What Is the State of Cybersecurity Startups in 2024?

According to Crunchbase, cybersecurity firms have seen a significant jump in investment in 2024, with $4.4 billion spent in the second quarter alone, marking a 144% increase year over year. This funding surge demonstrates investor confidence in both established and emerging enterprises. This represents a shift from 2022 and 2023 when investments in cybersecurity startups dropped.

As organizations and individuals increasingly rely on complex cyberinfrastructure, the demand for robust cybersecurity solutions is growing. Despite the relative newness of the IT industry, cybersecurity remains a dynamic and expanding field with ample opportunities for emerging vendors. While many established technology giants continue to lead in cybersecurity, new startups are capturing attention by offering innovative solutions.

Most Popular Cybersecurity Startup Solutions

Based on our examination of data from platforms such as Crunchbase and Growjo, we’ve identified some of the top cybersecurity startups currently advancing in the industry:

• Application security: Secures software programs against threats and vulnerabilities.
• Cloud security: Safeguards cloud-based assets and data.
• Attack surface management: Detects and minimizes potential security vulnerabilities.
• Cyber asset management: Refers to the management and security of digital assets.
• Identity and access management: Manages user access and identity.
• Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC): Maintains regulatory compliance and risk management.
• Threat detection (EDR, XDR): Tracks and responds to threats via advanced tools.
• Digital forensics and incident response: Looks into and manages security incidents.
• Risk evaluation and assessment: Determines and assesses cybersecurity risks.
• Software development lifecycle (SDLC): Ensures the security of software development operations.
• Endpoint security and ransomware protection: Protects devices from ransomware threats.

Top Cybersecurity Startups Across Key Markets

Our list features companies formed within the last five years and those with high valuations, indicating that these are substantial, growing businesses. Many cybersecurity solutions overlap multiple categories; for example, extended detection and response (XDR) consolidates alerts from endpoints, networks, and applications into a single management console to provide complete security.

This table covers eleven of the top startups across different cybersecurity markets:

Apiiro

Apiiro is a five-year-old startup that offers a cloud application security platform (CASP) that helps organizations secure their applications from design to production. The platform combines cloud security posture management (CSPM), application security posture management (ASPM), and application orchestration and correlation (ASOC) capabilities to provide a comprehensive view of application security risks.

Cado Security

Cado Security, founded in 2020, provides Varc, or volatile artificial collector, a forensic cloud investigation tool. Varc improves threat hunting by enabling detailed data searches and speedy rogue IP detection. Cado Security’s software offers incident response in cloud, container, and serverless settings, providing forensic-level details and allowing for quick threat response.

Cowbell

Cowbell is a dedicated cyber insurance company for SMEs that relies on continuous risk assessment, AI data analytics, and real-time underwriting to give clients pre- and post-breach services. The risk management startup offers visibility into exposures dubbed Cowbell Factors, giving clients opportunities for potential remediation and better coverage.

Cycode

Cycode helps businesses secure their software from the inside out by analyzing software code for security vulnerabilities, providing developers with the information they need to fix them early on in the development process. Their application security posture management (ASPM) platform features comprehensiveness and ease of use and goes beyond static analysis tools to include dynamic analysis and machine learning capabilities.

Cyera

Cyera is an AI-powered data security technology providing organizations rich data context to ensure cyber resilience and compliance. It offers a data-centric security platform to protect organizations’ sensitive data from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. The platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify and classify data, creating and enforcing security policies.

Havoc Shield

Designed for small businesses, Havoc Shield offers clients a suite of cybersecurity tools to manage cybersecurity programs with confidence. Havoc Shield’s stack covers asset inventory, vulnerability management, endpoint protection, patch management, email security, cyber awareness training, and vendor risk management in a single bundle.

Hook Security

The eponymous Hook Security specializes in phishing testing and security awareness training to transform the workforce culture surrounding cybersecurity. Available as a managed service or self-managed solution, Hook Security’s solutions include a customizable phishing simulator, a learning management system, reporting, and a catalog of available awareness training content.

NordSecurity

Nord Security provides various products and services, such as NordLayer, NordVPN, NordPass, and NordLocker. The Netherlands-based company has carved out a niche for itself by offering a simplified VPN service that prioritizes customer privacy and security. NordSecurity was a well-known name before landing its first funding round in 2022, a $100 million investment that rocketed the company’s valuation past the $1 billion “unicorn” status. 

Open Raven

Open Raven is a cloud-native data discovery and classification platform that helps organizations discover all data and resources in their cloud environment, classify data assets by identifying personal, sensitive, and regulated data, and monitor and protect data using policies and alerts. It utilizes techniques like pattern matching, machine learning, and data fingerprinting. The platform is designed to work at scale and can be used across multiple cloud providers.

Shift5

In the vendor’s own words: “We protect planes, trains, and tanks from cyber attacks.” Specializing in cybersecurity solutions for operational technology (OT), Shift5 offers protection for the world’s transportation infrastructure and weapons systems. Shift5 continuously monitors data intake from hardware and software to visualize critical insights, detect anomalies, and prevent intrusions.

Torq

Torq is a no-code security automation platform for building and integrating workflows between cybersecurity systems. With a long and impressive list of potential use cases, teams can utilize Torq to automate security workflows related to cloud security posture management, email phishing response, application security, data security, and more. For example, companies with existing EDR, XDR, and SIEM systems can automate threat-hunting workflows with Torq.

If you want to explore more established cybersecurity solutions, check out our guide of the top cybersecurity companies to see what these companies offer.

Top Cloud Security Startups

There’s a rising demand for new cloud security solutions that secure cloud environments and artificial intelligence. Our list below highlights startups that offer innovative key features and solutions for improving cloud security to meet the shifting customer needs.

Grip Security

Grip Security features a solution that beats traditional cloud access security brokers (CASB), providing clients with a complete SaaS inventory upon deployment for visibility, governance, and data security. Grip’s solution helps enhance and automate security policy enforcement across an organization’s cloud infrastructure, regardless of device or location. 

Mitiga

To accelerate investigation, response, and time to recovery, Mitiga is the cloud incident response company offering emergency IR, ransomware readiness, and incident readiness and response. Mitiga’s IR experts can help clients proactively manage vulnerabilities and breaches from a central crisis management dashboard by capturing and processing cloud forensic data.

Privafy

Privafy aims to serve a valuable market corner — securing data in motion. As up to 80 percent of data breaches occur while data moves between cloud networks, Privafy offers security for cloud infrastructure and a list of edge computing solutions to securely deploy IoT devices and edge networks in the years to come.

Strata Identity

Strata Identity offers an identity orchestration solution, the Maverics Platform, which aims to solve enterprise organizations’ complex identity and access management (IAM) problems. Organizations can easily create and replicate app orchestrations by integrating identity systems across the modern infrastructure.

Valence Security

Valence Security focuses on the third-party integration risks presented by a universe of cloud applications for business workflows. With the rise of the SaaS to SaaS supply chain, as Valence calls it, organizations need visibility into application interactions. Through its platform, Valence brings workflows, permission scopes, API keys, and OAuth access tokens to light.

See how these companies compare with the top cloud security companies. Read our review to evaluate their features and offerings.

Top Threat Detection & Protection Startups

Startups focused on threat detection are thriving, thanks to new solutions that use AI and machine learning to boost accuracy and speed. Despite a competitive environment, these startups are gaining traction due to the rising need for advanced and adaptable threat detection capabilities. Here are five of the top threat detection and protection startups:

Anvilogic

Anvilogic’s platform offers continuous assessment, detection automation, and hunt, triage, and response capabilities for security teams. Designed to automate SOC operations and reduce alert noise, Anvilogic is a no-code, user-friendly solution with out-of-the-box policies aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

Cyble

Powered by machine learning and human analytics, Cyble is a threat intelligence startup offering solutions for attack surface management, third-party risk scoring, and monitoring for brand reputation and dark web exposure. Cyble Vision can integrate with an existing SIEM or SOAR and provide incident response, threat analysis, and vulnerability management.

DoControl

DoControl specializes in SaaS data access control with a platform offering cloud asset management, automated security workflows, and continuous cloud infrastructure monitoring. As organizations increasingly rely on SaaS applications for data storage and transfer, DoControl helps guard against unauthorized access to sensitive data.

SnapAttack

SnapAttack is a threat-hunting and detection startup recently spun out from Booz Allen’s DarkLabs incubator. SnapAttack seeks to empower clients with proactive threat intelligence, behavioral analytics, and attack emulation through a collaborative platform. Enterprise and service providers are currently available, and a free community subscription is coming soon.

Stairwell

Stairwell is an advanced threat detection startup presenting its Inception platform for threat intelligence, SOC functionality, and incident response capabilities. Inception helps collect files across environments, analyze historical and real-time data, investigate abnormal behavior, and connect security systems through the Inception API.

Top Compliance & Governance Startups

Compliance and governance startups make it easier to comply with regulations and manage risks. They specialize in automating regulatory processes, incorporating machine learning for insights, and ensuring seamless data integration across several platforms. They also handle the increasing demand for efficient, scalable compliance management. The following are some of the leading compliance and governance startups:

Dasera

Dasera is the data governance platform offering continuous policy enforcement, automated audits, and access to more data to inform decision-making. Monitoring for misconfigurations, cloud data stores, and change management across hybrid infrastructure, Dasera reduces manual workloads and ensures security while sharing data with necessary stakeholders.

Drata

Drata is a security and compliance automation platform that aids businesses in achieving and maintaining compliance with industry standards like SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR. It automates manual tasks like risk assessments, control testing, and evidence collection. The comprehensive platform covers a wide range of compliance standards, is easy to use, and can be scaled to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.

Hyperproof

Hyperproof is a SaaS platform that automates compliance processes by removing human activities and incorporating machine learning. Founded by Craig Unger, it automates compliance processes, identifies redundant requirements across frameworks, and provides risk analytics. Hyperproof helps businesses manage compliance more efficiently through extensive integrations with cloud providers.

Strike Graph

Strike Graph is a cybersecurity compliance startup helping companies meet many security frameworks, including SOC 2, ISO 27001 and 27701, HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, and PCI DSS. From certification readiness to dedicated Audit Success Managers, Strike Graph can help companies automate evidence collection, streamline security questionnaires, and challenge vulnerabilities through penetration testing.

Thoropass

Thoropass, formerly known as Laika, is an emerging compliance technology company based in New York City. The company’s platform offers a range of tools and resources to help organizations identify and assess their compliance obligations, develop and implement compliance programs, automate compliance tasks, and monitor their compliance posture. Thoropass also provides expert guidance, gap assessments, and audit preparation.

Top Cyber Asset & Attack Surface Management Startups

Cyber asset and attack surface management startups identify, monitor, and secure an organization’s digital assets and potential vulnerabilities. They offer solutions that assist businesses in managing the security posture of their assets, assessing and mitigating risks across all attack surfaces. These companies provide solutions for asset inventory, vulnerability scanning, risk assessment, and proactive threat management. Here are some notable startups:

Horizon3.ai

Horizon3.ai presents its solution, the NodeZero, as autonomous penetration testing-as-a-service (APTaaS) to identify an organization’s potential attack vectors. Whether on-premises, cloud, IoT, internal, or external attack surfaces, NodeZero can identify vulnerable controls, maximize security infrastructure, and leverage the latest threat intelligence.

JupiterOne

JupiterOne is a cyber asset management startup providing clients with a cloud-native solution for insights into relationships, governance and compliance, and empowering security engineering. JupiterOne helps aggregate cyber assets for central visibility and faster investigations with increasing complexity in security operations and assurance.

Noetic Cyber

Noetic Cyber offers a continuous cyber asset management and controls platform to give clients a comprehensive view of systems, policies, and the relationship between entities. Real-time visibility means organizations can identify and act on misconfigurations and coverage gaps and maximize existing infrastructure with a proactive remediation strategy.

Sevco Security

Sevco Security is a cloud-native cyber asset and attack surface management platform offering a real-time inventory of assets, multi-source correlation, and asset telemetry to support incident response workflows. With robust visualizations of network devices and traffic, Sevco’s agentless asset intelligence platform gives network administrators the visibility to identify and remediate coverage gaps.

spiderSilk

SpiderSilk offers an internet scanner that maps out a company’s assets and network attack surface to detect vulnerabilities. Over the years, SpiderSilk’s research has informed several high-profile breaches, and for clients, the vendor can simulate cyberattacks to ensure organizations take preventive measures before the real thing.

Top Remote Access Security Startups

Remote access security startups offer solutions for authenticating and securing users that utilize apps and IT systems remotely. They frequently integrate multi-factor authentication (MFA) for identity verification and single sign-on (SSO) for simplified access, which improves security and user experience. Below are the leading remote access security startups:

BastionZero

BastionZero is the infrastructure access-as-a-service company helping organizations configure, manage, and secure access controls to hybrid infrastructure targets. Engineers can authenticate and access all servers, containers, clusters, and databases through a central cloud console. Designed to remove the hassle of VPNs, BastionZero offers passwordless access, identity-aware logging, SSO, and MFA.

Tailscale

Building off the open-source WireGuard protocol, Tailscale is a VPN service that utilizes a peer-to-peer mesh network, or “tailnet,” and removes the central gateway server for network traffic. Tailscale allows companies to integrate existing SSO and MFA solutions, define role-based access controls for sensitive targets, and ensure network traffic meets compliance policies through log audits.

Twingate

Aiming to replace traditional VPNs, Twingate offers secure zero-trust network access (ZTNA) for computers, servers, and cloud instances. Twingate allows network administrators to map resources, approve users for resources, and connect to any device from anywhere. Easy to integrate into existing infrastructure, Twingate includes identity-indexed analytics, universal MFA, and built-in split tunneling.

Top DevOps & Application Security Startups

DevOps and AppSec startups combine development and security methods throughout the software development lifecycle. They prioritize application deployment efficiency while maintaining strong security measures to safeguard critical data and code from theft or modification. These startups aim to improve efficiency in operations and app security.

Evervault

Evervault is on a mission to make encrypting sensitive data seamless with its security toolkit for developers. The developer-friendly startup offers Relay to encrypt field-level data and codes to isolate and process code as needed. With robust encryption policies, Evervault can help reduce insurance premiums and offers PCI-DSS and HIPAA compliance automation.

GitGuardian

GitGuardian is a developer favorite offering a secrets detection solution that scans source code to detect certificates, passwords, API keys, encryption keys, and more. Ranked as the top-downloaded security app on GitHub, GitGuardian’s products include solutions for internal repository monitoring and public repository monitoring for prompt remediation.

Satori

Satori is a data access startup for monitoring, classifying, and controlling access to sensitive data. Satori’s platform creates a layer of protection and visibility between data users and data stores to guard against vulnerabilities in transferring sensitive data. Ultimately, Satori aims to provide data access control, visibility into usage and traffic, and compliance fulfillment.

Ubiq Security

Ubiq Security offers an API-based platform that integrates data encryption directly into application development. Without the need for experienced developers, encryption expertise, or excessive manual hours, Ubiq Security makes securing applications during the development process seamless, allowing personnel to focus on what’s most important.

Wabbi

Wabbi offers a continuous security platform for managing vulnerabilities, application security policies, and release infrastructure. As rapid software development is now the new standard, Wabbi aims to help organizations securely deliver software to clients and achieve continuous authority-to-operate (ATO).

Top Identity & Access Management Startups

Identity and access management (IAM) startups offer solutions to manage and protect access to applications, networks, and systems, both on-premises and in the cloud. They automate user identification and access control, lowering support inquiries and password resets while ensuring strong security and efficient user management. These are some of the fastest-growing IAM startups today:

Authomize

Authomize is the cloud identity and access security platform that maps all identities and assets across XaaS environments. Authomize continuously monitors security policies to identify exposed assets, entitlement escalation paths, and hidden and unmonitored permissions. It utilizes an AI-based engine to manage and automate remediation for clients’ authorization security lifecycle. Delinea acquired Authomize in early 2024.

Cerby

Cerby is on a mission to wrangle unmanageable applications, otherwise known as shadow IT — or the universe of apps employees use without permission from the IT department. Through application APIs and robotic process automation (RPA), Cerby helps automate access corresponding to managed identity platforms like Okta and Azure AD while monitoring for application misconfigurations that violate security policies.

Deduce

Deduce is an identity-focused cybersecurity startup with two core solutions: Customer Alerts for protecting users and their data from account takeover and compromise, and Identity Insights for validating legitimate users and stopping fraud. Deduce offers actionable identity intelligence through event-level telemetry to act against abnormal user activity.

SafeBase

SafeBase is a trust-focused security platform streamlining the third-party risk management process between companies. Through the Smart Trust Center, companies can quickly share their private documents, compliance policies, risk profiles, and product security details. SafeBase’s features cover enterprise authentication, role-based access, security questionnaires, and auto-populated NDA templates.

Securden

Securden is a privileged access governance upstart offering companies password management, privilege management for endpoints and servers, secure remote access, and endpoint application control. Designed for least privilege and zero trust security architectures, Securden specializes in privilege management for Windows-centric organizations and data centers.

Investor Considerations for Cybersecurity Startups

Before investing in a startup, investors evaluate the growth of its product and business plan. Key considerations include the ability to scale, lean R&D techniques, a good business plan, a compliance mindset, and expertise in remote work. The quality of employees and leadership is also critical to a startup’s success and development potential.

Potential To Scale & Lean R&D

Scalability will always be one of the most critical factors for investing in a successful startup. When there are growth opportunities, startups should and usually do capitalize on them. Investors are also looking for startups that can continue improving their products without requiring substantial capital investment. Lean research and development (R&D) shows efficiency, even with limited resources.

A Solid Business Plan

Another factor investors have always looked for is an air-tight business plan. They want assurance that there is a marketable problem that the product solves. Investors also want to see financial reports and revenue growth projections backed up by market analysis.

Compliance Mindset

Regulatory compliance, such as HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, is essential for organizations collecting and protecting user information, including virtually all enterprise-level companies. Investors will be looking for startups that can ensure customers will maintain compliance.

Remote Work Experts

Remote work is and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future, a top-of-mind factor for venture capitalists. Startups that can immediately impact the remote worker ecosystem will garner much attention. Specifically, startups with SaaS (software-as-a-service), those that provide automation, and products that include endpoint protection will fall into this category.

Methodology

Our list of top cybersecurity startups focused on companies that were founded five years ago and are in the early stages of funding. We value independent startups that provide innovative cybersecurity solutions and have credible, scalable business models. Our selection approach includes market observations and data from platforms like Growjo and Crunchbase.

Here are our important considerations in building our overall list:

• Company age: Focuses on firms that are five years old or younger, occasionally in the early stages of fundraising for new innovation.
• Investor interest: Includes older firms that have rekindled investor interest, demonstrating their continued relevance and potential in the cybersecurity market.
• Innovation: Prioritizes startups that provide new cybersecurity solutions to existing and emerging security concerns.
• Scalability: Highlights companies with credible business models that show clear potential for growth and market expansion.
• Growth and traction: Features key markers of success include substantial growth, market traction, and high investor confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Are the Funding Series A, B & C?

Series A, B, and C funding refers to the stages which present investment opportunities in exchange for equity. To create scalable business models, Series A raises between $2 and $15 million. The main objective of Series B is to expand market reach. Series C facilitates growth by means of new goods or acquisitions. Every round shows how the company has matured. Corporate rounds entail firms making strategic investments, typically to form partnerships.

Which Type of Cybersecurity Is In-Demand?

Given the rise in remote work, endpoint security — including both classic endpoint detection and response (EDR) and its more advanced version, XDR — remains in high demand. Products that safeguard devices across a remote ecosystem, such as EPP and EDR, also remain indispensable. There’s also a great demand right now for the following solutions:

• Application security
• Cloud security
• Attack surface management
• Cyber asset management
• Identity and access management
• Governance, risk, and compliance
• Threat detection (EDR, XDR)
• Digital forensics and incident response
• Risk scoring and assessments
• Software development lifecycle (SDLC)
• Endpoint security and protection against ransomware

Is Cybersecurity Going to be Replaced by AI?

Instead of replacing current cybersecurity solutions, AI tools aim to enhance them. AI is being incorporated into cybersecurity systems progressively to improve automation and administration. It assists by increasing the effectiveness of threat identification and response. Nonetheless, responsible AI use should supplement, not replace, human judgment and traditional cybersecurity approaches.

Bottom Line: Explore Today’s Leading Cybersecurity Startups

Despite economic headwinds and a decline in venture capital between 2020 and 2023, funding for firms offering cybersecurity solutions is now on the rise. This shift is indicative of a growing trust in startups to take on critical cybersecurity challenges. Cybersecurity companies play a pivotal role in creating cutting-edge tools and solutions to mitigate network threats, thereby augmenting your defenses and resilience.

Discover the common network security threats to see how they can be mitigated by the emerging cybersecurity startups and their tools.

Kaye Timonera and Paul Shread contributed to this article.

The post Top Cybersecurity Startups You Need to Know in 2024 appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

• Bitdefender: Better overall for AV and endpoint security solution ($4+ per month per 5 devices for Total Security)
• McAfee: Better choice for lighter system performance impact ($3+ per month per 5 devices for Essential plan)

Bitdefender vs McAfee at a Glance

Monthly Introductory Pricing (Billed Annually)	• Antivirus Plus: $2.50 for 3 PCs • Total Security: $4+ for 5 devices • GravityZone Business Security: $10.8 for 5 devices	• Basic: $2.50 per device • Essential: $3+ for 5 devices • Advanced: Starts at $7.50 (unlimited device)
Free Trial	30 days	30 days
Free Tools	Bitdefender Antivirus Free	Free Antivirus & Threat Protection
Supported OS	Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux	Android, Windows, macOS, iOS
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

Bitdefender and McAfee earned excellent scores for simplicity of use, antivirus protection and detection, and customer service. Bitdefender outperforms in terms of overall capabilities, particularly business pricing, but McAfee ranked better in terms of lighter impact on system performance. Explore my full comparison of these endpoint security vendors, or skip down to see my evaluation process.

Bitdefender Overview

Better Overall for AV & Endpoint Security Solutions

Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Core features: 4.5/5
• Pricing and transparency: 4.8/5
• Ease of use and implementation: 3.9/5
• Advanced Features: 4.2/5
• Customer support: 3.5/5
• External security assessments: 3/5

Bitdefender delivers complete cybersecurity solutions, including endpoint protection, cloud security, and antivirus software. GravityZone provides multilayered protection through system hardening, threat prevention, machine learning, and behavioral analysis. Internet Security features firewall and spam filtering, while Total Security offers cross-platform security on different OS. Bitdefender Central manages these plans to ensure scalability and visibility.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Advanced anti-exploit: Uses machine learning to prevent zero-day attacks in popular applications by proactively blocking evasive exploits that target memory corruption.
• Firewall: Controls network access for apps, prevents port scanning, limits ICS functionality, and notifies of new Wi-Fi nodes.
• Blocklist: Restricts access to potentially dangerous files and connections by blocking threats discovered during incident investigations to avoid malware proliferation.
• Integrity monitoring: Assesses and validates changes on Windows and Linux endpoints to ensure the integrity of files, directories, and system components.
• Security for storage: Upgrades system and threat detection algorithms automatically and transparently to protect networks’ storage and file-sharing systems.

McAfee Overview

Better Choice for Lighter System Performance Impact

Overall Rating: 3.7/5

• Core features: 3.7/5
• Pricing and transparency: 4.5/5
• Ease of use and implementation: 2.8/5
• Advanced Features: 3.8/5
• Customer support: 3.4/5
• External security assessments: 3.9/5

McAfee provides antivirus software and internet security solutions that guard against viruses, malware, phishing, and ransomware. McAfee Antivirus features real-time virus and malware protection. Endpoint Security offers comprehensive endpoint protection through a unified architecture with a single agent for enhanced efficiency and integrated threat defenses. This platform provides improved threat analysis and future-proof, scalable defense.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Threat prevention: Uses advanced malware scanning to defend against new and targeted assaults, replacing VirusScan Enterprise for improved protection.
• Web security: Serves as a strong substitute for SiteAdvisor Enterprise, blocking access to harmful or unauthorized websites.
• Firewall: Stops harmful network traffic, replacing the McAfee Host IPS firewall capability to provide full inbound and outbound security.
• Rollback remediation: Automatically reverses malware-induced alterations, returning systems to their pre-attack state.
• Application containment: Prevents harmful programs and processes from running on endpoints, maintaining security even while the devices are offline.

Better for Pricing: Bitdefender

Individual/ Teams Monthly Pricing	• Total Security: $4 for 5 devices • Internet Security: $3.5 for 3 PCs • Antivirus Plus: $2.5 for 3 PCs	• Basic: $2.50 per device • Essential: $3+ for 5 devices
Business Monthly Pricing	• GravityZone Small Business Security: $8.7 for 5 devices • Business Security: $10.8 for 5 devices • Business Security Premium: $24 for 5 devices	• Advanced: Starts at $7.50 for unlimited devices
Enterprise Pricing	Contact sales	Contact sales
Free Trial for Business	30 days	30 days
Money-back guarantee	Yes	Yes
Free Tool Offerings	Bitdefender Antivirus Free	Antivirus & Threat Protection
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

Winner: Bitdefender is the more economical antivirus and endpoint solution, providing low-cost plans without compromising its endpoint security features.

Bitdefender is one of the most cost-effective endpoint protection solutions, with low-cost options for five or more devices and a free plan for both Windows and macOS. The free version includes basic virus detection, while subscription plans include more comprehensive protection capabilities. GravityZone pricing varies by device count and includes a 30-day free trial and a money-back guarantee.

McAfee’s lowest-cost package is almost comparable to Bitdefender’s most expensive plan. McAfee has several subscription levels, including Basic, Essential, Plus, McAfee+ Premium, and Advanced. The McAfee+ Advanced subscription is regarded as having the greatest value, including unlimited device coverage, credit monitoring, and $1 million identity theft protection. McAfee also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Better for Core Features: Bitdefender

Behavioral analytics
Endpoint & App Visibility
Automated Response to Security Incidents
Attack Isolation
Automatic Quarantined File Recovery
Zero-day Attack Protection
ML Threat Detection/Protection
Sandboxing
Automatic Blocking
Email Protection
Browser & Webcam Protection
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

=Yes =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Bitdefender and McAfee both offer traditional antivirus functions such as scans, phishing protection, ransomware defense, and a firewall, but Bitdefender has stronger core endpoint security capabilities.

Bitdefender provides top-tier protection, including advanced malware detection, machine learning, and behavioral analysis. It combines a centralized administration panel, a risk dashboard, an ad blocker, a device optimizer (in Total Security), and advanced threat mitigation into a single console. Bitdefender’s Total Security plan covers anti-phishing, ransomware protection, network threat prevention, and online traffic regulation.

McAfee offers strong antivirus capabilities such as anti-phishing, ransomware protection, and WebAdvisor to safeguard against harmful websites. However, it lacks an ad blocker. McAfee’s features, including Personal Data Cleanup and device optimization tools, are only available on higher-tier plans like McAfee+. They also provide optional credit score monitoring and 24/7 AI-powered protection via premium plans.

Better for Ease of Use & Implementation: Bitdefender

Central Management Console
Automatic Onboarding
Extensive User Documentation
Quick Installation	Requires longer setup time	Quick
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

=Yes =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Both Bitdefender and McAfee have user-friendly interfaces with certain macOS constraints, but Bitdefender stands out with a simpler management console and more thorough, up-to-date documentation.

Bitdefender’s central administration platform makes installation easier with a user-friendly interface, although setup might be difficult with bad connectivity. Security Lite prevents system overload by scanning less frequently. The UI is simple and scans are done quickly, even with many browser tabs open. However, compared to Windows, macOS users have access to fewer capabilities.

McAfee offers an easy-to-use UI with a visible security status signal, letting users know their device is secure. Scanning is rapid, and real-time protection works effortlessly in the background without affecting workflows. While the UI is smooth, several identity theft security features are also unavailable on macOS, restricting access to key tools.

Better for Advanced Features: Bitdefender

ZTNA
Firewall
Ransomware Detection Protection
Automatic Backups
Additional Endpoint Protection Services/ Tools	Parental controls, device optimization, ad blocker, patch management, mobile security	Social privacy manager, Personal data cleanup. Identity protection
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Bitdefender wins this category. It comes with extras like parental controls, device optimization, and an ad blocker, which McAfee either lacks or only includes at its most premium tiers.

Bitdefender goes beyond traditional protection with AI-powered malware and ransomware prevention, continuous monitoring, and GravityZone for scalable security management. It has extensive features such as scam and fraud prevention, VPN, email protection, patch management, mobile security, and full disk encryption. Their Total Security plan includes an integrated ad blocker.

McAfee also includes Social Privacy Manager, a VPN, Personal Data Cleanup, and tools for cleaning up internet accounts. Higher-tier services like McAfee+ Advanced feature identity protection, password management, and optional credit score monitoring. McAfee, unlike Bitdefender, lacks an ad blocker but offers additional identity protection and privacy measures.

Better for Customer Support: Bitdefender

Live Chat
Phone Support
Email Support
Live Demo or Training
Community Help
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Both vendors offer good customer support, but Bitdefender outperforms McAfee by providing more thorough documentation and email assistance.

Bitdefender offers great support at all subscription levels, including live chat with professional operators and a comprehensive help website with FAQs and recommendations. Bitdefender Central enables direct communication with the support team, assuring rapid and complete assistance. Users can get extensive information and troubleshooting tips, improving support efficacy and customer satisfaction.

McAfee provides 24/7 help via numerous channels, including live chat and phone. It does not offer email assistance but gives online troubleshooting tips, tutorials, and support forums. These resources help users fix technical and account issues independently, while community answers provide extra assistance.

Better for System Performance: McAfee

System Optimizer	Add-on	Yes
Silent Mode	Yes	No
Estimated CPU Utilization	50%	30%
AV-Test Malware Protection Score	6/6	6/6
AV-Test Performance Score	5.5/6	6/6
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit McAfee

Winner: McAfee beats Bitdefender in this category, scoring a perfect 6 over 6 for protection and performance, plus a relatively lower CPU resource utilization during scanning tests.

Bitdefender performs admirably in AV-Test, earning a 6/6 for malware protection and a 5.5/6 for performance, indicating good overall efficacy. The software has little impact on system performance, using just roughly 50% of CPU resources during scans. Bitdefender also offers auto-system optimization as an add-on, which improves performance without causing substantial resource drain.

McAfee receives flawless marks in AV-Test for malware prevention and performance. It normally consumes about 30% of CPU resources, with occasional spikes up to 80%. McAfee includes a free PC Optimizer feature that improves system performance. This tool keeps the system running smoothly and efficiently, striking a balance between protection and performance.

Who Shouldn’t Use Bitdefender or McAfee

Although Bitdefender and McAfee provide excellent endpoint security and antivirus solutions, they may not meet the specific demands of every enterprise or security team. Each has limits that may render it unsuitable for some individuals or enterprises.

Who Shouldn’t Use Bitdefender

If you fall into one of these groups, you might want to look into other solutions:

• Users looking for extensive Mac features: Bitdefender’s macOS capabilities are less comprehensive than Windows and may not suit all of the customers’ protection needs on Apple devices.
• Businesses needing unlimited VPN: Bitdefender’s VPN is limited to 200 MB per day, which may not be enough for organizations that require unlimited data for secure operations.
• Teams requiring lower CPU usage: Bitdefender’s scans consume approximately 50% of CPU resources, which can be excessive for teams demanding low-impact, high-performance systems.

Who Shouldn’t Use McAfee

Look for alternatives if you belong to these groups:

• Organizations that require full identity protection: McAfee’s advanced identity protection services are only available in higher-tier subscriptions.
• Teams requiring email assistance: McAfee does not provide email support, which may be a disadvantage for teams that rely on this communication route to resolve difficulties.
• Customers looking for a free VPN and ad blocker: McAfee lacks a free ad blocker and only offers a VPN in premium plans.

3 Best Alternatives to Bitdefender & McAfee

If you find another product better suited to your needs, consider Sophos, Trend Micro, or Malwarebytes ThreatDown. They may offer you more suitable endpoint and antivirus protection solutions and features tailored to your specific needs.

Monthly Pricing	Contact sales	Contact sales	• Core: $5+/endpoint • Advanced: $6+/ endpoint • Elite: $8+/endpoint • Ultimate: $10/endpoint
Free Trial	30 days	30 days	14 days
Machine Learning
Threat Remediation
Platform Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, iOS, Android
	Visit Sophos	Visit Trend Micro	Visit Malwarebytes

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Sophos Intercept X

Sophos Intercept X provides powerful endpoint protection through advanced antivirus features, enterprise-level security, and zero-trust network access. It uses machine learning to discover deep threats and block them automatically. Sophos’ MDR service provides 24-hour monitoring for enterprises without a dedicated security team. You may contact sales for pricing, but a 30-day free trial and demo are also available.

Trend Micro Vision One

Trend Micro Vision One is a cloud-native, unified security system that provides sophisticated threat defense, XDR, and automated protection. It excels in detecting threats, responding quickly, and using few resources. The solution includes lightweight agents for seamless third-party connections and manages XDR services. Contact Trend Micro for pricing information; a 30-day free trial is available.

Malwarebytes ThreatDown

Malwarebytes ThreatDown provides specialist endpoint security with over a decade of malware detection experience. It isolates hazards, detects them accurately, and assures full remediation. Ransomware protection, centralized management, and hacker avoidance are all essential characteristics. The core plan starts at $69 per endpoint/year, with higher tiers reaching $119 per endpoint per year. They also offer a 14-day free trial.

Explore our comprehensive reviews of the top antivirus software and top EDR solutions to get optimal protection for your endpoint security requirements. Learn more about these solutions’ key features, pricing, pros, cons, and more.

How I Evaluated Bitdefender vs McAfee

To evaluate Bitdefender and McAfee, I developed a rubric with six criteria: core functionality, cost and transparency, ease of use, advanced features, customer support, and impact on system performance. Each criterion has a sub-criteria or particular features provided by the vendor. I rated both providers on a five-point scale. Based on their scores, I determined the leading provider in each category and overall, as well as their use cases.

Core Features – 25%

I compared both antivirus and endpoint protection vendors based on fundamental features such as email protection, security for collaborative software, behavioral analytics, and attack isolation. I also explored features like automated response, zero-day protection, and machine learning detection, along with support for several platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.

Pricing & Transparency – 20%

In this criterion, I considered free trials, free tiers, and plan fees across multiple user types, including both individuals and businesses. Transparent pricing, annual discounts, and free add-ons are critical for understanding cost structures, evaluating options, and making informed budgetary and need-based decisions.

Ease of Use & Implementation – 20%

I evaluated ease of use and implementation based on features such as a single administration console, automatic onboarding, and current documentation. I also assessed overall usability through user reviews and ratings from platforms like Gartner and Capterra.

Advanced Features – 15%

Advanced features include scalable solutions for home and business users, cloud or on-premises management, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and eradicating point-and-click threats. It also includes ransomware detection and prevention, enhanced endpoint services, and unified solutions with automatic backups and extensive protection capabilities.

Customer Support – 10%

I explored various support methods, such as live chat, phone, and email, as well as live demos and trainings. I also assessed support quality and customer service using Gartner and Capterra user reviews. This research assesses the breadth and efficacy of assistance provided, providing dependable support and high user satisfaction.

System Performance Impact – 10%

System Performance Impact assesses a device’s resource utilization. Key criteria include the Malware Protection and Performance scores from AV-Test and features such as silent mode for a little disruption. It considers the minimal impact on performance (0–6), threat prevention, auto-optimization, efficient resource management, and footprint. 

Bottom Line: Bitdefender vs McAfee

Bitdefender and McAfee provide comprehensive endpoint protection, including advanced features and regular updates. Overall, Bitdefender is the best pick due to its extensive core and advanced enterprise security features. Still, McAfee stands out for its user-friendliness, identity protection, and lighter system impact. Both offer free tools and trials; use these to assess each solution’s suitability with your requirements effectively.

Learn how EDR, EPP, and antivirus differ in the scope of protection. Read our comparative guide to explore the tools that can enhance your endpoint security.

Surajdeep Singh contributed to this article.

The post Bitdefender vs. McAfee: Comparing Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

One solution many companies, both large and small, have turned to is the utilization of virtual private networks (VPNs). They can route remote workers’ traffic through easier-to-monitor pathways, giving businesses greater safety and control over their sensitive data when used in concert with dedicated endpoint management solutions.

However, VPNs come with a few caveats and hitches that make them potentially unideal for large-scale operations. Chief among them is that VPNs were never designed as cybersecurity products. For example, although many providers tout a VPN’s ability to protect users’ traffic while using public WiFi, attack methods like Tunnel Vision can still leave users vulnerable.

Additionally, VPNs face difficulties during set-up and scaling for more than a handful of users and devices. If not configured properly, a business’s network can still be put at risk, and even when configured the right way, you might still encounter congestion and device performance issues, particularly when remote workers use a VPN for heavy-bandwidth activities like Zoom calls or downloading large files.

Cloud-based network security products like NordLayer aim to bridge the gap between VPNs and proper cybersecurity solutions, giving businesses an added layer of security alongside the strict, controlled access required to implement a zero-trust security framework.

What You Need to Know About NordLayer 

	NordLayer is a business VPN and network access tool that will appeal to businesses looking for a solution with an easy-to-use interface that can help them implement a zero-trust framework for access control.
Overall Rating: 2.5/5 • Core Features: 4/5 • Usability: 3.5/5 • Customer Support: 3/5 • Trustworthiness: 2/5 • Pricing: 2/5	Pros	Cons
	Easy to use Large number of features Options for both small businesses and enterprises	Pricing might be a bit steep for smaller teams or if you want more features Fairly limited number of server locations Company’s servers have been breached in the past 14-day money-back guarantee is pretty small

Who Should Use NordLayer?

NordLayer is a feature-rich, business-focused VPN and network access solution from the company behind two of the most popular VPNs in the consumer VPN market, NordVPN and Surfshark. 

Consider NordLayer if your business meets one or more of the following criteria:

• Enterprises seeking to adopt a zero trust framework: Nord claims NordLayer is built with a zero trust strategy in mind, making it a good choice if you’re trying to implement zero trust in your own company.
• Teams looking for an easy-to-use business VPN: Whatever else you can say about it, NordLayer offers, on the user side at least, an intuitive UI setup. However, I wasn’t able to test the back-end features meant to be used by an IT security manager.
• Businesses that want many features on one platform: From its business VPN to access management to a firewall, NordLayer comes packed to the gills with enticing features. Getting all these features in one place for your business can make your IT manager’s life much easier.

Who Shouldn’t Use NordLayer?

NordLayer looks great on paper, but no product is flawless. Its steep prices and data breach history could make it a less-than-appealing option, depending on your company’s needs.

I wouldn’t recommend NordLayer if:

• You’re a small business on a strict budget: A business VPN can feel like something your small business needs to protect sensitive company data. However, business VPNs do not come cheap, and NordLayer is no exception, especially if you want more features than what the lowest tier offers.
• You care about how a company responds to data breaches: In 2018, NordLayer’s consumer-grade cousin NordVPN, along with TorGuard VPN and Viking VPN, was hacked by an 8chan user. The user did not come away with any sensitive information, and the breach only affected Nord’s single server. However, the company did not inform users of the breach until six months after they initially learned of it.
• You’re looking for a service with a generous free trial period: Business VPNs can be expensive and difficult to fit into your company’s pre-existing IT infrastructure. As such, you might prefer a service with a free trial or a generous money-back guarantee period. NordLayer’s 14-day money-back guarantee probably won’t give you the time you need to know if the product is right for your business or not, unfortunately.

NordLayer Pricing

NordLayer has three subscription tiers, with a fourth tier for enterprises that lets you choose which features you want a la carte. The three main tiers each have a 5-user minimum, while the Enterprise Offer requires you to have at least 50 users. The lowest-tiered plan, Lite, starts at $8 per user per month, while the Enterprise Offer starts at $7 per user per month. All subscriptions come backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee.

These prices are fairly standard for business VPNs, meaning it can get pricey for smaller businesses. The money-back guarantee does not give customers enough time to determine if the product fits their business. I’d prefer if NordLayer took a page out of its cousin NordVPN’s playbook and adopted a 30-day money-back guarantee to give companies more time to test the service before committing.

3 Key Features of NordLayer

Business VPN

NordLayer is, first and foremost, a VPN. While I couldn’t dig into the administrative side of the app, the user side of NordLayer is very similar to its sister product, NordVPN. As a VPN, Nord is fine. It’s easy enough to install and use, though its zero-trust framework gives users a couple of hurdles to jump over before finally connecting. The administrator has to confirm your final connection. I’d recommend sticking to the NordLynx protocol when using the service, as it easily outpaces the other supported VPN protocols within NordLayer for device performance.

Fixed IP on Dedicated Servers

While I personally wouldn’t recommend using fixed IPs with a VPN in most cases, some companies have found it useful to restrict user access to sensitive information to specific IP addresses in lieu of or in addition to traditional login credentials. As part of its Core, Premium, and Custom plans, NordLayer offers fixed IP on dedicated servers in the following locations, according to their webpage on the subject:

• Australia (Sydney)
• Austria (Vienna)
• Belgium (Brussels)
• Brazil (São Paulo)
• Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto)
• Colombia (Bogota)
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic (Prague)
• Denmark (Copenhagen)
• Estonia (Tallinn)
• Finland (Helsinki)
• France (Paris)
• Germany (Frankfurt)
• Greece (Athens)
• Hungary (Budapest)
• Ireland (Dublin)
• Italy (Milan)
• Japan (Tokyo)
• Latvia (Riga)
• Lithuania (Vilnius)
• Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
• Netherlands (Amsterdam)
• Norway (Oslo)
• Poland (Warsaw)
• Portugal (Lisbon)
• Romania (Bucharest)
• RSA (Johannesburg)
• Singapore (Singapore)
• South Korea (Seoul)
• Spain (Madrid)
• Sweden (Stockholm)
• Switzerland (Zurich)
• UK (London, Manchester)
• US (Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston)

Built With Zero Trust in Mind

Zero trust network access (ZTNA) is a strategy that protects networks from threats. It emphasizes continuous verification of all users when accessing company resources, lowering the risk of harm a malicious actor can cause by granting all users only the bare minimum permissions needed to do their jobs. It also involves collecting evidence such as logs or behavioral data to track and monitor access to any sensitive resources.

This approach, while effective, can sometimes be difficult to manage, as it can require getting multiple different network security solutions with very different design philosophies to work together as a cohesive unit.

NordLayer’s wide range of access control and monitoring features make it a decent option for companies looking to implement or streamline their zero-trust strategy.

Should You Trust NordLayer?

Whether you’re an enterprise with 2,000 employees or a self-employed freelancer, trust should be a key decision factor when discussing any company you’re considering buying from. This is especially true for companies that sell cybersecurity products, as you often trust them with your data and digital safety.

In the case of a VPN provider like Nord, you’re trusting them with your Internet traffic and the access tunnels to your business’s sensitive data and resources instead of trusting your internet service provider.

In terms of trustworthiness, Nord scores low for me. The 2018 data breach, while seemingly minor in terms of impact on users, casts a shadow on the company for me. Waiting six months to inform users of the breach, and only after it was talked about on Twitter, is simply unacceptable from any company claiming to be good stewards of their users’ data.

I don’t think it’s unfair if you look at the situation and say, “Well, that was 6 years ago. They’ve had time to fix that issue, improve their security infrastructure, and take steps to improve how they communicate with users.”

However, I don’t believe companies, especially cybersecurity companies, deserve second chances when making mistakes like how Nord Security handled its data breach. Why should we potentially put our data at risk by giving a company a second chance when there are plenty of providers out there who haven’t been breached or who responded to their own breaches better than Nord did?

NordLayer Alternatives

NordLayer is just one of many VPN solutions out there for businesses to choose from. Here are  a few more providers worth taking a look at.

ProtonVPN

I would probably recommend ProtonVPN’s business-focused options over NordLayer’s. On top of being cheaper, Proton, while not the most trustworthy VPN provider on the market, is more trustworthy than Nord while packing most of the same features. Outside of Proton’s custom-priced Enterprise subscription, NordLayer does have more dedicated server locations.

Mullvad VPN

While not the best choice for enterprise-level clients, small businesses and self-employed freelancers might find Mullvad an affordable and easy-to-use VPN. It’s one of the most trusted VPNs on the market as well, thanks in part to its unique account system, which means the company never has to store sensitive information like an email address or phone number. In terms of features, NordLayer has Mullvad beat, but if you just need a VPN to function like a VPN, I would go with Mullvad every time.

Perimeter 81

Perimeter 81 is more of a SASE solution than a business VPN, but its VPN component is solid. Its number of countries with server locations is lower than NordLayer’s, but I think the actual security features on display are more impressive, like the threat emulation add-on. The sheer quantity of add-ons Perimeter 81 has means it’ll probably be more expensive than NordLayer, however.

How I Evaluated NordLayer

Ultimately, VPNs as a product are about trust, which is why I assigned the highest weight to the Trustworthiness score instead of Core Features. You don’t need too many bells and whistles to make a viable VPN, and many VPNs share a lot of the same features. This homogenization of the market means it often matters more what a company does with your data or how it’s responded to past data breaches than what shiny features it has out of the box.

Evaluation Criteria

• Core Features (20%): Here, I search for the basic features every VPN needs to be a VPN. This includes split-tunneling, multi-factor authentication, and mobile app support.
  • Score: 4/5
• Usability (15%): This section looks at how easy a product is to use and how accessible its technical documentation is, as well as how easy it is to report bugs and the like.
  • Score: 3.5/5
• Customer Support (10%): For customer support, I highlight the various customer support options available to users, particularly the presence of real human customer support agents in lieu of chatbots.
  • Score: 3/5
• Trustworthiness (40%): When you use a VPN, you effectively trust that provider with your Internet traffic in lieu of trusting your internet service provider. So, I always try to look for how a company has treated its user data in the past. This can include data breach history or if the company has been caught selling user data in the past, among other transgressions.
  • Score: 2/5
• Pricing (15%): Finally, I look at a VPN’s various pricing plans and compare these plans to competitors. I also consider the availability of a free trial or a generous money-back guarantee policy.
  • Score: 2/5

Bottom Line: NordLayer Is an Easy-to-Use Business VPN With Some Nice Security Features

While I have concerns with how Nord Security has handled past breaches and how they’ve informed users, I understand that many potential customers will be more forgiving of something that happened six years ago. Ignoring the 2018 breach, NordLayer is a fine choice for a business VPN. While expensive, the sheer number of features and easy-to-use interface make it a solid enough choice for businesses looking to enhance their cybersecurity strategy.

The post NordLayer Review: Pricing, Features & Specs appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

Here are the six best alternative solutions to CrowdStrike Falcon:

• Palo Alto Cortex XDR: Best for advanced security capabilities
• Trend Micro Vision One: Best for smaller teams with advanced needs
• Cybereason Defense Platform: Best for visualizing incidents and threats
• Bitdefender GravityZone: Best for small business budgets
• Sophos Intercept X: Best for basic EDR requirements
• Symantec Endpoint Security: Best for large-scale endpoint management

Top CrowdStrike Alternatives Compared

The following table compares a few features of CrowdStrike’s major competitors and the availability of a free trial.

	Behavioral Analytics	Device Controls	Custom Detection Rules	Free Trial
Palo Alto Cortex XDR
Trend Micro Vision One				30 days
Cybereason Defense Platform
Bitdefender GravityZone				One month
Sophos Intercept X				30 days
Symantec Endpoint Security

= yes    = no     = add-on

While these solutions are the best in the endpoint detection market, I found that Palo Alto Cortex XDR was the best overall platform to replace CrowdStrike Falcon. Continue reading to learn more about these products, or skip down to see how I evaluated the best EDR alternatives to CrowdStrike.

Palo Alto Cortex XDR – Best for Advanced Security Capabilities

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Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Pricing: 2.4/5
• Core features: 3.8/5
• Advanced features: 4.3/5
• Ease of use and administration: 4.7/5
• MITRE scores: 5/5
• Customer support: 4.5/5

Palo Alto Cortex XDR is a highly advanced security platform for protecting endpoints across your business infrastructure. Palo Alto Networks is renowned for its excellent security — it most recently posted perfect scores in the MITRE ATT&CK evaluations — and like CrowdStrike, it offers advanced features like custom detection rules and incident triage. I recommend Palo Alto for experienced teams that need top-notch security and can manage a large platform.

Visit Palo Alto

Pros

• Plenty of EDR features
• Fantastic technical security capabilities
• Available as a managed service

Cons

• On the more expensive side
• May be complex for smaller teams to use
• No free trial

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available; some pricing information available from Amazon Web Services
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Forensics: Cortex XDR investigates incidents involving endpoints even when they aren’t connected to the network.
• Root cause analysis: Palo Alto allows admins to examine the root causes of incidents and the sequence of events leading to them.
• Behavioral analytics: The platform analyzes threat trends and malicious behavior to detect malicious insider attacks and credential abuse.
• Incident prioritization: Cortex XDR prioritizes fixing incidents by grouping alerts and scoring the incidents.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Although Palo Alto Cortex XDR is a great security solution for enterprises, it will take less experienced teams significant time to learn and use effectively. If you need an easier-to-use platform, look at Sophos instead.

Trend Micro Vision One – Best for Smaller Teams With Advanced Needs

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Overall Rating: 3.9/5

• Pricing: 3/5
• Core features: 3.8/5
• Advanced features: 4.1/5
• Ease of use and administration: 5/5
• MITRE scores: 3.5/5
• Customer support: 3.4/5

Trend Micro Vision One is a unified security platform for businesses of all sizes. With features like remediation suggestions and customized playbooks, it’s designed to protect the entire security infrastructure. Trend Micro has been consistently building its security business for years, and Vision One is proof of that, with functionality for both large enterprises and SMBs. Similar to CrowdStrike, Vision One is designed to cover multiple facets of business security.

Visit Trend Micro

Pros

• Multiple customer support channels
• Available as a managed service
• Free trial lasts a month

Cons

• No native device control features
• Incident prioritization capabilities are unclear
• No official product demo

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available
• Free trial: 30 days

Key Features

• Attack surface discovery: Vision One tracks down unknown assets and attack surfaces that aren’t yet scanned and protected.
• Vulnerability management: The platform shows admins data like commonly exploited vulnerabilities and legacy operating systems being used.
• Risk scores: Trend Micro uses global threat intelligence sources to help determine which vulnerabilities are the most critical and should be fixed first.
• Variety of response options: Vision One can isolate endpoints, terminate processes, send threats to a sandbox, and force users to reset their passwords.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Vision One is a great solution for teams that want a comprehensive security platform, but a couple of its endpoint security features are unclear, including device controls and incident triage. If these are big priorities for you, consider Cybereason instead.

Cybereason – Best for Visualizing Incidents & Threats

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Overall Rating: 3.8/5

• Pricing: 2.2/5
• Core features: 3.8/5
• Advanced features: 4/5
• Ease of use and administration: 4.2/5
• MITRE scores: 5/5
• Customer support: 3.8/5

Cybereason is an enterprise-grade detection and response platform ideal for larger teams, though SMBs with a sizable budget can certainly benefit from it, too. One of its differentiating features is the MalOp, or malicious operation, a method of tracking individual threats and all associated data. If you’re looking for a strong managed defense platform similar to CrowdStrike, Cybereason is a great choice, particularly for threat visualization.

Visit Cybereason

Pros

• Excellent practical security testing results
• Available as a managed service
• Excellent MITRE scores in recent testing

Cons

• Limited incident quarantine functionality
• Lacks pricing and licensing transparency
• No free trial

Pricing

• Custom pricing available: Contact Cybereason for a quote or purchase from resellers
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Endpoint control: Within a single interface, admins can set rules for specific endpoints based on their business’s security policies.
• Threat intelligence: Cybereason compares multiple threat feeds using machine learning-based analysis to determine which feeds are most helpful.
• Remediation assistance: The platform shows admins which tools threat actors use and helps them quickly block threats and isolate malicious files.
• Integrations: Technology partners of the Cybereason Defense Platform include Okta, Proofpoint, Fortinet, and Palo Alto.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Cybereason is a strong choice for large enterprises and security teams that want to truly visualize the connections between different events. However, it’s not the best choice for small teams; consider Bitdefender instead if your business needs something a bit simpler.

Bitdefender GravityZone – Best for Small Business Budgets

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Overall Rating: 3.7/5

• Pricing: 4.5/5
• Core features: 3.7/5
• Advanced features: 2.8/5
• Ease of use and administration: 3.8/5
• MITRE scores: 3.8/5
• Customer support: 3.4/5

Bitdefender GravityZone is a multi-purpose security platform for both small businesses and enterprises. You can choose your GravityZone package based on need; the most basic plan truly is an SMB solution, with features like web control and filtering. However, the enterprise option offers plenty for large and experienced teams, like correlation across endpoints and response suggestions. Like CrowdStrike Falcon, GravityZone provides pricing for small teams.

Visit Bitdefender

Pros

• Strong set of endpoint protection features
• Transparent pricing for very small teams
• Month-long free trial

Cons

• Not available as a managed service
• No support email or live chat available
• No native incident triage or threat intel

Pricing

• 100 devices: Between $4,000-$5,810 per year
• More than 100 devices: Contact for quote
• Free trial: One month

Key Features

• Ransomware mitigation: When GravityZone detects strange encryption procedures, it creates tamper-proof file copies so the data won’t be lost.
• Risk management: Bitdefender assigns risk scores to individual threats and prioritizes misconfigurations and behaviors depending on criticality.
• Sandboxing: GravityZone can automatically send suspicious files or code to the Sandbox Analyzer, determining whether it’s malicious.
• Single pane of glass: GravityZone combines the whole Business Security platform into one management console, so your admins can manage everything from one location.

Screenshot

Alternatives

GravityZone is a great endpoint security solution for businesses but is unavailable as a managed service. If your business needs an MDR platform, look at Trend Micro instead.

Sophos Intercept X – Best for Basic EDR Needs

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Overall Rating: 3.4/5

• Pricing: 3.4/5
• Core features: 3/5
• Advanced features: 2.4/5
• Ease of use and administration: 5/5
• MITRE scores: 4/5
• Customer support: 4.3/5

Sophos is an extremely popular network security and EDR provider with customers. It offers tools like application and peripheral device control for managing endpoints. Renowned for its usability, Sophos is a strong solution for SMBs and less experienced teams, though it provides features like data loss prevention for larger companies. While CrowdStrike is a highly advanced platform, Sophos is ideal for teams that need a basic but strong EDR foundation.

Visit Sophos

Pros

• Plenty of usability features, like training videos
• Managed service option through Sophos MDR
• User interface is popular with customers

Cons

• Limited pricing details
• No custom detection rules
• No rogue device discovery

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available
• Free trial: 30 days
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Prioritized detection: Intercept X uses artificial intelligence to prioritize which threats to detect.
• Web protection: Sophos examines web pages and data like IP addresses and blocks user access to malicious sites when needed.
• Behavioral analysis: The platform works over a period of time to gather process, registry, and file event data and determine threats versus normal activity.
• File integrity monitoring: Sophos protects Windows servers by identifying changes to the critical files on the servers.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Sophos is an outstanding solution for smaller teams and more basic EDR requirements, but it might not have enough advanced features for large enterprises. If your team needs more functionality, consider Palo Alto instead.

If you’re working to protect your entire business network, learn more about different types of network security solutions, like virtual private networks and firewalls.

Symantec Endpoint Security – Best for Large-Scale Endpoint Management

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Overall Rating: 3.6/5

• Pricing: 2/5
• Core features: 4.4/5
• Advanced features: 4.1/5
• Ease of use and administration: 5/5
• MITRE scores: 2/5
• Customer support: 2.6/5

Symantec, recently acquired by Broadcom, is an EDR solution offering broad endpoint and server management. Features include custom detection rules and suggestions for remediation. Symantec’s security capabilities extend to multiple operating systems and mobile devices. It’s designed to protect data centers, hybrid infrastructures, and storage solutions like cloud buckets and network-attached storage. Like CrowdStrike, Symantec offers managed security services.

Visit Symantec

Pros

• Support for multiple storage environments
• Multiple training videos available
• Protects multiple data center deployments

Cons

• Limited incident prioritization features
• MITRE detection scores lacking
• Complaints about support after acquisition

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available

Key Features

• Device controls: Security teams can develop rules to control peripheral devices like USBs connecting to endpoints within the infrastructure.
• Attack visibility: Symantec EDR shows you the attack chain of events during an incident, which you can sort chronologically and then perform remediations.
• Managing assets: Part of the endpoint management solution, asset relationships and software license management help teams better visualize their organization’s hardware and software.
• Custom rules: You can add your own incident detection rules to find threats that Symantec’s existing rules don’t already cover.

Screenshot

Alternatives

While Symantec is a strong endpoint security solution, some customers complained about customer support responsiveness after the Broadcom acquisition. Consider Sophos if you’re looking for a solution with high customer service reviews.

5 Key Features of CrowdStrike Competitors

Endpoint security platforms like CrowdStrike Falcon typically offer features like device control, incident isolation, suggestions for remediation, threat intelligence, and mobile device support.

Device Controls

Endpoint security platforms typically offer device controls so teams can block or isolate devices that are seeing — or causing — security problems. This could be a strain of malware on a laptop or a mobile application trying to gain unauthorized access to a service. Admins can isolate the device so any threat won’t spread or block certain malicious processes.

Incident Quarantine

Often, threat actors use lateral movement to travel through IT environments, but they can do that because of insufficient permissions and the connection points between devices and applications. Endpoint security solutions should allow admins to quarantine incidents, or whole devices, so threats like malware can’t spread further.

Remediation Recommendations

Endpoint detection and response often include suggestions for remediating threats. A management console might provide threat data like affected applications and then give a listed process for mitigating the threat, like quarantining it or sending it to a sandbox. These suggestions are helpful for security admins because they’re based on data that the EDR solution has already compiled, and the automation also saves the admins manual work.

Threat Intelligence

Endpoint security vendors like CrowdStrike often integrate with popular threat intelligence feeds or perform their own threat research. Security platforms like EDR and XDR need to have accurate sources of threat data. These platforms will be better prepared to combat threats with a strong understanding of them and their associated indicators of compromise.

Support for Mobile Operating Systems

Ideally, endpoint security suites like CrowdStrike should cover mobile devices like phones, not just laptops and servers. Mobile phones can be just as much of a threat to enterprise security as computers, especially if they’re connected to a business network or are used to store sensitive data. Often, security platforms like EDR cover Android and iOS.

Flaws in mobile devices aren’t the only threats to business networks. Read more about major network security threats, including malware and denial of service, in our guide.

How I Evaluated CrowdStrike’s Main Competitors

To analyze the best alternatives to CrowdStrike Falcon, the vendor’s main platform, I created a product scoring rubric that analyzed solutions in the endpoint security, EDR, and XDR spaces. The rubric included six major categories that buyers look for in endpoint security solutions. Each category had its own weight, and each also included multiple subcriteria. How well each security product met the subcriteria and their weighting contributed to their final score.

Evaluation Criteria

I started with core endpoint security features, like device controls, when creating the rubric. Then I looked at usability and administrative features, like documentation and training videos. Next, I considered pricing, which included free trials, and advanced features, such as threat hunting. I also scored the products based on vendors’ MITRE Evaluation scores, which come from independent tests. Finally, I looked at customer support, including the availability of demos.

• Core features (25%): This category included the most important endpoint security features, like vulnerability management, remediation suggestions, and device control.
  • Criterion winner: Symantec
• Ease of use and administration (20%): I evaluated usability features like documentation, APIs, and a single management console.
  • Criterion winner: Multiple winners
• Pricing (15%): I looked at the availability of pricing information, including from resellers, and also evaluated free trials.
  • Criterion winner: Bitdefender
• Advanced features (15%): These included nice-to-have capabilities like threat hunting and rogue device discovery, which are particularly helpful for enterprises.
  • Criterion winner: Palo Alto
• MITRE scores (15%): I scored the products based on their MITRE Evaluation results, which indicate how well they can actually protect computer systems.
  • Criterion winner: Multiple winners
• Customer support (10%): I considered customer support channels, like phone and email, as well as product demo availability.
  • Criterion winner: Palo Alto

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is CrowdStrike Better Than Competitors?

The top endpoint security and EDR platforms excel in different areas, including detection, protection, threat intelligence, and research. CrowdStrike is particularly renowned for its defense capabilities. However, multiple other providers do well in threat protection — just look for signs like strong independent testing scores; these show that vendors can actually use the features they claim to offer.

Who Is CrowdStrike’s Biggest Competitor?

CrowdStrike has plenty of competitors, but the most notable one is probably Palo Alto Networks, one of the world’s best detection and response providers. It offers similar features and earns very comparable independent testing scores. Palo Alto actually received the best score in the most recent MITRE ATT&CK evaluations and was the only vendor to stop all tests perfectly.

What’s the Difference Between Antivirus, Endpoint Protection Platforms & EDR?

CrowdStrike and its competitors all offer features in the antivirus, endpoint protection, and EDR families. However, the three have distinctions, even if they’re typically combined on CrowdStrike Falcon and other platforms. Antivirus solutions are mainly concerned with protecting computer systems from viruses and malware. Endpoint protection platforms prevent threats on devices like laptops, and EDR platforms combine preventative features with direct response.

Learn more about the differences between antivirus, endpoint protection platforms, and endpoint detection and response in our guide to the three.

Bottom Line: Choosing An Alternative to CrowdStrike

Whether you’re looking for your business’s first EDR platform or trying to replace an existing instance of CrowdStrike Falcon, consider the key features your team needs when evaluating competitors. Falcon is renowned for its threat prevention capabilities, but other solutions can provide that, too. Look for strong independent testing scores that indicate actual ability, but consider administrative and support features that affect usability, too.

Is your business specifically looking for a managed endpoint security solution? Check out our guide to the best managed detection and response solutions, including Alert Logic and SentinelOne.

The post CrowdStrike Competitors for 2024: Top Alternatives Reviewed appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up LastPass so your team can manage passwords efficiently and securely across all platforms.

9 Steps on How to Use LastPass

Setting up and using LastPass may seem daunting initially, but it’s a straightforward process once you break it down. In the following steps, we’ll guide you through everything from choosing the right subscription plan to mastering key features like password generation and autofill. Whether you’re new to LastPass or need a refresher, this step-by-step guide will help you get the most out of this powerful password manager.

Step 1: Choose a LastPass Subscription Plan

• Select the subscription plan from the LastPass website that best fits your needs, such as Free, Premium, Families, Teams, or Business.

• Click “Get Started” or “Start Free Trial” based on your choice.

Step 2: Create a LastPass Account

You can start by choosing a plan first, but if you want to start with your free trial, follow the steps below:

1. After choosing your plan, you’ll be prompted to create an account.
2. Enter your email address and create a strong master password. Remember, this master password is crucial as it unlocks your LastPass vault. Make sure it’s both strong and memorable.
3. Confirm your email address via the verification email sent to your inbox.

Step 3: Install the LastPass Browser Extension

Once your account is set up, you must install the LastPass browser extension for easier access.

1. Visit the LastPass download page.
2. Choose your preferred browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) and follow the prompts to add the extension.
3. After installation, log in to the extension with your new LastPass credentials.

Step 4: Set Up Your LastPass Vault

1. After logging in through the extension, you’ll be directed to your LastPass Vault.

2. The Vault stores all your saved passwords, notes, and other secure information.
3. To start adding passwords, click “Add Item” and fill in the details for your accounts (e.g., website URL, username, and password).

Step 5: Import Existing Passwords

1. If you have passwords saved in your browser or another password manager, you can import them into LastPass.
2. Go to your Vault, click “Advanced Options,” and select “Import.”
3. Follow the instructions to import from your preferred source, whether it’s a CSV file or directly from your browser.

Step 6: Enable Autofill & Save New Passwords

1. LastPass makes it easy to save new passwords. When you log into a new site, LastPass will prompt you to save the credentials.
2. Enable Autofill so LastPass automatically enters your login information on your saved sites. This can be managed through the extension settings.

Step 7: Set Up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

1. For added security, set up MFA to require a second verification form when accessing your Vault.
2. In your Vault, go to “Account Settings,” then “Multifactor Options.”

3. Choose your preferred MFA method (e.g., Google Authenticator, LastPass Authenticator) and follow the setup process.

Step 8: Share Passwords Securely

1. If you need to share passwords with team members or family, LastPass allows you to do so securely.
2. Go to your Vault, find the password you wish to share, and click the share icon.
3. Enter the recipient’s email address. They’ll receive a secure link to access the shared credentials.

Step 9: Access LastPass on Mobile Devices

• LastPass is also available on mobile devices through its app.
• Download the LastPass app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android).
• Log in with your LastPass credentials and sync your Vault for mobile access.

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to mastering LastPass and securing your digital life.

For more detailed comparisons and reviews of password managers, including alternatives like Dashlane and 1Password, check out this article on eSecurity Planet.

How Businesses Can Benefit from LastPass

Many other password managers are available on the market, like Bitwarden, but LastPass stands out as a top choice for many organizations. Here’s how businesses can benefit from integrating LastPass into their operations.

Centralized Password Management

LastPass offers a centralized platform for storing and managing passwords across the organization. This means that all employees, from entry-level staff to executives, can securely store and access their passwords in one place. For IT administrators, this centralization simplifies the management of credentials, ensuring that all accounts are secure and up-to-date.

Enhanced Security Features

Security is paramount for businesses, and LastPass provides multiple layers of protection. With multi-factor authentication (MFA) features, businesses can add more network security beyond just a password. Additionally, LastPass uses AES-256-bit encryption, which ensures that sensitive information is well protected from unauthorized access.

Streamlined Onboarding & Offboarding

Managing employee access to various systems is crucial for businesses, especially during onboarding and offboarding. LastPass allows IT administrators to quickly assign or revoke access to shared credentials, making it easy to manage transitions without compromising security. This is particularly useful in large organizations where managing individual accounts manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Secure Password Sharing

Teams must share access to certain accounts or services in many business environments. LastPass enables secure password sharing without exposing the recipient to the actual password. This feature is ideal for departments that share tools or platforms, ensuring that sensitive credentials are not mishandled or exposed.

Compliance & Auditing

Maintaining compliance with industry regulations and standards is a critical concern for businesses, especially those in the finance, healthcare, or technology sectors. LastPass provides detailed auditing and reporting features, allowing businesses to track and monitor access to critical accounts. This visibility helps organizations ensure that they are meeting compliance requirements and can provide necessary documentation during audits.

Productivity & Efficiency

Password fatigue is a real issue in many organizations, where employees might use weak passwords or repeat passwords across multiple accounts to avoid the hassle of remembering them. LastPass alleviates this problem by allowing users to generate and store complex, unique passwords for every account. The Autofill feature saves time, enabling employees to log in to accounts quickly without compromising security.

Integration with Existing Systems

LastPass integrates seamlessly with various applications and platforms, including popular single sign-on (SSO) solutions, directory services like Active Directory, and various cloud-based applications. This integration capability allows businesses to incorporate LastPass into their security infrastructure with minimal disruption.

Scalability for Growing Businesses

As businesses grow, so do their cybersecurity needs. LastPass is designed to scale with your organization, whether you’re a small business with a handful of employees or a large enterprise with thousands. The ability to easily add new users, manage access rights, and expand security protocols makes LastPass a flexible solution that grows with your company.

With features such as centralized password management, advanced security measures, and streamlined processes, LastPass provides a comprehensive solution for safeguarding your company’s digital assets. As cybersecurity threats evolve, investing in a robust password manager like LastPass is essential to protecting your business. For more information on addressing evolving network security threats, visit this resource on network security threats.

For other insights on password management tools, consider exploring LastPass alternatives or comparing 1Password vs. LastPass to find the best fit for your organization.

6 Best Practices for Using LastPass

LastPass is a powerful tool for managing passwords, but to get the most out of it, it’s important to follow best practices that enhance security and efficiency. Here are six essential practices to use LastPass to its full potential.

Create a Strong Master Password

Your master password is the key to your entire LastPass vault, so it must be strong and unique. Avoid using common words or phrases, and opt for a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. A longer passphrase that’s easy to remember but hard for others to guess is ideal. Once set, do not reuse this password anywhere else.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Adding an extra layer of security through multi-factor authentication (MFA) is crucial. LastPass supports various MFA methods, including Google Authenticator, LastPass Authenticator, and hardware tokens like YubiKey. Enabling MFA ensures that even if your master password is compromised, an additional verification step is required to access your vault.

Use the Security Challenge Regularly

LastPass offers a built-in Security Challenge that evaluates the strength of your passwords and identifies any weak or duplicate passwords. Running this challenge regularly helps you stay on top of your password security by encouraging you to update vulnerable passwords. Addressing the issues identified in the Security Challenge will significantly improve your overall security.

Regularly Update & Audit Your Vault

Regularly reviewing and updating the items in your LastPass Vault is important for maintaining security. Remove outdated or unused accounts, update passwords for critical accounts, and ensure that sensitive notes remain relevant. Auditing your vault also helps you identify accounts requiring additional security measures, like enabling MFA or updating weak passwords.

Use Secure Notes for Sensitive Information

In addition to storing passwords, LastPass allows you to save Secure Notes. These are ideal for storing sensitive information such as software licenses, bank account details, or Wi-Fi passwords. Secure Notes are encrypted and only accessible through your master password, providing a safe place for critical information.

Be Cautious with Password Sharing

LastPass allows you to securely share passwords, which is useful in personal and professional settings. However, only share passwords when necessary and ensure the recipients have MFA enabled on their accounts. Additionally, you can control access permissions, allowing the recipient to use the password without seeing it and adding another security layer.

For a comprehensive overview of the top options available, check out this guide on the best password managers. This resource will help you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various platforms, including LastPass, and determine the best fit for your security needs.

Admin Tips for Effective LastPass Management

As a LastPass administrator, managing your organization’s password security effectively is crucial. Here are three essential tips to help you get the most out of LastPass and keep your company’s data secure:

Detailed Reporting & Alerts

One of the most powerful tools in LastPass for administrators is the ability to monitor user activity through detailed reporting. You can track login attempts, view who shares passwords, and identify any unusual behaviors that might indicate a security issue. By setting up custom alerts, you can be immediately notified of any suspicious activity, allowing you to respond quickly to potential threats. Regularly reviewing these reports ensures you stay informed about your organization’s security posture.

Implement & Enforce Password Policies

LastPass allows you to create and enforce password policies across your organization. As an admin, you can set requirements for password complexity, length, and expiration. Additionally, you can enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users, adding an extra layer of security. By standardizing these practices, you can significantly reduce the risk of weak or compromised passwords, ensuring that all accounts within your organization adhere to the highest security standards.

Shared Folders Feature for Team Collaboration

The Shared Folders feature is invaluable for teams that need to share access to accounts or resources. As an administrator, you can create and manage these folders, controlling who has access and what level of access they have. This feature is useful for managing access to shared tools or services without exposing passwords. It also simplifies revoking access when team members leave the company or change roles, ensuring your sensitive information remains secure.

These tips are designed to help you maximize the effectiveness of LastPass within your organization, ensuring robust security and efficient management of passwords. To dive deeper into LastPass’s administrative features, you can explore this quick helpdesk guide.

Bottom Line: LastPass Strengthens Security

LastPass is an invaluable tool for secure and efficient password management, whether you use it personally or implement it across your organization. This comprehensive LastPass tutorial will guide you in maximizing the benefits of the service. LastPass provides advanced features such as centralized administration, user provisioning, and business compliance reporting. These capabilities make it a top choice for IT managers aiming to strengthen their organization’s security posture and streamline password management.

For further reading, check out our LastPass review for 2024 to learn more.

The post How to Use LastPass: Complete Guide for Beginners appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

Kaspersky and Bitdefender both offer great antivirus and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions, with superior threat detection, response capabilities, and relatively low pricing. While both are excellent solutions for organizations of any size, Bitdefender wins overall with its better cost, core features, privacy, and security. To help you decide, I assessed both vendors’ EDR capabilities, ease of use, security, pricing, and customer support.

• Bitdefender GravityZone: Better EDR solution overall (Starts at $9 per 5 devices for Small Business Security)
• Kaspersky EDR: Better for advanced EDR features (Starts at $25 per 5 devices for EDR Foundations)

Bitdefender vs Kaspersky at a Glance

Monthly Pricing (Billed Annually, 5 Devices minimum)	• Small Business Security: $9 • Business Security: $11 • Business Security Premium: $24	• EDR Foundations: $25 • EDR Optimum: $39
Free Trial	30 days	30 days
Supported OS	Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux	Android, Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux (limited)
Free EDR Tools	Bitdefender Antivirus Free	Home Virus Removal Tool, Rescue Disk
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

Bitdefender GravityZone is ideal for enterprises with specialist security teams, providing more functionality and improving efficiency. Kaspersky EDR’s automation solutions are cost-effective and easy to use, making them ideal for small to medium-sized firms. Yet, they raise privacy issues due to alleged federal security linkages. Overall, Bitdefender is a superior EDR solution. See how these vendors compare below or head directly to my evaluation process.

Bitdefender GravityZone Overview

Better EDR solution overall

Overall Rating: 4.3/5

• Core features: 4.6/5
• Pricing and transparency: 5/5
• Advanced features: 3.8/5
• Ease of use and administration: 4.7/5
• Endpoint security assessment: 3.8/5
• Customer support: 3.6/5

Bitdefender GravityZone is an EDR solution that offers unified protection, detection, and response across the threat lifecycle. It provides layered protection through system hardening, machine learning, and behavioral analysis. GravityZone EDR consistently ranks high in independent security testing, demonstrating its ability to prevent advanced threats and scenarios from being executed.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Real-time attack investigation: Displays the real-time attack chain to rapidly determine the incident’s origin, propagation, and impact.
• Risk management: Identifies vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and risky behaviors, calculates risk ratings, and implements automatic or manual mitigation measures.
• Cross-endpoint correlation: Automatically links attacks across endpoints, grouping incidents to improve reaction time and workflow efficiency.
• Advanced protection layers: Uses Fileless Attack Defense, HyperDetect, and Sandbox Analyzer to prevent advanced attack scenarios from executing.
• Ransomware Mitigation: Generates tamper-proof file copies when suspicious encryption is identified to supplement other protection layers.

Kaspersky EDR Overview

Better for Advanced Features

Overall Rating: 3.8/5

• Core features: 4.1/5
• Pricing and transparency: 4.5/5
• Advanced features: 4/5
• Ease of use and administration: 4/5
• Endpoint security assessment: 2.3/5
• Customer support: 2.1/5

Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response (KEDR) improves IT security by providing EDR capabilities to detect, respond to, and prevent threats. It monitors attack patterns, prevents threats, and works with Kaspersky Enterprise Security EPP or other EPP solutions. KEDR, unlike single endpoint solutions, provides multi-host visibility, powerful detection methodologies, and professional tools for incident analysis and proactive threat hunting.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Continuous centralized event aggregation: Gathers events from all hosts in real time to improve effectiveness against unknown malware and provide complete threat visibility.
• Automatic detection: Detects threats across multiple hosts utilizing heuristic, behavioral, and cloud-based methodologies, providing additional detection levels.
• Manual detection (threat hunting): Browses through aggregated event history to find attack traces, reconstruct kill chains, and identify previously unidentified threats.
• Response actions: Includes conducting incident investigations, performing remote operations such as process kills, quarantining files, and rollback malware impacts with integrated EPP features.
• Prevention policies: Implements hash-based execution denial policies, regulates app execution, and limits access to avoid malware attacks and unauthorized actions.

Better for Pricing: Bitdefender

Business Monthly Pricing	• Small Business Security: $9 • Business Security: $11 • Business Security Premium: $24	• EDR Foundations: $25 • EDR Optimum: $39
Enterprise Pricing	Contact sales	Contact sales
Free Trial	30 days	30 days
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

Winner: Bitdefender provides more features at a cheaper initial cost than Kaspersky, making it a more cost-effective and comprehensive option overall.

Bitdefender provides four packages: Small Business Security, Business Security, Premium, and Enterprise, each with a 30-day free trial. You can compute the plan’s pricing online based on the number of devices and the length of the contract, with exclusive discounts available. Bitdefender’s free edition offers basic antivirus on Windows and Android, and mobile security on iOS, with features that vary depending on the operating system.

Kaspersky’s EDR solution includes two business plans: Foundations and Optimum. Bitdefender’s plans for five devices are considerably cheaper than Kaspersky’s. However, Kaspersky offers a 30-day free trial of their Standard version, which includes a money-back guarantee. Following the trial, you will be charged the annual introductory rate. Offers vary by area and device, but all include numerous scan functions.

Better for Core Features: Bitdefender

Behavioral Analytics
Vulnerability Management
Device Control
Remediation
Incident containment
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Bitdefender outperforms Kaspersky with notably more core EDR feature offerings.

Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security Enterprise stands out with automatic cross-endpoint correlation, integrated EPP, and real-time attack analytics. It includes EDR, XDR, patch management, and disk encryption, giving you a comprehensive picture of your security from a single dashboard. Additionally, Bitdefender Managed Detection and Response improves your internal resources when you don’t have security staff or 24/7 monitoring.

Despite a lower score than Bitdefender, Kaspersky still provides excellent EDR core features. Kaspersky’s EDR Expert provides robust endpoint visibility and automation for threat detection and response, although it lacks iOS antivirus. It features a vulnerability scanner, VPN, anti-phishing tool, and data leak detector. Its upgraded plan, EDR Optimum, improves detection, simplifies investigation, and automates response, protecting against modern threats.

Better for Advanced Features: Kaspersky

Threat Hunting
Rogue Device Discovery
Custom Detection Rules
Incident Triage
Lockdown Mode
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Kaspersky leads in this category because of its more advanced automation features, giving it a slight edge over Bitdefender.

Bitdefender trails Kaspersky in terms of customization options; however, it still allows for modifications to program access and network settings. It provides endpoint isolation, port scan protection and automated response capabilities. While Bitdefender’s vulnerability management lacks Kaspersky’s advanced automation and SOC-focused features, it does assess network threats, trends, and history, which helps with cybersecurity audits and threat management.

Kaspersky excels at automation, making it ideal for small and medium-sized enterprises that lack advanced incident response resources. It provides EDR and Kaspersky anti-targeted attack (KATA) solutions for advanced security operations centers, plus full firewall modifications. Its privacy cleaner clears activity traces, and the automated settings save workload by handling detections and threats. This is a good option for enterprises looking for streamlined protection.

Better for Ease of Implementation: Bitdefender

Documentation
Training Videos
Single Management Console
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Both have straightforward deployment options and comprehensive documentation, but user reviews suggest that Bitdefender is easier to set up.

Bitdefender has a detailed dashboard for managing features and configurations, but it requires a significant learning curve. It works best for larger enterprises with highly skilled personnel and offers response routines for containing and stopping attacks. Bitdefender EDR interfaces with existing antivirus and endpoint protection platforms (EPP). It also provides various deployment options, including upgrading to managed detection and response services.

Kaspersky provides a simple dashboard for easy access and configuration. Its tools provide clear visibility into threats on endpoints, including automatic detections and Indicators of Compromise (IoC) to find hidden attacks. Automated responses offer quick, one-click steps to prevent damage. However, Kaspersky lacks sufficient user reviews to help with implementation and administrative issues.

Best for Security: Bitdefender

MITRE Evaluation for Stopped Tests	12/13	No recent evaluations found
MITRE Detection Visibility Score	91.61%	No recent evaluations found
MITRE Evaluation for Missed Steps	14 missed steps	No recent evaluations found
AV-Test Malware Protection Score (2024)	6/6	6/6
AV-Test Performance Score (2024)	5.5/6	6/6
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

Winner: Bitdefender’s AV-Test results are slightly lower than Kaspersky’s, but it still outperformed the other in the security category, achieving high MITRE ATT&CK evaluation ratings.

Bitdefender excelled in security, leading MITRE ATT&CK assessments with a 91.61% detection rate and blocking 12 out of 13 tests. Its antivirus tool also fared well in independent security testing, receiving a flawless 6/6 for malware protection and a 5.5/6 for performance in AV-Test. The results demonstrate Bitdefender’s excellent overall EDR performance and reliability.

Kaspersky is making major attempts to reestablish trust, but its privacy policy needs improvement. The company has moved data operations to Switzerland and allowed for independent evaluations of its source code and processes. Kaspersky also includes other security features and anti-fraud capabilities. Its antivirus tool garnered high AV-Test scores, with a perfect 6/6 rating for protection and performance.

Best for Customer Support: Bitdefender

Live Chat
Phone Support
Email Support
Live Demo or Training
Community Help
	Visit Bitdefender	Visit Kaspersky

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Winner: Bitdefender beats Kaspersky in terms of customer support as it provides additional channels for assistance.

Bitdefender offers support to users via phone, email, and live chat, as well as an Expert Community and a community forum for further assistance. Regardless of subscription level, all users can get help through live chat and a comprehensive help website. User reviews also show faster, comprehensive assistance through direct communication with the support team compared with Kaspersky.

Kaspersky offers little user evaluations for self-help and can be difficult to contact for support. However, it has a well-organized support center and Premium Support, which includes direct phone access to priority assistance, dedicated technical specialists, longer hours for urgent concerns, and proactive threat alerts. This ensures competent support when required.

Who Shouldn’t Use Bitdefender or Kaspersky?

Bitdefender and Kaspersky provide excellent endpoint protection, but they may not fulfill the unique demands and expectations of some organizations or security teams.

Who Shouldn’t Use Bitdefender

Consider other alternatives if you belong to these groups:

• Users with sluggish device capabilities: Bitdefender’s resource needs may result in degraded performance and slower system speeds.
• Teams needing device optimization: You may be frustrated by a lack of comprehensive optimization capabilities that can improve device performance.
• Businesses without dedicated security personnel: It may be hard to manage the solution properly without trained threat detection and incident response personnel.

Who Shouldn’t Use Kaspersky

If you fall into these categories, opt for a different solution:

• U.S. endpoint product users: Explore other alternatives, as Kaspersky’s operations will be banned in September 2024.
• Businesses with a limited or low EDR budget: Kaspersky’s plans cost more than Bitdefender and other market solutions.
• Companies prioritizing compliance and privacy: Kaspersky’s privacy policy may be tricky for the average consumer to grasp.

3 Best Alternatives to Bitdefender & Kaspersky

If another EDR solution appears to be a better fit, Microsoft Defender, Palo Alto, or Trend Micro may provide you with more suitable security features and solutions.

Monthly Pricing	Contact sales	Contact sales	Contact sales
Free Trial	30 days		30 days
Threat Hunting Features
Threat Remediation
	Visit Microsoft Defender	Visit Palo Alto	Visit Trend Micro

=Yes =No/Unclear =Add-On/Limited

Microsoft Defender for Endpoints

Microsoft Defender XDR detects and responds to endpoints, cloud apps, and identity management with outstanding MITRE scores and user-friendly features. It supports automatic remediation, sandboxing, and connections with Splunk and Bitdefender GravityZone. It’s best suited for Windows-based teams and allows for unmanaged device mapping. They offer a 30-day free trial. Contact their sales for custom pricing.

Palo Alto Cortex XDR

Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex XDR is a modern security platform that excels at sandboxing and forensics tools and receives high MITRE scores. It’s cloud-native, installed as a software agent, and integrates with third-party ticketing systems via an API. It is ideal for large businesses with robust IT or security teams, as it provides automated root cause investigation and configurable detection methods. Custom pricing is available, but they don’t offer a free trial.

Trend Micro Vision One

Trend Micro’s Vision One, or Trend Micro XDR, provides full XDR and attack surface control for the cloud, containers, network, and endpoints. It works with products like Splunk, IBM QRadar, and Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR, which suits various security setups and smaller enterprises. The features include guided investigations and a 30-day free trial and demo. Custom pricing is available upon request.

See our comprehensive review of the other top EDR solution alternatives. Compare their features, use cases, costs, and more.

How I Evaluated Bitdefender vs Kaspersky

To compare Bitdefender and Kaspersky, I created a rubric with six criteria: core and advanced features, cost and transparency, ease of use, endpoint solutions, customer service, and external security assessments. Each criterion contains particular sub-criteria or attributes. I graded both providers on a five-point scale on each factor. Based on these scores, I selected the best provider in every category and overall, then identified their most appropriate use cases.

Core Features – 25%

My evaluation of endpoint protection vendors focused on core capabilities such as behavioral analytics, threat intelligence integrations, vulnerability management, device controls, and remediation options. It also includes incident containment, integrations with other security products, mobile device compatibility, on-premise/cloud/hybrid consoles, machine learning detection, and auto-sandboxing. These components make a reliable endpoint protection.

Pricing & Transparency – 20%

This criterion considers free trials, plan costs for different user types (e.g., SMBs and businesses), and transparent pricing, which includes annual discounts. This is critical for customers because it allows them to comprehend the cost structure, compare possibilities, and make informed decisions based on their budget and requirements.

Advanced Features – 20%

The advanced features category evaluates extra capabilities that improve EDR performance. It includes threat hunting, which actively searches for hidden threats; rogue device discovery, which identifies unauthorized devices; custom detection rules tailored to specific needs; incident triage and prioritization, which effectively manages threats; and lockdown mode, which isolates and contains incidents.

Ease of Use & Administration – 15%

This criterion covers characteristics such as a centralized management panel, updated documentation, and simple installation. Gartner and Capterra’s ratings for integration, deployment, and simplicity of use provided additional insight into the solution’s efficiency. These characteristics demonstrate the simplicity with which the solution can be installed, managed, and used, indicating its overall operational efficiency.

Endpoint Security Assessment – 10%

I examined external security assessments by reviewing MITRE evaluations and AV-Test results. Key data included MITRE’s stopped testing, detection visibility score, missed steps, and AV-Test’s malware protection and performance scores. These independent reviews fully assess a security solution’s effectiveness and dependability, revealing crucial information about its performance.

Customer Support – 10%

I considered the availability of support channels like live chat, phone, and email, as well as live demos and training. I also analyzed user feedback from platforms like Gartner and Capterra to assess support quality and customer service. These criteria evaluate how effective the assistance is and if it provides consistent support and high customer satisfaction.

Bottom Line: Bitdefender vs Kaspersky

Bitdefender GravityZone and Kaspersky EDR cater to various business sizes. Kaspersky is more appropriate for small firms that require low-cost, straightforward solutions. Bitdefender is better suited for mid-sized to large enterprises. However, Kaspersky faces a U.S. ban starting September 2024. Nonetheless, both systems offer you a robust core and advanced endpoint security capabilities, as well as free tools and trials to help you make an informed decision.

Integrate EDR with a password manager to enhance your system’s security and address threat detection with strong credential protection. See our product review of Bitwarden, one of the top password manager solutions, and explore its features, costs, pros, and cons.

Paul Shread contributed to this article.

The post Bitdefender vs Kaspersky: Comparing Top EDR Solutions in 2024 appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

Whether you’re a business or just someone trying to keep track of your online accounts, 1Password is like the Swiss Army knife for password management. It makes dealing with passwords a breeze and tightens your digital life. Let us walk you through some insights into its application in the business environment, the essential steps on how to use 1Password, and offer best practices to ensure optimal network security.

How to Leverage 1Password to Boost Business Security

1Password doesn’t just keep your passwords safe; it also helps your team work together without a hitch, plays nice with other work tools, and has some serious security chops. Here are some ways businesses can leverage 1Password to enhance security and improve operational efficiency:

Scalable, Secure Password Management

1Password’s business plan offers scalable, secure password management trusted by over 100,000 businesses worldwide, providing a centralized platform for storing, managing, and securely accessing all passwords. Its end-to-end encryption ensures that only authorized users can access stored credentials, reducing the risk of weak or reused passwords and maintaining strong, unique passwords across all accounts, effectively safeguarding against cyber threats.

Admin Controls for Enhanced Security

1Password’s admin controls enable businesses to manage employees easily, set permissions, and delegate responsibilities, ensuring that sensitive information is accessible only to those who need it. Administrators can assign roles and create department-specific vaults to compartmentalize data, reducing the risk of exposure during a breach. Additionally, they can swiftly revoke access for departing employees, maintaining security across the organization.

Advanced Reporting for Proactive Security

1Password’s advanced reporting features enable administrators to proactively monitor and address potential risks. These reports highlight compromised employee emails, vulnerable passwords, and other security issues, allowing businesses to take immediate action, such as prompting password changes. Regularly reviewing these reports helps prevent breaches before they occur, safeguarding your business from potential network security threats.

Free Family Accounts for Employees

Security extends beyond the workplace, and 1Password supports this by offering free family accounts to employees under its business plan. By equipping employees to manage their passwords securely at home, businesses can foster a culture of security beyond the office.

When employees practice strong, unique password habits in their personal lives, they are more likely to apply these practices at work, enhancing overall security and reducing the risk of human error that could compromise the business.

Cross-Platform Availability

1Password is available on Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, Chrome OS, and Linux, allowing all employees to securely access the tools they need, regardless of their device. This cross-platform availability enables businesses to maintain consistent security practices across all devices and operating systems, standardizing password management processes and making it easier to implement and enforce strong security protocols throughout the organization.

24/7 Dedicated Business Support

Managing your 1Password account requires access to reliable support, particularly during security issues or when assistance is required. With 1Password’s business plan, you benefit from 24/7 dedicated business support, ensuring expert help is always available for troubleshooting, setting up new features, or managing employee access. This continuous support allows businesses to quickly resolve issues, minimize downtime, and maintain a robust and effective security system.

Essential Steps to Get Started with 1Password

To effectively utilize 1Password, the best enterprise password manager in 2024, it’s essential to follow a structured approach. Follow the steps below to ensure a smooth onboarding experience with 1Password and take control of your digital security.

Step 1: Choose a Subscription Plan

The first step in getting started with 1Password is selecting the right subscription plan that aligns with your needs. 1Password offers several options: individual, family, team, and business plans. Each plan provides different features and levels of support.

Step 2: Set up the Desktop App, Web App & Browser Extension

Once you’ve selected your subscription plan, the next step is to set up your 1Password account across your preferred platforms. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create Your Account: Start by following the on-screen prompts to create your new account. Enter your name and email address, then click “Next.”

2. Set Your Master Password: You’ll be prompted to create a strong master password. This password is crucial as it’s the key to unlocking your vault, so choose something secure and memorable.

3. Retrieve Your Secret Key: After setting up your master password, you’ll receive a unique Secret Key. This key adds an extra layer of security to your account, so be sure to save it in a secure place.

4. Install the Browser Extension: Once your account is set up, you’ll be prompted to install the 1Password browser extension. Click “Get it now” to proceed, and follow the steps to add the extension to your browser (e.g., Chrome).

5. Complete Setup: With the desktop app, web app, and browser extension successfully installed, you can start using 1Password to manage your passwords securely.

Step 3: Start Using 1Password

With the setup complete, you can now begin using 1Password to store and manage your passwords easily. Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with enhanced security and streamlined access to your digital life.

As you explore the features and benefits of 1Password, you might also be interested in how it compares to other top password managers like Dashlane. For a detailed comparison, check out this comprehensive guide.

5 Best Practices for Using 1Password

With cybersecurity being super important, using a strong business password manager like 1Password is necessary for keeping all your private stuff safe. However, simply using the tool is not enough; following best practices is crucial to maximizing its effectiveness and ensuring the highest level of security. Let us walk you through the key strategies for using 1Password to its full potential.

Regularly Update Your Master Password

Your master password is the gateway to all your stored credentials, so keeping it as secure as possible is vital. Updating your master password is a simple yet effective way to enhance security. When creating a new master password, ensure it is strong and unique, consisting of a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters. Don’t use passwords you’ve previously used for other accounts, as this could potentially jeopardize your security in case of an account breach.

By periodically changing your master password, you reduce the risk of unauthorized access to your 1Password account, keeping your data safer from evolving threats.

Use Strong & Unique Passwords for All Entries

One of the fundamental practices when using 1Password is to generate strong, unique passwords for each entry. In the event of a breach, weak or reused passwords pose a significant vulnerability due to their easy guessing or exploitation. 1Password’s built-in password generator allows you to create complex passwords that are difficult to crack, significantly enhancing your overall security.

When adding new entries to 1Password, resist the temptation to reuse passwords across multiple sites. Each account should have its distinct password, reducing the risk that a breach of one account could compromise others.

Review & Clean Up Your Vaults Regularly

Over time, your 1Password vaults can become cluttered with outdated or unnecessary entries. Regularly reviewing and cleaning up your vaults is an important maintenance task that helps keep your password manager organized and efficient. Removing obsolete information reduces clutter and minimizes the risks associated with managing old or unused credentials.

Set aside time periodically to go through your vaults, deleting any entries that are no longer relevant or necessary. This practice helps ensure that your 1Password account remains streamlined and straightforward to navigate, making finding and managing your active credentials simpler.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication for Added Security

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a critical security measure that adds an extra layer of protection to your 1Password account. Even with a compromised master password, 2FA significantly reduces the likelihood of unauthorized access by requiring a second form of verification.

Enabling 2FA on your 1Password account is a straightforward process and substantially boosts your overall security. We recommend activating this feature as part of your standard security practices to safeguard your account with the latest and most effective security measures.

Regularly Backup Your Data

While 1Password offers secure cloud storage, it’s wise to regularly back up your data to ensure you have a copy in case of unforeseen events. Regular backups provide an additional safety net, allowing you to recover your information quickly in case of data loss or corruption.

To back up your 1Password data, you can export and store your vaults securely offline. This ensures you maintain control over your critical information, even if you encounter technical issues or disruptions to cloud services.

When implementing a strong business password manager like 1Password, it’s essential to follow best practices to maximize security. For a comparison of how 1Password stacks up against other options, such as Keeper, you can check out this detailed comparison.

1Password Administrator Tips to Keep in Mind

As an administrator for 1Password, you have several powerful tools at your disposal to enhance security and manage your team’s access effectively. Here are some key tips to help you make the most of 1Password’s features:

Leverage Watchtower for Individual User Reporting

Watchtower is an essential feature for monitoring individual user accounts and ensuring their security. It provides real-time alerts and detailed reports on compromised passwords, security vulnerabilities, and other critical issues. To use Watchtower effectively:

• Monitor Security Alerts: Regularly check Watchtower for notifications about compromised passwords or vulnerable entries. Address these issues promptly to maintain a secure environment.
• Encourage Regular Reviews: Prompt users to review their security status and update their passwords as needed. This helps prevent potential breaches and keeps your data safe.
• Educate Users: Provide guidance on using Watchtower’s features, ensuring that all team members are aware of their importance and know how to respond to alerts.

For a comparison of Watchtower with similar features from other password managers, such as Bitwarden, check out this comparison.

Utilize Insight for Advanced Reporting

If you’re on the Business tier, take advantage of 1Password’s advanced reporting features through Insights. These tools offer a comprehensive view of your organization’s security posture and help you manage potential risks more effectively:

• Access Detailed Reports: Use Insights to generate reports on compromised employee emails, vulnerable passwords, and overall security trends. This data helps you identify areas for improvement and take proactive measures.
• Analyze Security Metrics: Review metrics and trends to better understand your organization’s security landscape. This lets you make informed decisions about policy changes or additional training requirements.
• Act on Insights: Regularly review and act on the information provided by Insights. Address any vulnerabilities or issues highlighted in the reports to enhance your security posture.

Bottom Line: Using 1Password for Business Growth

1Password is a powerful tool for managing passwords and securing sensitive information. Whether you’re an individual looking to simplify your password management or a business seeking advanced security features, 1Password offers a range of solutions to meet your needs.

For more information on 1Password and its features, you can explore additional resources such as 1Password reviews, password manager comparisons, and network security insights.

The post How to Use 1Password: Guide to Getting Started appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

• Dashlane: Better for large businesses with an emphasis on security and secrets management ($8 per user per month for Business license; contact for Enterprise pricing)
• LastPass: Better for small businesses with an emphasis on affordability and usability ($4 per user per month for Teams license; $7 per user per month for Business license)

Dashlane vs LastPass at a Glance

Monthly Price (Billed Annually)	• Business: $8/user • Enterprise: Call for quote	• Teams: $4/user • Business: $7/user • Enterprise: Call for quote
Free Trial (Business)	14 days	14 days
Breach History	None	Yes, last one in 2022
Single Sign-On Support	Yes, included with license	Yes, for up to 3 apps Purchase an add-on for unlimited support
CLI Secrets Management	Yes	No
Local Apps	iOS, Android	iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Linux
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Dashlane has a clean breach history, offers developer secrets management, and includes unlimited SSO support with its Business license. However, it lacks a smaller-scale teams plan and no longer has a dedicated desktop app. LastPass is more affordable and supports local apps for all major platforms, but it has been breached several times, most recently in 2022. My complete scoring methodology is below, or keep reading for an overview of each product.

Dashlane Overview

Better for Large Businesses with an Emphasis on Security

Overall Rating: 3.7/5

• Core features: 4.1/5
• Security: 4.1/5
• Ease of use & implementation: 3.9/5
• Advanced features: 3.3/5
• Customer support: 3.8/5
• Pricing: 2.5/5

Dashlane is used by thousands of companies around the globe. It stands out for its 24/7 dark web monitoring, phishing alerts, secrets management, and unlimited passkey support. Dashlane uses zero-knowledge architecture and AES 256-bit data encryption. It’s never been breached. Thanks to its clean interface and generally straightforward setup, it’s a good choice for those who are new to password management software.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Single sign-on (SSO): Dashlane Business includes its Confidential SSO. Alternatively, you can use a self-hosted SSO.
• Dark web monitoring: Dashlane monitors the dark web for affected email addresses and associated personal information like credit cards and Social Security numbers.
• Secrets management: Store and share sensitive information within a secure vault, or use the command line interface to manage files, change settings, or automate tasks.
• VPN: Dashlane has an integrated VPN to protect users who browse unsecured WiFi networks and open access to region-locked content.
• Customer support: Dashlane offers email support seven days a week, as well as on-demand phone support and live chat during East Coast business hours.

Our complete Dashlane review has more information on pricing, features, ease of use, and support availability.

LastPass Overview

Better for Smaller Teams with an Emphasis on Usability

Overall Rating: 3.7/5

• Core features: 4.1/5
• Security: 3.1/5
• Ease of use & implementation: 4.5/5
• Advanced features: 2.8/5
• Customer support: 4.1/5
• Pricing: 3.1/5

LastPass is well-known for its ease of use and overall affordability, making it another sound option for smaller companies that aren’t versed in password management software. However, it does offer admins flexibility in setting user permissions and security policies. Despite its breach history, many businesses today still rely on LastPass for its dark web monitoring, SIEM integrations, and secure sharing. It offers 24/7 customer service via phone and web.

Pros & Cons

Key Features

• Policy management rules: LastPass Teams comes with 25 custom access and authentication policies. That increases to over 100 with LastPass Business.
• Dark web monitoring: LastPass searches for hashed versions of email addresses for possible breaches and sends a notification if anything has been detected.
• Advanced reporting: With a LastPass Business license, admins can generate reports on user activity, SSO, SAML events, and more.
• Offline mode: Download the LastPass app, and you’ll be able to access your data without an internet connection. It supports iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• 24/7 live support: If you’re in a bind, you can reach out to LastPass via phone or email at any time for help from an agent.

Our LastPass review has more information on core features, security, usability, and support options.

Better for Pricing: LastPass

Teams Monthly Pricing	N/A	$4/user for up to 50 users
Business Monthly Pricing	$8/user	$7/user
Enterprise Pricing	Contact for quote	Contact for quote
Free Version	Yes; stores up to 25 passwords	Yes; stores unlimited passwords
Free Trial for Business	14 days	14 days
Billing Options	Annual	Annual
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: The availability of an affordable Teams plan gives LastPass the edge over Dashlane, which recently discontinued its budget-friendly small business tier.

Dashlane eliminated its 10-user Teams plan and now only offers a Business tier at $8 per user per month plus an Enterprise tier with custom pricing. While large organizations may be able to afford this, it could price out small teams with limited runway, especially since all plans must be paid for the year up-front. The free version of Dashlane includes storage for 25 passwords, passwordless login, and secure notes with 1GB of encrypted storage for one device/user.

LastPass also exclusively bills by the year, but it has a Teams plan that costs $4 per user per month for up to 50 users. LastPass Business ($7 per user per month) supports unlimited seats, with optional add-ons for SSO and MFA support at up to $10 per user per month. An enterprise plan is available via quote. LastPass Free is limited to one user and device type and only includes 50MB of storage, but it can store as many passwords as you need.

Better for Core Features: Tie

Single Sign-On	Included in Business license	Limited with Business; full support requires add-on fees
Developer Secrets Management	Yes	No
Group Sharing	Yes	Yes (Business only)
Data Migration	Import/export across other password managers; migrate between personal and business accounts	Import/export across other password managers; migrate between personal and business accounts
Local App Support	iOS, Android	Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: It’s a close call, as Dashlane and LastPass include a strong selection of features in their business plans. Dashlane has a slight edge for flexibility in developer secrets management and unlimited SSO support without the need for an add-on.

Dashlane Business features unlimited SSO support and integrates with major IdPs such as Okta, Azure, and Google Workspace. Although it may not offer the policy management settings of LastPass, Dashlane provides flexibility for admins and developers through its CLI for secrets management and automated workflows. Other core features of Dashlane Business include unlimited secure group sharing, a password health dashboard, and activity logging.

LastPass Teams offers 25 customizable security policies, an offline mode through its mobile and desktop apps, and shared folders. Upgrading to LastPass Business increases this to over 100 custom policies and adds API access, advanced reports, and SSO for up to three applications. Unlimited SSO support costs an extra $2 per user per month, while bundling it with MFA for contextual authentication and Windows/Mac workstation MFA adds $10 per user per month.

Better for Advanced Features: Dashlane

Command Line Interface	Yes	Yes
Passkey Support	Unlimited	No
Dark Web Monitoring	Real-time monitoring for compromised email addresses and other personal info	Real-time monitoring for compromised email addresses
Custom Session Length	No; auto log-out after 15, 30, or 60 minutes	Yes
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: Dashlane gets the victory here for its passkey support and a broader focus on monitoring the dark web for personal information.

Dashlane supports unlimited passkeys on its browser extension and mobile apps. All Dashlane users receive real-time dark web monitoring for up to five email addresses. It scans the dark web for personal information related to your email such as usernames, Social Security numbers, and credit cards. When your information is detected in a breach, Dashlane immediately sends a notification and offers smart suggestions for changing your details.

LastPass does not support passkeys, but it does give admins more flexibility than Dashlane in customizing session lengths beyond fixed time amounts. It also offers real-time dark web monitoring for up to 200 email addresses and allows businesses to configure policy settings within an organization. LastPass monitors a hashed version of an email address and checks against breaches up to one year prior to signing up for the service.

Better for Security: Dashlane

Breach History	Clean	Multiple breaches, most recently in 2022
Zero-Trust Architecture	Yes	Yes
Account Recovery	Recovery key, biometrics	Recovery key, biometrics, SMS, hints
Third-Party Vendor Audits	Confirmed	Confirmed
Password Dashboard	Yes	Yes
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: Dashlane’s clean breach history is likely the deciding factor for businesses that handle a lot of sensitive info and organizations that are strict about data security.

Dashlane has a zero-trust architecture with bank-grade encryption and has never been the victim of a security breach. Users can access the password health dashboard, which analyzes logins and highlights which ones are weak, reused, or compromised. If your business decides to leave the platform, Dashlane allows you to export your data and promises to purge it from their database. While Dashlane does undergo regular third-party audits, it doesn’t provide specifics.

LastPass offers more account recovery options than Dashlane, including a recovery key, biometrics, SMS, and master password hints. It secures your data using a zero-knowledge model and AES 256-bit encryption and features a password dashboard. However, despite these measures, LastPass has experienced multiple breaches between 2015 and 2022, which may concern companies handling large volumes of highly sensitive data.

Better for Usability & Administration: LastPass

Developer Community	Yes, on Reddit	Yes, self-hosted forums
Documentation	Plenty	Plenty
Custom Activity Reports	Yes, with integration	Yes, with Business
Onboarding Sessions	Yes (Enterprise)	Yes (Business & Enterprise)
G2 Ease of Use Score	87%	86%
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: LastPass has a slightly better balance of ease-of-use and greater admin privileges.

Dashlane is regarded as an easy-to-use password manager, making it a good choice for organizations new to this type of software. Seek advice from the Dashlane community on Reddit or browse an extensive library of how-to videos and step-by-step guides. Onboarding assistance is limited to Dashlane Enterprise. Despite some minor glitches with the autofill, Dashlane offers a seamless UX across its mobile platform and browser client.

LastPass is another user-friendly platform with a near-flawless UX across devices, but its more flexible policy management options and broader reporting capabilities could be appealing to companies with complex needs. (On the other hand, this might make deployment slightly more complicated versus Dashlane.) Onboarding is included for business and enterprise plans; additional help is available through user forums and an extensive self-service knowledge base.

Better for Customer Support: LastPass

Support Channels	Chat, email, phone, Reddit	Email, phone, forums
Live Support Hours	9 am to 6 pm ET Monday-Friday;Email 7 days a week	24/7
Live Demo	Yes	Yes
Dedicated Customer Service Representative	Yes, with Enterprise	Yes, with Business & Enterprise
	Visit Dashlane	Visit LastPass

Winner: All-hours phone support gives LastPass the advantage here, although Dashlane’s quality of support is rated a bit more favorably.

All Dashlane Business users can speak to a live agent via chat, call a representative, or submit an email ticket. Live support hours are from 9 am to 6 pm ET on weekdays, but you can use the chatbot or visit Reddit anytime for less urgent matters. Dashlane Enterprise includes access to a dedicated customer service representative in addition to onboarding assistance. Overall, Dashlane support has a decent reputation, although some users wish it was more timely.

LastPass offers 24/7 on-demand phone support, ensuring you can reach a live person at any time. Other support channels include email tickets and the LastPass forums. LastPass Business users have access to a dedicated customer service manager during onboarding, a service not available with LastPass Teams. Despite live help at all hours, the quality of support is rated slightly lower than Dashlane’s, with several users wishing for a live chat option for quick queries.

Who Shouldn’t Use Dashlane & LastPass?

Dashlane and LastPass have their merits, but neither option might answer your organization’s most essential network security needs.

Who Shouldn’t Use Dashlane

If you identify with the following scenarios, consider a Dashlane alternative:

• Small teams looking for a solid free or team-based plan: Dashlane eliminated its team plan and only offers one business plan at $8 per user per month. Dashlane Free is incredibly barebones.
• Admins seeking greater customization options: Other password managers provide more options for policy management and user permissions, though Dashlane’s CLI helps offer some leeway.
• Users who want a local desktop app: The lack of a desktop app may deter those who prefer not to rely on an internet connection for access. (Offline access is available through Dashlane’s iOS and Android apps.)

Who Shouldn’t Use LastPass

Look for an alternative to LastPass if any of these scenarios relates to you:

• Enterprises with heavy volumes of sensitive data: It’s understandable if such companies would feel more at ease going with a password manager that hasn’t had as many breaches as LastPass over the course of a decade.
• Companies that rely on passkeys: LastPass doesn’t offer support for passkeys, which is a glaring omission given how many of its competitors do this.
• Organizations seeking specific advanced features: Its core feature set is sound, but unlimited SSO and MFA support cost extra, while travel mode and guest access aren’t available at all.

3 Best Alternatives to Dashlane & LastPass

Many organizations consider Dashlane and LastPass to be the best password managers for their needs, but what if neither is the right fit for your team? 1Password, Keeper, and Bitwarden are the top alternatives to check out for more advanced features or lower monthly rates.

Monthly Pricing (Billed Annually)	• Teams: $19.95 for up to 10 users • Business: $7.99/user	• Business Starter: $2/user (up to 10 users) • Business: $3.75/user	• Teams: $4/user • Enterprise: $6/user
Enterprise Plan	Yes, quote only	Yes, quote only	Yes, $6/user/month; quote for large-scale enterprises
Free Trial	14 days	14 days	7 days
Key Features	Guest account, travel mode, custom reports and groups, up to 5GB of storage per user	Passwordless login, SCIM provisioning, policy engine and enforcements	Open-source code, public APIs, IAM integration, security key support
	Visit 1Password	Visit Keeper	Visit Bitwarden

1Password

1Password is a top-rated password manager that has a robust set of core features plus desirable extras such as guest accounts, travel mode, custom reporting, and secrets management via CLI. It’s never been breached and has a strong developer community. While it’s easy to use overall, some users warn of an obvious learning curve.

Choose the Teams plan ($19.95 per month for 10 users), a Business plan ($7.99 per user per month), or Enterprise plan (quote only). It comes with a 14-day risk-free trial. For a more secure option than LastPass and a more robust feature set than Dashlane, 1Password is your best bet.

Our Dashlane vs 1Password analysis puts these two password managers head-to-head, or read our 1Password review to learn all about what it has to offer.

Keeper

Keeper suits small businesses, enterprises alike, and managed service providers. It’s user-friendly yet doesn’t skimp on functionality. Native features include dark web monitoring, activity reporting, and encrypted vaults with up to 5GB of storage per user. You can add an encrypted messaging app, secrets management, and dark web monitoring.

Keeper is among the least expensive PMs out there. The Teams plan is $2 per user per month for up to 10 seats, and the Business plan is $3.75 per user monthly. The add-ons could render the affordability point moot, but they also make Keeper more scalable than Dashlane or LastPass.

Take a look at our Keeper Password Manager review for an in-depth look at its core functionality, security features, pricing, and user support. You can also check out our Keeper vs LastPass comparison to see how they stack up against each other.

Bitwarden

Bitwarden is particularly suited to teams that are comfortable with using an open-source platform that has a level of malleability Dashlane and LastPass don’t have. Standard features include event and audit logs, user groups, and unlimited sharing. Upgraded plans add passwordless SSO, self-hosting capabilities, and SCIM support.

Monthly prices for Bitwarden range from $4/user with the Teams plan and $7/user for Enterprise, with custom plans for much larger organizations. That said, Bitwarden is well-suited to IT admins that like to be more hands-on with their password management solutions.

Learn why we consider Bitwarden to be among the best Dashlane and LastPass alternatives in our full Bitwarden review, which covers pricing, features, and more.

How I Compared Dashlane & LastPass

I assessed Dashlane and LastPass through a scoring rubric I created that details the six essential areas businesses should focus on most when selecting a password manager: core features, security, ease of use, advanced features, user support, and pricing. Each product received a final score (out of 5) based on a weighted system. There were also individual category winners, with LastPass outscoring Dashlane in four areas.

Core Features – 25%

This category holds the most weight since a password manager’s core features are key to its success. This encompasses must-have functions such as 2FA/MFA, activity monitoring, autofill, migration support, secure sharing, and policy management. I also compared each software’s level of compatibility across devices and operating systems to gauge its versatility.

Security – 20%

Companies rely on password managers to add another layer of protection for sensitive data. Here, I took a look at Dashlane and LastPass’s encryption standards, master password protection, third-party audit reports, and security architecture. I also considered breach history since this can greatly influence an organization’s level of trust in such a product.

Ease of Use & Implementation – 20%

A password manager should not only be secure but also accessible enough for employees to integrate into their daily workflow. Thus, I evaluated each platform’s knowledge base and vetted G2 reviews regarding ease of use. The other half of this category covers the admin side of things: ease of deployment, activity reports, security policy management, and user provisioning.

Advanced Features – 15%

Businesses with specific needs benefit from a password manager with advanced features for increased protection of their data. For this category, I considered perks like guest accounts, dark web monitoring, and passkeys — as well as a CLI and integration with GitHub and GitLab for administrators who want to customize and automate their systems.

Customer Support – 10%

In the event of an emergency, organizations want to know they can turn to a reliable support team for help. I evaluated the availability of Dashlane and LastPass’s live support channels, self-help portals, and real-time status reports. To gauge each platform’s quality of customer support, I vetted reviews from G2. 

Pricing – 10%

I reviewed the pricing structures of each software for businesses of all sizes, from small teams to large enterprises. Additionally, I considered the availability of a free-for-life plan (possibly useful for solopreneurs), a trial period, and flexible billing options.

Bottom Line: Dashlane vs LastPass

In the showdown between Dashlane and LastPass, the better password manager will come down to your needs. Larger companies that handle sensitive data and rely on passkeys would prefer Dashlane for its emphasis on security and clean breach history. Small businesses seeking an accessible platform with all-hours support at a reasonable price may prefer LastPass. Ultimately, the best way to find out is to sign up for a free trial or request a demo.

Password managers are only one piece of the puzzle. Learn which other network security solutions to implement to protect your company from the most common network security threats.

The post Dashlane vs Lastpass: 2024 Password Manager Comparison appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

Top Cybersecurity Companies

The following table compares our top 20 providers, including the number of times they’ve made it into one of our buyer’s guides.

Palo Alto Networks

Best Protection Against Network, Endpoint & Remote Asset Attacks

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California

Founded: 2005

Annual Revenue: $7.52 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 14

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) delivers a broad portfolio of security products and a long history of top scores in rigorous independent security tests. Known for strong next-generation firewalls (NGFW) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) products, it also ranks for network security tools, zero trust, extended detection and response (XDR), IoT security, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), and secure access service edge (SASE).

While known primarily for its comprehensive cybersecurity solutions, Palo Alto managed a top-four finish in the first MITRE managed security tests, showing that it’s no slouch in security services either. Its security product tests have been consistently excellent, including in the latest MITRE endpoint security tests and CyberRatings firewall tests. Analysts predict that the 19-year-old firm will grow its annual revenue at an 18% rate over the next five years.

Fortinet

Best for Network Security Perimeter Protection

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California

Founded: 2000

Annual Revenue: $5.3 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 15

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) turned its firewall expertise into leadership positions in NGFW, web application firewalls (WAF), unified threat management (UTM) and adjacent markets like software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) and enterprise virtual private networks (VPNs). Analysts project a 14.6% annual growth rate for the next five years.

The network security vendor doesn’t shy away from rigorous testing, and customer satisfaction ratings are high in key areas like product capabilities, value, ease of use, and support. This also helps Fortinet make inroads into small business markets.

Cisco

Best for Integrated Network Security

Headquarters: San Jose, California

Founded: 1984

Annual Revenue: $57.2 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 16

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) pioneered networking and developed its network security offerings through internal development and acquisition. Splunk provided the headline acquisition in 2023, but Cisco also acquired Isovalent, Lightspin, Oort, and Working Group Two.

Cisco’s existing networking customers primarily drive the adoption of its security solutions for built-in compatibility with existing infrastructure. Still, Cisco earned a spot on our top security product lists such as network detection and response and zero trust.

CrowdStrike

Best for Endpoint Security & Services

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California

Founded: 2011

Annual Revenue: $3.4 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 8

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) builds off of its strength in endpoint protection to offer solutions for XDR, MDR, vulnerability management as a service (VMaaS), and cloud security posture management (CSPM). Analysts predict five-year revenue growth of 31.8% and it earns high marks in both MITRE’s technical and MSSP evaluations.

Zscaler

Best for Cloud Security

Headquarters: San Jose, CA

Founded: 2007

Annual Revenue: $1.9 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 5

Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) delivers cloud security and edge security through a cloud-native platform that transforms IT infrastructure from castle-and-moat networks to distributed, zero trust environments. Analysts see promise in this model and forecast a 5-year growth rate of 38.2%. Other top solutions provided by Zscaler include secure web gateways (SWGs) and deception tools.

IBM

Best for Advanced Encryption

Headquarters: Armonk, New York

Founded: 1911

Annual Revenue: $61.9 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 13

IBM’s biggest strength might be its research depth, which drives advances in areas like homomorphic encryption. Big Blue (NYSE: IBM) earns mention for unified endpoint management (UEM), SOAR, SIEM, encryption, database security, threat intelligence platform, single sign-on, and managed security service providers (MSSPs).

Trend Micro

Best for Small Businesses

Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan

Founded: 1988

Annual Revenue: $1.3 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 14

Trend Micro (OTC: TMICY) customers cite high value and ease of use across a portfolio of tools such as antivirus, full disk encryption, cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP), and intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPSs). With $1.3 billion in revenue, Trend Micro continues to grow steadily past its status as a first-gen antivirus vendor.

Okta

Best for Access Management

Headquarters: San Francisco

Founded: 2009

Annual Revenue: $2.3 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 3

Okta (NASDAQ: OKTA) delivers leading identity and access management (IAM) and zero trust solutions. With easy to use, deploy, and manage products, Okta continues to attract security buyers, and analysts project a long-term expected growth rate of 25% despite several highly publicized breaches.

OneTrust

Best for Privacy and Compliance

Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia

Founded: 2016

Annual Revenue: $0.4 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 2

OneTrust (private) is an eight-year-old privacy compliance technology startup that has ridden data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA to rapid growth. The company provides solutions to quantify and assess the risks associated with data exposure and earns places on our risk management, third-party risk management, and hot cybersecurity startups lists.

Rapid7

Best for Integrated Vulnerability & Threat Management

Headquarters: Boston, Mass.

Founded: 2000

Annual Revenue: $0.8 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 10

The Rapid7 (NASDAQ: RPD) security portfolio builds on a strong base in vulnerability detection and management and adds SIEM and threat detection capabilities. An emphasis on pricing transparency, value, and ease of use drives growth that analysts project will reach 52% over the next five years. That combination has landed Rapid7 on 10 of our top product lists, with vulnerability management being a major highlight.

Proofpoint

Best for End User Data Security

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California

Founded: 2002

Annual Revenue: $1.1 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 7

Proofpoint (private) focuses on securing end users with a product portfolio that includes cloud access security broker (CASB), data loss prevention (DLP), zero trust, threat intelligence, email security, and email gateways. The company cleared the $1 billion revenue mark before Thoma Bravo took it private in 2021.

Tenable

Best for Vulnerability Management

Headquarters: Columbia, Maryland

Founded: 2002

Annual Revenue: $0.8 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 9

Tenable (NASDAQ: TENB) seeks to reduce the attack surface through a portfolio of solutions that includes vulnerability management, vulnerability scanning, patch management, cloud security, Active Directory security, pen testing, and breach and attack simulation. The focus on enabling critical, yet difficult to achieve, security processes earns Tenable strong positive reviews across their portfolio.

KnowBe4

Best for Security Awareness Training

Headquarters: Clearwater, Florida

Founded: 2010

Annual Revenue: $0.2 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 2

KnowBe4 (private) gained first mover advantage in cybersecurity training – a critically important practice for reducing the source of most cyberattacks. The training enjoys very positive customer reviews, which drives success and motivated the $4.6 billion take-private acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in February 2023.

Darktrace

Best for AI-Powered Security

Headquarters: Cambridge, UK

Founded: 2013

Annual Revenue: $0.5 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 1

The UK-based venture between British intelligence agencies and Cambridge mathematicians, Darktrace (LSE: DARK), pioneers AI-based security. Their quality earns a top spot for NDR tools, but the product often challenges categorization with both security and operations features for prevention, detection, incident response, and automated healing.

Check Point

Best for Firewalls

Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Israel, and San Carlos, California

Founded: 1993

Annual Revenue: $2.4 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 11

Check Point (NASDAQ: CHKP), the 30-year-old firewall pioneer, offers a complete security portfolio that ranks highly on independent security tests (MITRE, etc.). It offers strong security and value through traditional solutions such as firewalls, gateways, UTM, DLP, and encryption, as well as a strong service portfolio.

In addition to incident response and threat intelligence services, Check Point continues to invest in software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers and recently acquired both Atmosec and Perimeter81.

Sophos

Best for Home and Small Office Security

Headquarters: Abingdon, United Kingdom

Founded: 1985

Annual Revenue: $0.6 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 10

Sophos (private), founded in the 1980s, provides both consumer antivirus and enterprise solutions for WAF, NGFW, UTM, EDR, cloud workload protection platform (CWPP), encryption, XDR, MDR, and ransomware removal. Thoma Bravo took the company private in 2020, with services being a major focus area under the new ownership.

Customer reviews have been among the best on this list, showing plenty of demand for products that offer good security, value, and ease of use.

Broadcom

Best for Endpoint Management

Headquarters: San Jose, California

Founded: 1991

Annual Revenue: $35.8 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 12

Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) offers a robust portfolio of security solutions such as CASB, DLP, SASE, SD-WAN, and zero trust. However, their product and service mix continues to shift as they attempt to digest acquisition brands such as Symantec’s enterprise security tools and VMware’s portfolio that also includes Carbon Black.

Trellix

Best for Combined XDR & Cloud Needs

Headquarters: San Jose, California

Founded: 2022 (Trellix), 1987 (McAfee), 2004 (FireEye)

Annual Revenue: Privately held

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 6

Trellix focuses on its core network security market and related technology that protects against network threats, such as IDPS, SOAR, and encryption. The company was formed in 2022 when the private equity group Symphony Technology Group (STG) merged technologies and products from FireEye and McAfee Enterprise.

Microsoft

Best for Windows Security

Headquarters: Redmond, Washington

Founded: 1975

Annual Revenue: $227.6 billion

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 13

Microsoft’s (MSFT) continues to build out its security portfolio that already includes IAM, endpoint protection, cloud security services, DDoS protection, database security, and more. In addition to quantity, the solutions also provide quality, with performance near the top of MITRE’s endpoint and MSSP evaluations.

Barracuda Networks

Best for Remote Worker Protection

Headquarters: Campbell, CA

Founded: 2003

Annual Revenue: Private

Appearances on eSecurity Planet‘s Top Vendors lists: 11

Barracuda Networks builds on their pioneering email security products to deliver solutions for WAF, UTM, SASE, and zero trust. The reliable products perform well in testing and customer satisfaction rankings, which also helps place Barracuda in our list of top tools and software for SMBs.

Other Cybersecurity Market Leaders

The cybersecurity industry is loaded with great companies. The following didn’t make our top 20 cybersecurity companies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have great products and services. Some continue to gain traction and in other cases, mergers and private equity takeovers have limited our visibility. But all these vendors make our top product lists and meet the needs of many users.

Methodology

To compile our list, we started with innovation and market leadership, hence our focus on our rigorously researched top security product lists, or buyer’s guides. Consistent performance, revenue, and growth were ranking factors, as were strong independent security test results in a market that’s starved for information. User reviews, product features, benefits and use cases, and analyst reports also played a role in our analysis.

Specialization can be a good thing in cybersecurity, with the likes of CrowdStrike, Okta, and OneTrust high on our list. The vendors at the top of the list shouldn’t surprise longtime readers — Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet continue to impress us — and a number of other vendors have also withstood the test of time.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following questions are some of the most common from individuals researching security technologies and jobs.

What Are the Main Types of Cybersecurity?

While the security industry is broad and nuanced, there are a few widely recognized categories of security:

• Network security: Protects the connections between networks, including data transfers to and from the internet, and hardware like routers and switches.
• Endpoint security: Defends devices like laptops, phones, and servers.
• Application security: Adds protection for software, data, and access at the individual application level.
• Cloud security: Protects cloud environments and data from vulnerabilities and threat actors.

Also note that some security solutions cover multiple categories. Extended detection and response (XDR), for example, pulls alerts from endpoints, networks, and applications into a single console for centralized management.

How Do You Choose a Cybersecurity Company?

Choosing a cybersecurity vendor involves multiple factors, including company focus, integration issues, customer support needs, your team’s skill level, and your budget. Consider the following questions when choosing a cybersecurity vendor:

1. What is the company’s overall focus? If you’re searching for a container security solution, consider a vendor that specializes in cloud and application security.
2. How many of their solutions will you use? If you have software or hardware from another security vendor, do they integrate well? And look at support for other applications too.
3. What are your customer support needs? Signs that a vendor has good technical service include 24/7 support in multiple channels and high praise for the support team in reviews.
4. Can your business afford it? Some smaller businesses might not have the budget for vendors like Palo Alto and CrowdStrike, and that’s okay. There are plenty of providers that have security solutions designed for small companies.

Will Cybersecurity Jobs Become Obsolete?

If you’re a job seeker in the security industry or considering a career change, know that cybersecurity careers aren’t going anywhere. They might continue to change as the industry evolves, but demand for cybersecurity skills and training remains strong. Today’s IT climate requires knowledge of large security platforms, detection and response technologies, and even sometimes distributed systems.Job seekers will need to research the field and curate skills that will be most useful to potential employers. Organizations like EC-Council and CompTIA+ have certifications that provide a springboard for individuals wanting to start a security career. And continued education is critical for staying on top of threats — never stop learning.

What Are the Top Cybersecurity Companies to Work For?

The following companies are a sample of highly rated enterprises with strong security solutions. If you’re job searching or considering a career change, look at open roles with these tech organizations.

SentinelOne offers good benefits and receives 4.4 out of 5 stars on Glassdoor. It is also comparatively small in the security industry, with fewer than a thousand employees. And the company boasts some pretty stellar cybersecurity products too.

Netskope offers flexible spending accounts, a 401(k), and employee stock purchase plans to its personnel. It earns 4.2 stars from Glassdoor employee reviews. Netskope specializes in SASE, CASB, and SD-WAN technology.

Palo Alto Networks has employee benefits like stock purchase plans, development courses, and a 401(k). It earns 4 stars on Glassdoor. Palo Alto has some of the best and broadest security in the entire industry, so there’s lots of opportunity to experience different facets of security.

Fortinet offers benefits like unlimited PTO, a health savings account, and a 401(k) to employees. It, too, has 4 stars on Glassdoor. Fortinet is known for its firewalls but excels elsewhere as well, including in SIEM and EDR.

And don’t forget big IT vendors with a security presence. Cisco (4.3 stars from Glassdoor) and Microsoft (4.2) are two standouts to consider.

And lastly, CyberArk offers an investment program, employee recognition program, and tuition reimbursement. The IAM leader receives 4.3 stars on Glassdoor.

Bottom Line: Top Cybersecurity Companies

The enterprise security market is a wide one, covering a range of technologies and systems that need to be protected. Some vendors offer a variety of products, while others specialize in just one or two.

To choose a potential provider for your business, consider your needs first before searching for the right fit. While all the vendors listed above offer strong solutions, it’s worth the effort to research and demo products until you find one well suited to your organization’s cybersecurity needs.

Crave more insight into the cybersecurity companies in the market? Read about the top cybersecurity startups.

Drew Robb, Jenna Phipps, and Chad Kime contributed to this research report.

The post Top 39 Cybersecurity Companies You Need to Know 2024 appeared first on eSecurity Planet.

Here are the top six vulnerability management systems:

• Tenable Nessus and Tenable Vulnerability Management: Best overall
• Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management: Best for Microsoft environments
• Rapid7 InsightVM: Best solution for enterprise needs
• Qualys VMDR: Best for organizations with complex infrastructures
• Holm Security: Best tool for improving employee security posture
• Digital Defense Fortra VM: Best for SMB vulnerability testing

Top Vulnerability Management Software Compared

The following table briefly compares our top picks, including features like asset categorization and risk scores as well as pricing details.

	Asset Grouping	Risk Scoring	IoT Asset Identification	Pricing
Tenable Nessus & Tenable Vulnerability Management				• Nessus Professional plan: $3,990/year • Nessus Expert plan: $5,990/year • Tenable VM: $3,500 for 100 assets • Tenable VM: $7,000 for 200 assets
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management				• Standalone product: $3/user/month • Defender for Endpoint add-on: $2/user/month
Rapid7 InsightVM				• $1.93/asset/month for 500 assets
Qualys VMDR				• Priced per asset; requires quote request
Holm Security				• Requires quote request
Digital Defense Frontline VM				• Requires quote request

While all these products are strong vulnerability management solutions, I found Tenable to be the best based on its features, pricing, and overall capabilities. Read more about our picks for the top vulnerability management products, or jump down to see how I evaluated them across six different categories.

Tenable Nessus & Tenable Vulnerability Management – Best Overall Vulnerability Management Solution

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Overall Rating: 4.2/5

• Pricing: 3.5/5
• Core features: 4.7/5
• Additional features: 3.5/5
• Ease of use and admin: 4/5
• Customer support: 4.2/5
• Integrations and customization: 5/5

Tenable Vulnerability Management is a vulnerability assessment solution for both businesses and security contractors. It’s built on Nessus, Tenable’s scanning solution, and offers features like role-based access controls, as well as asset grouping to simplify threat remediation for similar issues. SMBs, developers, pen testers, and consultants will find Nessus Expert useful, and features like external attack surface scanning have broad appeal.

Visit Tenable Nessus

Pros

• Designed for contractors like pen testers
• 24/7 advanced support available as an add-on
• Good option for small businesses

Cons

• Might not serve all the needs of large businesses
• Nessus Pro and Expert trials are only 7 days
• Lacks some features like IoT asset identification

Pricing

Tenable Nessus offers two plans:

• Professional: $3,990/year
• Expert: $5,990/year
• Support pricing: Advanced customer support requires add-on pricing
• Free trial: 7 days for Nessus

Tenable Vulnerability Management is priced by asset:

• 100 assets: $3,500
• 200 assets: $7,000
• More than 250 assets: Contact for quote

Key Features

• Third-party integrations: Splunk, Fortinet, and Palo Alto are highlights.
• Role-based access controls: Customers can choose to enable these if they like.
• Asset grouping: Asset lists help to logically organize assets by business function.
• Preconfigured templates: Nessus offers over 450 prebuilt vulnerability templates.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Because Nessus lacks a couple advanced VM features, it’s not the best choice for enterprises. If you’re a large business, consider a product like Holm Security, which offers features like IoT asset identification and some patch management functionality.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management – Best Tool for Extensive Microsoft Ecosystems

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Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Pricing: 5/5
• Core features: 3.6/5
• Additional features: 4/5
• Ease of use and admin: 4.2/5
• Customer support: 4.3/5
• Integrations and customization: 4.3/5

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is a VM product that makes sense for existing Microsoft customers, but it can stand on its own, too. Microsoft’s security business is impressive, if its recent MITRE scores are any indication, and it offers features like app blocking. Defender VM also integrates with plenty of other Microsoft products, including Microsoft Sentinel. Consider Defender if you want to build out your Windows security infrastructure.

Visit Microsoft Defender

Pros

• Users can view vulnerable device reports
• Integrates with other Microsoft products
• Free trial lasts 90 days

Cons

• Standalone product lacks risk scoring
• No patch management or rollback features
• Non-Windows integrations could be tough

Pricing

• $2/user/month: Add-on pricing applicable to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 and Microsoft 365 E5
• $3/user/month: A standalone solution designed to support EDR products
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Application blocking: Defender is able to block vulnerable programs and alert customers with specific messages about the applications.
• Security assessments: Teams can compare their security posture to industry benchmarks like National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and CIS.
• Threat intelligence data: Defender provides information on the potential for breaches and which endpoint devices are vulnerable.
• Regular assessments: Defender looks for outdated certificates, insufficient algorithms for digital signatures, and misconfigurations.

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Alternatives

If your team uses a lot of non-Windows tech, you may want to consider a solution like Tenable, which supports Mac, Linux, and Windows operating systems. Tenable also offers risk scoring, and Defender doesn’t.

Rapid7 InsightVM – Best Solution for Enterprise Needs

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Overall Rating: 4.1/5

• Pricing: 5/5
• Core features: 4.4/5
• Additional features: 3.3/5
• Ease of use and admin: 3.9/5
• Customer support: 3.4/5
• Integrations and customization: 3.9/5

Rapid7 InsightVM is a scalable vulnerability management solution for enterprises of all sizes. One of its most sought-after features is risk prioritization, with step-by-step instructions for effective remediation. Good value and automation make InsightVM particularly useful for SMBs, but organizations with greater expertise can benefit from its risk prioritization capabilities. For those lacking sophisticated security teams, InsightVM is also available as a managed service.

Visit Rapid7 InsightVM

Pros

• Reasonable pricing for smaller enterprises
• Supports exceptions if you need to accept a risk
• Available as a managed service

Cons

• Lacks patch rollback features
• Lacks some role-based access control features
• No support for identifying IoT assets

Pricing

• Cost: For 500 assets minimum, Rapid7 costs approximately $1.93/asset/month
• Free trial: 30 days
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Real-time risk viewing: Customizable dashboards offer up-to-date vulnerability information.
• Integrated threat feeds: Teams can view the most relevant threats at the moment.
• Third-party integrations: InsightVM integrates with tools like CyberArk, Palo Alto, and McAfee.
• Asset grouping: This helps teams target and report on specific asset groups.

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Alternatives

While InsightVM is a strong overall solution for multiple teams, it doesn’t support IoT assets. Consider Holm Security if you’re looking for a VM solution that supports IoT devices and still serves both SMBs and large teams.

Qualys VMDR – Best for Organizations with Complex Infrastructures

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Overall Rating: 3.9/5

• Pricing: 3/5
• Core features: 4.7/5
• Additional features: 3.5/5
• Ease of use and admin: 3.9/5
• Customer support: 3.2/5
• Integrations and customization: 4.3/5

Qualys VMDR is an enterprise-grade cyber risk management solution for complex security environments. VMDR uses Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks to find misconfigurations and vulnerabilities in your business’s assets. Consider Qualys if you’re a medium-to-large organization with a security infrastructure that’s already built out. It’s a good solution for complex environments because it can scan IoT devices and operational tech.

Visit Qualys VMDR

Pros

• Plenty of customer support options
• Supports a variety of assets, including OT and IoT
• Has a strong set of core management features

Cons

• Limited pricing information
• No industry benchmarking capabilities
• Not available as a managed service

Pricing

• 128 assets: $5,964 per year
• 256 assets: $9,423 per year
• 512 assets: $14,889 per year
• Free trial: 30 days
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Identification of IoT assets: Teams get a more extensive inventory of their IoT landscape.
• Training videos: A video library with setup instructions helps teams get started with VMDR.
• No-code automation: Teams can design workflow automation for vulnerability remediation tasks.
• Patch management: VMDR automatically finds vulnerabilities and deploys the associated patches.

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Alternatives

Qualys isn’t available as a managed service. If your team needs that, consider Rapid7 instead – it offers InsightVM as a managed product and also offers vulnerability exception features, which are limited on Qualys’ side.

Holm Security – Best Tool for Improving Employee Security Posture

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Overall Rating: 3.5/5

• Pricing: 1.5/5
• Core features: 4.5/5
• Additional features: 4.5/5
• Ease of use and administration: 2.5/5
• Customer support: 3.2/5
• Integrations and customization: 4.3/5

Holm Security VMP is a next-gen vulnerability management platform that helps detect weaknesses across your network and human assets on a single platform. Among the platform’s standout features is its phishing module, which simulates phishing attacks on employees to identify weaknesses and train teams in security. Holm Security is preferred by SMBs thanks to its value and features like phishing awareness, but its capabilities also apply to large teams.

Visit Holm Security

Pros

• Designed for comprehensive security
• Offers ticketing, CMDB, and SSO integrations
• Good choice for both small and large teams

Cons

• Lacks transparent pricing information
• Lacks patch rollback features
• Not available as a managed service

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Integrations with CI/CD tools: Teams can find vulnerabilities in their business’s codebases.
• Finding IoT assets: Holm Security looks for vulnerabilities in devices across your infrastructure.
• Role-based access controls: These manage teams’ access to important applications.
• Integrations with other security tools: Highlights include Splunk and Microsoft Sentinel.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Holm Security isn’t available as a managed service. If your business wants a powerful VM solution offered as a service, consider Rapid7 instead. Rapid7 also offers risk exception features, which Holm lacks.

Digital Defense Fortra VM – Best for SMB Vulnerability Testing

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Overall Rating: 3.4/5

• Pricing: 2/5
• Core features: 3.5/5
• Additional features: 3.5/5
• Ease of use and admin: 3.8/5
• Customer support: 4.3/5
• Integrations and customization: 3.5/5

Digital Defense Frontline Vulnerability Manager (Frontline VM) is a comprehensive SaaS VM tool that covers all network assets. Frontline VM is among the most user-friendly tools on this list. It’s well suited to the vulnerability and penetration testing demands of SMBs. That said, Digital Defense’s on-demand service can also meet the needs of a large-scale organization — just keep in mind that you’ll need to source your patch management functionality elsewhere.

Visit Digital Defense Frontline VM

Pros

• Users find Frontline VM easy to use overall
• Offered as a managed service
• Support is available 24/7 via phone and email

Cons

• No patch management or rollback features
• No transparent enterprise pricing
• Limited documentation and training videos

Pricing

• Contact for quote: Custom pricing available
• Free trial: 14 days
• Free demo: Contact to schedule

Key Features

• Security integrations: These include vendors like ServiceNow, LogRhythm, and Palo Alto.
• Role-based access controls: Security teams can restrict employee access to sensitive data.
• Risk scores: Scoring comes from either prebuilt or configured risk profiles that take threat rankings into account.
• Network mapping: Businesses can visualize threats across their network devices with filtering and asset relationships.

Screenshot

Alternatives

Consider Qualys if your business is looking for internal patch management in a vulnerability management product; Qualys is also a good choice for larger teams.

5 Key Features of Vulnerability Management Software

Shortlist the top features your business needs, including monitoring, risk scores, attack surface visualization, automation, and reports, when you’re selecting any cybersecurity solution.

Continuous Monitoring & Scanning

Vulnerability management systems should be a consistently-active line of defense, scanning for new and old threats and monitoring your business networks and applications. Your vulnerability management software should continuously look for potential problems when you aren’t able to. Zero-day vulnerability management, in particular, needs to rapidly identify issues so your business can mitigate threats before they cost you money.

Risk Scoring

Cataloging and remediating risks can easily become overwhelming if your security team doesn’t know exactly what steps to take. Scoring risks based on their severity helps personnel prioritize remediation tasks. For example, an unpatched zero day is probably a more urgent fix than an employee’s outdated version of Microsoft Word. Risk scoring plays a critical role in ensuring that vulnerability management is successful over time because it helps employees avoid overwhelm.

Attack Surface Visualization

Attack surface visualization is intended to simplify the process of identifying all the places your business could be attacked. It should cover internet-facing and internal assets to give your team a complete picture of its vulnerabilities and the areas that the team needs to protect. A strong attack surface visualization solution needs to be comprehensive so you aren’t missing key pieces of the security puzzle.

Automated Remediation

Security teams don’t always have time to fix every vulnerability. This is where automation comes in: Remediation strategies should ideally have automatic fixes for at least some vulnerability management tasks. For example, a predesigned patch management workflow might be triggered when a vulnerability scanner detects an unpatched asset. Then your security team knows exactly what to patch.

Customizable Reporting

Often, other teams in your organization need to know what’s going on in the IT department. Reports help security teams provide the most relevant information to company stakeholders, including the executive team.

Policy-driven compliance reports are also important, not just current vulnerability stats. Ideally, the reporting feature in a vulnerability management tool should offer both premade templates and customization options so your security team can tailor reports to your business’s needs.

How I Evaluated the Best Vulnerability Management Software

We evaluated a broad selection of vulnerability management products using a product scoring rubric. I looked at available information, including vendor product pages, data sheets, and independent user reviews, to determine which products are best for our audience. I divided the rubric into six major categories. Each of the categories had subcriteria with its own weighting, which factored into the total score. Each product received an overall score out of five.

Evaluation Criteria

To create the scoring rubric, I first considered the most important vulnerability management features that businesses need. Then I looked at ease of use and administrative features, like documentation and managed services. I then evaluated nice-to-have features, like asset groups, and pricing, including per-asset pricing and free trials. Lastly, I scored the solutions based on their customer support offerings, relevant integrations, and customization features.

• Core features (30%): I looked at the most important features of vulnerability management tools, including asset discovery, risk scoring, patching, and reporting capabilities.
  • Criterion winner: Multiple winners
• Ease of use and administration (20%): I considered availability of knowledge bases, documentation, training videos, and whether the product is available as a managed service.
  • Criterion winner: Microsoft
• Pricing (15%): This category evaluated the vendor’s pricing availability, its relative value, and any free product trials.
  • Criterion winner: Multiple winners
• Additional features (15%): I scored less common features like RBAC and risk exceptions.
  • Criterion winner: Holm Security
• Customer support (10%): I evaluated chat, email, and phone technical support as well as hours of availability.
  • Criterion winner: Multiple winners
• Integrations and customization (10%): This category included capabilities like integrations with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) tools and custom reports.
  • Criterion winner: Tenable

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Is the Difference Between Vulnerability Scanning & Vulnerability Management?

Vulnerability management is broader than vulnerability scanning. It’s not just scanning assets and networks but also helping security teams remediate vulnerabilities and improve their overall security posture. Vulnerability management should help your business create a map of sorts to locate common weaknesses in your security infrastructure and make lasting improvements.

What Is the Difference Between Risk Management & Vulnerability Management?

Risk management is a broader enterprise category because it covers all aspects of business risk, including security vulnerabilities but also financial risks and events like natural disasters. A risk management plan should include planning for cybersecurity risks, which may include a vulnerability management strategy.

What Is an Example of a Vulnerability Management KPI?

Vulnerability management key performance indicators (KPI) should be easily measurable metrics that your team aims to hit, such as a specific length of time between a vulnerability being observed and being remediated. The more detailed your KPIs are, the more easily your security team can decide whether your vulnerability management strategy is working and whether it needs to be changed.

Read about creating a vulnerability management policy, including policy best practices, required sections for a policy, and a free policy template.

Bottom Line: Vulnerability Management Is Critical for Security

There are roughly 20,000 new vulnerabilities discovered each year — and many of them are zero-day vulnerabilities that aren’t discovered until they’ve been used in a cyberattack. Plugging those holes takes a lot of time and dedication, even for the most secure companies and networks. For everyone else, they need all the help they can get from vulnerability management tools and services.

To find the right vulnerability management tool for your organization, take advantage of any demos or free trials that vendors offer and choose a product that suits your security and IT teams’ expertise. The right VM tool’s ability to prioritize fixes should help your team focus on the vulnerabilities that are most likely to impact your organization.

If your business is considering a managed VM service, read Vulnerability Management as a Service: Ultimate Guide next. This guide covers the top managed VM providers and major steps of the VMaaS process.

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