Announcing the Cybersecurity 500 List for Q1 2016

The Definitive List of the World’s Hottest and Most Innovative Cybersecurity Companies

Cybersecurity Ventures announces the Q1 2016 edition of the Cybersecurity 500, a global compilation of leading companies who provide cybersecurity solutions and services.

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

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

root9B Tops the List

root9B, a cybersecurity consulting and operational support firm with corporate headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., and regional offices in San Antonio, Texas, New York City, N.Y., and Charlotte, N.C., plus local cyber staff in other regions, is the No. 1 listed company on the Cybersecurity 500 for Q1 2016.

“In 2016, we are placing a greater emphasis on ‘pure play’ cybersecurity firms that focus mainly on advisory, consulting, specialized staffing, and support services” says Steve Morgan, Founder and CEO at Cybersecurity Ventures and Editor-In-Chief of the Cybersecurity 500. “root9B brings a rare combination of extensive real-world cyber defense experience, senior level cyber experts with backgrounds protecting U.S. federal agencies and commercial enterprises, deep subject matter expertise in the most important cybersecurity disciplines, a local presence in key U.S. regions with plans and the financial ability to expand into other regions, international exposure, and their own state-of-the-art adversary pursuit center. They have a very well thought out model for proactively hunting down and stopping network intruders for their clients” adds Morgan.

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

“We are honored to be recognized as the Cybersecurity 500’s top cyber firm” says Eric Hipkins, CEO at root9B. “This shift of pure play cyber companies clearly documents the requirement for innovative, security-for-a-service companies.” adds Hipkins.

Moving up the List

Companies already on the list who have moved up within the top 25 for Q1 2016 include:

• IBM Security (Waltham, Mass.) at No. 5
• Forcepoint (Austin, Texas) at No. 8
• BT (London, United Kingdom) at No. 10
• Sophos (Abingdon, United Kingdom) at No. 17
• IKANOW (Reston, Va.) at No. 19
• Dell SecureWorks (Atlanta, Ga.) at No. 22
• Thycotic (Washington, D.C.) at No. 25

Selection Criteria For The Cybersecurity 500

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

Selection Criteria

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

• Cybersecurity Sector (market category)
• Problem(s) Solved
• Customer Base
• Feedback from CISOs and Decision Makers
• Feedback from IT Security Evaluators & Recommenders
• Feedback from VARs, SIs and Consultants
• VC Funding
• Company Growth
• Published Product Reviews
• Demos and Presentations at Conferences
• Corporate Marketing and Branding
• Media Coverage
• Notable Implementations
• Founder and Management Pedigree
• Interviews with Senior Management

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

Searchable Directory

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

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

Quarterly Editions & Monthly Updates

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

Premium Listings

The Cybersecurity 500 is not a ‘pay-to-play’ list. There is no cost for a company to be listed, and every company on the list has been selected based on merit according to the selection criteria. After a company is selected and listed, there are paid premium listings and advertising opportunities – but that should not be confused with paying to get on the list which is against Cybersecurity Ventures policy. Premium listings are limited to specific positions for each company on a case-by-case basis, based on a range where they qualify to be listed.

[su_box title=”About Steve Morgan” style=”noise” box_color=”#336588″]Steve Morgan is founder and CEO at Cybersecurity Ventures and editor-in-chief of the Cybersecurity Market Report and the Cybersecurity 500 list of the world’s hottest and most innovative cybersecurity companies.  Steve is a contributor writer for Information Security Buzz, IDG’s CSO, Homeland Security Today, SandHill.com, and other business, technology, and cybersecurity media properties.[/su_box]