2016 Security 100: 20 Coolest Endpoint Security Vendors

Coolest Endpoint Security Vendors

Endpoint security has seen a resurgence in recent months, as perimeter technologies have proven to be inefficient and businesses look to invest in security technologies closer to the device itself. For partners, that means a growing security sales opportunity.

According to a Piper Jaffray survey, 78 percent of CIOs said endpoint security was an investment priority. Vendors new and old are looking to jump in to take advantage of that opportunity, with a range of solutions that stretch from traditional anti-virus to next-generation endpoint solutions.

Take a look at 20 of the coolest endpoint security vendors to make the inaugural CRN Security 100 list.

AVG

Gary Kovacs, CEO

Headquarters: Amsterdam

AVG for Business, a division of AVG, offers a broad range of security solutions, including a robust set of endpoint security offerings. The company offers a popular anti-virus offering, as well as mobile, server, and Internet security solutions aimed at the SMB market and MSPs.

Bitdefender

Florin Talpes, Founder, CEO

Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania

Bitdefender is best known for its consumer anti-virus business, but the company has been actively pushing further into the business market. The company has a variety of security offerings for SMB businesses, including endpoint, mobile and virtual environment security solutions, to name a few.

Carbon Black

Patrick Morley, CEO

Headquarters: Waltham, Mass.

Formerly Bit9 + Carbon Black, Carbon Black is one of the longest-standing players in the next-generation endpoint security market. The company brings together prevention, detection and remediation capabilities into a single platform for enterprises looking to "arm their endpoints" with better security.

CounterTack

Neal Creighton, President, CEO

Headquarters: Waltham, Mass.

CounterTack uses big data and behavioral analytics to catch threats on the endpoint with a next-generation endpoint security solution that it calls Sentinel. The company made big moves in 2015, most notably acquiring the commercial software division of solution provider giant ManTech for additional forensic and behavioral analytics capabilities.

Crowdstrike

George Kurtz, CEO

Headquarters: Irvine, Calif.

Another player looking to capitalize on the exploding market for next-generation endpoint security, Crowdstrike is staking its claim with its Falcon Host platform, which distinguishes itself with a cloud-based approach and uses behavioral analytics to focus on "indicators of attack" rather than "indicators of compromise."

Cylance

Stuart McClure, Founder, President, CEO

Headquarters: Irvine, Calif.

Cylance landed $42 million in venture capital funding last year for its next-generation endpoint security solution that uses mathematics and algorithms to pick out suspect behavior. Since then, the company has signed an OEM agreement with Dell Security and gleaned significant praise from channel partners for its technology.

Guidance Software

Patrick Dennis, President, CEO

Headquarters: Pasadena, Calif.

No matter where it sits on the endpoint, Guidance Software helps companies keep track of and use data to drive security intelligence. The company's EnCase software solutions provide visibility from the kernel to the cloud and deliver the intelligence and capabilities for digital intelligence.

Hexis Cyber Solutions

Chris Fedde, CEO

Headquarters: Hanover, Md.

Born out of the intelligence community, Hexis Cyber Solutions is a next-generation endpoint security company that looks to bring together behavior-based detection and response under its flagship HawkEye platform. The company also launched a managed services offering last year around its threat removal solution.

Kaspersky Lab

Eugene Kaspersky, Founder, CEO

Headquarters: Moscow, Russia

Kaspersky Lab offers a broad range of solutions for business, from SMB all the way up to the enterprise. The company is perhaps best known for its anti-virus offerings but also has solutions around virtualization, mobile, security intelligence, anti-advanced persistent threat and much more.

Malwarebytes

Marcin Kleczynski, Founder, CEO

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.

Malwarebytes gained tremendous traction in the consumer market for its anti-malware solutions. Now, it is diving headfirst into the business market, launching new partner tools, putting some of its recent $50 million of VC funding into channel investments, and launching new products like a breach remediation platform aimed at partners.

Microsoft

Satya Nadella, CEO

Headquarters: Redmond, Wash.

Microsoft offers the Security Essentials line, a free anti-virus offering that is designed for home or small- business users. The company made significant investments in its security portfolio in 2015, acquiring Secure Islands for data protection and Adallom for cloud security capabilities.

Panda Security

Diego Navarrete, CEO

Headquarters: Bilbao, Spain

Panda Security has a range of endpoint security offerings, including anti-virus as well as endpoint detection and response. Its solutions are powered by the cloud and by its Collective Intelligence threat-intelligence-sharing. According to Gartner, the company is particularly strong with SMBs and in the European market.

Pulse Secure

Sudhakar Ramakrishna, CEO

Headquarters: San Jose, Calif.

Pulse Secure has been on a journey since late 2014 to establish itself as an independent security company after splitting off from Juniper. As a stand-alone company, Pulse Secure offers SSL VPN, unified access control and workspace virtualized containerization of applications on mobile devices.

RapidFire Tools

Michael Mittel, President, CEO

Headquarters: Atlanta

Begun as an MSP, it's only fitting that RapidFire Tools aims its solutions at the managed services market. The company offers assessment tools for the network, Exchange, security and SQL servers as well as compliance assessments for HIPAA and PCI.

SentinelOne

Tomer Weingarten, CEO

Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif.

SentinelOne is doing away with the traditional signature-based approach to endpoint security with its next-generation endpoint security solution. SentinelOne uses behavioral analytics to prevent threats, stop unfolding attacks and remove them if found. Gartner praised the company's technology in its Magic Quadrant, calling it a "fresh approach" to endpoint security.

Sophos

Kris Hagerman, CEO

Headquarters: Abingdon, U.K.

Sophos garners high praise from partners, who appreciate its channel-only approach and wide range of security solutions for the SMB market. This year, the company brought together its endpoint and network security offerings under Sophos Security Heartbeat, which synchronizes threat intelligence across both for improved context, detection and response capabilities.

Symantec

Michael Brown, CEO

Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif.

Symantec entered this year with a focus solely on security, after splitting from storage company Veritas. So far, that has meant the launch of more than a dozen new offerings since the fall, boosting the company's already robust offering of security solutions under its Unified Security platform.

Tanium

Orion Hindawi, CEO

Headquarters: Emeryville, Calif.

Tanium provides endpoint visibility and control with its endpoint security and systems management solution. The startup has been on a rapid growth trajectory, landing a partnership with Palo Alto Networks and $172 million in recent venture capital funding, which it says it will invest in the channel.

Trend Micro

Eva Chen, CEO

Headquarters (U.S.): Irving, Texas

One of the larger companies in the endpoint security market, Trend Micro offers a broad range of solutions, from anti-virus to cloud and data center protections. The company expanded those offerings further in 2015, picking up HP TippingPoint in an October acquisition.

Webroot

Dick Williams, President, CEO

Headquarters: Broomfield, Colo.

Webroot is one of the larger vendors in the next-generation endpoint and threat intelligence security space, saying it wants to develop a "smarter approach" to security. The company offers solutions for both the SMB and enterprise, with security offerings for endpoint, mobile, secure web gateway and the Internet of Things.