# Ofer Amitai

> Ofer Amitai is a cybersecurity entrepreneur, Portnox co-founder and former CEO, and co-founder and chief product officer of Onit Security. His career spans the Israeli Air Force, Xpert and Microsoft, followed by network access control products at Portnox and automated exposure remediation at Onit. He is publicly based in the New York City metropolitan area.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Onit Security
- **Organizations:** Onit Security, Portnox / Access Layers, Microsoft, Xpert Integrated Systems, Israeli Air Force, Datanin, Mamram Alumni Association
- **Education:** B.Sc. in Computer Science, Open University of Israel
- **Known for:** Established the Israeli Air Force’s first IT security team., Co-founded Portnox and led it as CEO from 2015 until its leadership transition., Helped lead Portnox’s cloud network access control product direction.

## Career timeline

- **1991-2001** — Headed security and connectivity teams in the Israeli Air Force.
- **—** — Managed the security division at Xpert Integrated Systems and served as Microsoft regional director of security.
- **2007** — Co-founded Portnox; served as CTO from its inception.
- **2014** — Relocated to Portnox’s New Jersey headquarters for its North American expansion.
- **2015** — Became Portnox CEO.
- **2017** — Portnox launched its cloud-native CLEAR network access control service.
- **2022** — Returned to CTO and joined the board as Portnox announced $22 million growth financing and appointed Denny LeCompte CEO.
- **2023** — Announced departure from active Portnox roles and continued board contribution after selling a majority to Elsewhere Partners.
- **2025** — Co-founded Onit Security with Elad Ben Meir and Tom Winter; serves as CPO.
- **2026** — Onit announced $11 million seed funding.

## Achievements

- Established the Israeli Air Force’s first IT security team.
- Co-founded Portnox and led it as CEO from 2015 until its leadership transition.
- Helped lead Portnox’s cloud network access control product direction.
- Co-founded Onit Security, which announced $11 million seed funding in March 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Onit’s September 23 blog revisited Amitai’s experience of a known vulnerability left unresolved as the company’s motivation for improving ownership and remediation.
- **2026-03** — Onit announced an $11 million seed round led by Hetz Ventures and Brightmind Partners.
- **2025-08** — Shared a Tel Aviv team gathering and described growth from three people and a whiteboard to an office and team.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oferamitai

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ofer-amitai
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11