automatic blocking by major companies, continuing to devastate the startup’s business. Palo Alto Networks, added as a defendant in May, requested dismissal, arguing the report did not directly accuse MeetingTV of criminal acts but was a public cybersecurity analysis deserving legal protection against defamation claims.
In a procedural development, Federal Judge Anthony Battaglia denied MeetingTV’s request to serve the Israeli founders via email, requiring formal diplomatic and legal channels instead, granting the defendants more time to prepare their defense. Palo Alto stated it recognizes the lawsuit and believes Koi’s cybersecurity research reflects its commitment to threat detection, expecting the dispute to be resolved through proper legal processes.
