2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Award winners include Cyber Threat Alliance, ResultsCX, TELUS Digital, 1Password, IBM, Nozomi Networks, WatchGuard, and many more.
Winners Announced Across 27 Categories and 6 Countries
June 2, 2026 — Philadelphia, PA — The Business Intelligence Group today announced the winners of the 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards, a global recognition program honoring the companies, products, and leaders defining what effective, accountable cybersecurity looks like in practice. This year's cohort spans 27 award categories and 6 countries — demonstrating that the discipline of digital defense has matured from a back-office cost center into core business infrastructure.
"The 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Award winners are not reacting to threats. They are getting ahead of them," said Russ Fordyce, Chief Recognition Officer at the Business Intelligence Group. "What stood out this year was accountability. These are organizations, products, and leaders who can point to measurable outcomes like exposure reduced, intelligence shared, fraud stopped, breaches prevented before they happen. AI-powered defense emerged as the dominant theme, and it tells you where the field is headed: the winners are not just detecting attacks. They are anticipating them, automating the response, and proving resilience with hard numbers."
Overall Winner — Leadership: Michael Daniel, Cyber Threat Alliance
Michael Daniel, President and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, has been named the Overall Winner among cybersecurity leaders by the Business Intelligence Group.
Daniel is a defining force in modern cybersecurity leadership. As former Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator on the National Security Council, he helped establish the foundations of modern U.S. cyber governance at a formative moment for the field. As President and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, he has transformed CTA from six founding companies into a global model for collective defense, enabling unprecedented real-time intelligence sharing among competitors. Over the past year alone, CTA members shared more than 158 million indicators of compromise, nearly 200 early-access intelligence products, and over 1,500 early-share submissions, directly improving the industry's ability to deploy protections before public disclosure. Under his leadership, CTA also produced three major Joint Analytic Reports on quantum computing and cybersecurity in the age of generative AI, synthesizing complex intelligence into actionable, industry-wide guidance.
Daniel's work represents what responsible cybersecurity leadership looks like in practice: turning collaboration into measurable resilience, and uniting diverse and even competing stakeholders around shared security outcomes.
“I am honored to be named a Fortress 2026 Cybersecurity Award winner. Competition and collaboration are necessary elements in modern cybersecurity; the field cannot advance if either is absent,” said Michael Daniel, President and CEO, Cyber Threat Alliance. “While the market enables competition, organizations like CTA make collaboration possible. That’s why I am so proud of what we are building at CTA.”
Overall Winner — Organization: ResultsCX
ResultsCX has been recognized as the Overall Winner among organizations for the work of its RCX Security Operations Team, which transformed the company's cyber resilience through a mature Continuous Exposure Management (CEM) program.
As ResultsCX expanded through rapid growth and acquisitions, the security team inherited legacy systems, an expanded attack surface, and the vulnerabilities that come with both. Rather than rely on periodic assessments, RCX SecOps rebuilt the company's strategy around continuous, real-time risk awareness, integrating exposure intelligence, next-generation antivirus automation, and disciplined validation testing into a single, tightly orchestrated program. The results were measurable: after onboarding acquired entities, the company's external security rating had fallen significantly; through continuous exposure identification, prioritized remediation, and automated response, the team raised it to 800 — near the maximum achievable score of 820 — and has sustained that rating since early 2026.
ResultsCX demonstrates what accountable cybersecurity looks like at enterprise scale: not a one-time fix, but a durable program that turns risk reduction into a competitive advantage and a foundation for growth.
"Our clients trust us with their most sensitive customer relationships — that position demands more than compliance. It demands a team that stays ahead of the threat, not one that reacts to it. This recognition is a reflection of the standard our security team has set, and the discipline and rigor they bring to protecting what our clients have put in our hands every single day." said Gautam Thakkar, Chief Executive Officer, ResultsCX.
Overall Winner — Product: TELUS Digital Fuel iX™ Fortify
TELUS Digital's Fuel iX™ Fortify has been named the Overall Winner among products and services for advancing the security of enterprise AI.
Fuel iX Fortify is an automated red-teaming application that continuously tests generative AI systems, identifies vulnerabilities, and maps risk by simulating real-world adversarial attacks. By running thousands of attacks within minutes, Fortify identifies three times more vulnerabilities than manual methods while reducing testing time by up to 97 percent — closing a critical gap at a moment when the specialized expertise required to secure GenAI remains in short supply. The impact is concrete: when Island Health, a major Canadian healthcare provider, needed to ensure the safety of an AI-powered career advisor chatbot, Fortify cut total testing time by up to 97 percent and achieved a 99.6 percent success rate in proactively identifying security vulnerabilities.
As organizations race to move AI assistants, chatbots, and applications into production, Fuel iX Fortify represents the trust layer that makes that shift safe — proving that enterprises can scale generative AI with both speed and security.
Award-Winning People
Michael Daniel, President and CEO, Cyber Threat Alliance — Leadership (Overall Winner)
- Amy Worley, Managing Director and Data Protection Officer, BRG — Data Protection
- Chris Schueler, CEO, Cyderes — Leadership
- Daoqi Han — Privacy Enhancing Technologies
- Haley Ahrenstorff, Vice President of IT Compliance and Security, ResultsCX — Leadership
- Paul Praveen Kumar Ashok, Houston ISD — Zero Trust
- Stu Solomon, CEO, HUMAN Security — Agentic AI Security Platform
- The ResultsCX Security Operations Center and Security Engineering Team — Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)
- Haley Ahrenstorff
Cyrus Ramos - Cesar Valenzuela
- John Hansen
- Haley Ahrenstorff
Award-Winning Organizations
ResultsCX — Continuous Exposure Management (CEM) (Overall Winner)
- 360 Privacy — Privacy Enhancing Technologies
- Altius Inspiro — Network Security
- Arcova, formerly MorganFranklin Cyber — Organizational Excellence
- Arlo Solutions — Compliance
- Astelia — Continuous Exposure Management (CEM)
- Axiado — Artificial Intelligence
- Badge Inc — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Cobalt — Continuous Exposure Management (CEM)
- Cyber Threat Alliance — Leadership
- Doppel — Deepfake Detection and Anti-Phishing
- Dynamic Systems, Inc. — Network Security
- EPAM Systems, Inc. — Cloud Security
- Fig — Detection
- Firstsource IRM Team — Compliance
- Keepit — Cloud Security
- Optro — Compliance
- Reflectiz — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Simeio — Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)
- Skyhigh Security — Data Protection
- SS&C Intralinks — Data Protection
- Team Cymru — Threat Detection
- TENEX.ai — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Trace3 — Cyber Resilience and Recovery Excellence
- VAI Cloud LLC — Cloud Security
- Viettel Cyber Security — Cyber Resilience and Recovery Excellence
- WatchGuard — Organizational Excellence
Award-Winning Products and Services
TELUS Digital Fuel iX™ Fortify — GenAI Application Security (AppSec) (Overall Winner)
- 1Password® Unified Access — Non-Human Identity (NHI) Management
- Axiado — Zero Trust
- BlackCloak Digital Executive Protection™ Platform — Cyber Resilience and Recovery Excellence
- BloodHound Enterprise — Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)
- BreachRx Cybersecurity Incident Response Management (CIRM) Platform — Incident Response
- Bricklayer AI Agentic Cybersecurity Platform — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Cloud Range's Cyber Range and AI Validation Platform — Training
- Forward AI — Artificial Intelligence
- Gallagher Security OneLink — Cloud Security
- Guardsquare Platform (DexGuard, iXGuard, AppSweep, ThreatCast, App Attestation) — Application Security
- IBM Cloud IAM — Authentication and Identity
- Incode Deepsight — Deepfake Detection and Anti-Phishing
- Intelas CyberHUB — Threat Detection
- KnowBe4 AIDA — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Lattice MachXO5™-NX TDQ FPGA family — Cryptography
- Lenovo AI Security — Artificial Intelligence
- Lenovo Application Security — Application Security
- Lenovo Cyber Resilience and Recovery Excellence — Cyber Resilience and Recovery Excellence
- Nozomi Networks — Operational Technology (OT)
- Optery for Business — Privacy Enhancing Technologies
- Penta Security Cloudbric — Cloud Security
- Penta Security D.AMO — Data Protection
- Penta Security D.AMO — Quantum Security
- Penta Security WAPPLES — Application Security
- PKI Spotlight — Detection
- Quantum XChange — Quantum Security
- ReversingLabs Spectra Assure — Supply Chain
- Rockwell Automation SecureOT™ solution suite — Operational Technology (OT)
- Sourcefit — Artificial Intelligence
- Sprocket Security — Continuous Exposure Management (CEM)
- Tenet Security. — Agentic AI Security Platform
- Teramind — Endpoint
- Viettel Cyber Security — Agentic AI Security Platform
What the 2026 Winners Reveal About Cybersecurity Excellence
The 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards tell a clear story: the discipline has moved past perimeter thinking and point fixes. These are the patterns that define this year's class.
AI is now both the threat and the defense. Agentic AI Security Platform drew more recognition than any other category in the program. The winners are not debating whether AI belongs in the security stack — they are building AI to secure AI. From automated adversarial red-teaming to agentic security operations platforms that triage, investigate, and respond with minimal human intervention, this year's class treats AI-powered defense as table stakes. Dedicated recognition in the Artificial Intelligence and GenAI Application Security categories underscores the same message: as enterprises move generative AI into production, securing those systems has become its own urgent discipline.
Defense has shifted from reactive to proactive. Continuous Exposure Management was one of the most-recognized categories of the year, led by Overall Winner ResultsCX. The pattern is unmistakable: organizations are no longer content to wait for the next periodic assessment. They are investing in continuous visibility, prioritized remediation, and automated response — measuring success not in audits passed, but in exposure reduced and risk retired before an attacker can reach it.
Collective defense is now a strategic advantage. The recognition of Michael Daniel and the Cyber Threat Alliance reflects a maturing belief that no organization defends alone. Intelligence sharing among competitors, joint analytic research, and cross-sector coordination have moved from goodwill gestures to measurable resilience — quantified this year in hundreds of millions of indicators of compromise shared and protections deployed before public disclosure.
Identity has become the perimeter. Winners across Identity Security Posture Management, Authentication and Identity, Non-Human Identity Management, and Zero Trust reflect a field that has accepted a hard truth: in cloud-first, AI-driven environments, identity — human and non-human alike — is where attacks begin and where they must be stopped. Securing every credential, machine identity, and access path is no longer a specialty. It is the foundation.
The industry is preparing for what comes next. Recognition in Quantum Security and Cryptography, alongside the Cyber Threat Alliance's joint research on quantum computing, signals that the field's leaders are no longer treating post-quantum readiness as a distant concern. They are building for it now — engineering cryptographic resilience and quantum-safe architectures while there is still time to do it well.
The geography of cybersecurity excellence is global. Winners in this year's program represent organizations and leaders based in the United States, Canada, Israel, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Effective digital defense is not concentrated in any single market — it is being built wherever the threats are felt.
The 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Award class represents a field that has found its footing. The winners are accountable, measurable, and building defenses designed to hold.
Finalists
A group of nominees were also recognized by the judges as finalists. These submissions ranked among the top nominees, and the judges deemed them worthy of additional recognition. The finalists are:
- AU10TIX Identity Verification Suite
- IGEL Adaptive Secure Endpoint Platform™
- Penta Security iSIGN Password-less
- Ping Identity
- Proofpoint 365 Total Protection
- Sedara
- ShieldConex® Orchestration
- Skyhigh Security
- Sourcefit
- Stellar Cyber
- Signicat
- TraceLink OPUS Agents: Governed AI Execution on an Industrial-Grade Supply Chain Platform
- Vineet Edupuganti, Co-founder and CEO
- Xage Security Extended Privileged Access Management (XPAM)
About the Fortress Cybersecurity Awards
The Fortress Cybersecurity Awards recognize the world's leading companies, products, and people working to keep data and digital assets safe. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and more frequent, the program identifies and honors the organizations and individuals building the defenses that protect businesses, governments, and the people who depend on them. Judged by a panel of experienced security and business professionals who provide transparent feedback and detailed scoring, the awards celebrate measurable progress in digital defense.
About Business Intelligence Group
Business Intelligence Group (BIG) is an independent awards organization that has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business since 2012. Now in its 14th awards season, BIG operates 12 annual programs spanning innovation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, customer service, cloud computing, sustainability, sales and marketing, workplace culture, and women's leadership. Business award programs include the BIG Innovation Awards, AI Excellence Awards, Fortress Cyber Security Awards, Excellence in Customer Service Awards, Stratus Awards for Cloud Computing, Sustainability Awards, SAMMY Awards for Sales and Marketing, Best Places to Work Awards, Herizon Awards, We Love Tech Awards, NAA Top Employers Award, and BIG Awards for Business.
Unlike popularity contests, BIG programs use professional judging panels and objective scoring benchmarks to identify organizations, products, and individuals making real, measurable impact. Winners receive a complete promotional toolkit — including blockchain-verified credentials, press release support, social media assets, and featured placement across BIG's global community of more than one million business professionals.
For more information about BIG award programs, nomination deadlines, and judging criteria, visit bintelligence.com.
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