World's Hottest Cyber Defense Firms Q2 2016

The Cybersecurity industry is growing from $75 Billion in 2015 to $170+ Billion in 2020, according to consolidated estimates by IT research firms and analysts cited in the Cybersecurity Market Report, published quarterly by Cybersecurity Ventures. There are many new entrants as well as M&A, investment and IPO activity, that is constantly changing the vendor and service provider landscape.

 The Cybersecurity 500 creates awareness and recognition for the most innovative cybersecurity companies – ranging from the largest and most recognizable brands, to VC backed start-ups and emerging players, to small firms with potentially game-changing technologies, to solution providers poised for growth around productized or vertically focused services.

“In 2016, we are placing a greater emphasis on ‘pure play’ cybersecurity firms that focus mainly on advisory, consulting, issue response, and support services,” says Steve Morgan, Founder and CEO at Cybersecurity Ventures and Editor-In-Chief of the Cybersecurity 500. 

The cybersecurity workforce shortage has resulted in one million job openings in 2016. Pure play cybersecurity firms alike Nexusguard are providing essential cyber defense talent to mid sized companies, Fortune 500, and Global 2000 corporations that are struggling to staff up to the DDoS attacks they are facing.

“We are honored to be recognized as the Cybersecurity 500’s top cyber firm for the second year in a row” says Hope Frank, CMO Nexusguard. “This shift of pure play cyber companies clearly documents the requirement for global innovative companies.” adds Frank.

“We continuously look at thousands of companies for inclusion in the Cybersecurity 500, by soliciting feedback from CISOs, IT security practitioners and service providers, and researching hundreds of cybersecurity events and news sources that we follow” says Steve Morgan, founder and CEO at Cybersecurity Ventures, and Editor-In-Chief of the Cybersecurity 500.

The selection criteria for the Cybersecurity 500 is subjective and includes some or all of the following when evaluating each company:

Cybersecurity Sector, Problems Solved & Customer Base 

Feedback from CISOs and Decision Makers
Feedback from IT Security Evaluators & Recommenders
Feedback from VARs, SIs and Consultants
VC Funding
Company Growth
Published Product Reviews
Demos and Presentations at Conferences
Corporate Marketing and Branding
Media Coverage
Notable Implementations
Founder and Management Pedigree
Interviews with Senior Management

The Cybersecurity 500 does not rank companies by revenues, employees, or annual growth. “We do not think a list of the largest cybersecurity companies is useful to our target audience of cyber and IT security decision makers, evaluators, and recommenders,” says Morgan. “They already know who the biggest vendors are. Instead, we give a nod to the hottest and most innovative companies.”

The Cybersecurity 500 is both a list and a keyword-searchable directory. Users can type in a cybersecurity term or acronym i.e. ‘DDoS Protection', 'malware’, ‘incident response’, ‘threat management’, ‘encryption’, ‘mobile security’ etc., and then view a list of companies who provide solutions in that category. A link to the corporate website is displayed next to each company that is listed.

“The driving force behind the Cybersecurity 500 was providing something useful to the CISOs and security decision makers, evaluators, and recommenders,” said Morgan. “Our compilation lets them search and find specific types of solutions from the most innovative Cybersecurity companies in the industry.”

Cybersecurity Ventures publishes a new edition of the Cybersecurity 500 each quarter. The revised quarterly editions have new companies coming on the list, others dropping off, and changes to the listing order, to accurately reflect the current hottest and most innovative companies. There are also monthly updates to the list, with specific market sectors and geographies being reviewed by Cybersecurity Ventures’ editors.

The Cybersecurity 500, by region

126 international companies (non U.S.), the most ever since publishing the list.
117 Silicon Valley based companies.
72 companies in the Northeast U.S., with 39 in New England and 30 in the New York Metro area — including 16 in NYC and 10 in New Jersey.
71 companies in Europe, with 29 of those in the United Kingdom.
58 companies in the DC metro area, with a heavy concentration of defense contractors and cyber defenders focused federal agencies.
22 companies in Israel, the second largest exporter of cybersecurity technology behind the U.S. Several companies with a U.S. headquarters were founded in Israel and have R&D there, which makes the Israeli presence even larger.
22 companies in the Rocky Mountain region, with 11 in Colorado.
21 companies in the midwest U.S.
21 companies in Texas, with 11 in Austin and 7 in San Antonio.
20 companies in the southeast U.S.
19 companies in southern Calif.
18 companies in Asia-Pac, nearly twice the amount listed in that region last year.
17 Canadian companies overall.