The 2026 Excellence Awards, which recognize top cybersecurity companies and service providers offering exceptional products and services to enterprises and small- to mid-sized organizations, have named their finalists. The winners will be announced at the RSA Conference, one of the most important events in the cybersecurity calendar.

Best Compliance Solution

The Best Compliance Solution category honors solutions that help organizations comply with specific regulatory requirements in healthcare, retail, education, financial services, and government markets. These solutions assist customers in meeting mandates outlined in legislation such as HIPAA, SOX, GLBA, FISMA, and guidelines around cyber incident reporting. The category also includes industry guidelines related to cyber governance, FFIEC, and the PCI Security Standards Council.

Best Customer Service

Product support and service are critical components of any security investment. For organizations that rely on information security vendors and service providers, the quality of customer support can determine how effectively technologies are deployed, maintained, and ultimately perform. Strong service isn’t an add-on: it’s essential to ensuring the tools organizations purchase deliver on their promise.

Best Emerging Technology

This category recognizes breakthrough technologies emerging to meet today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity challenges. It highlights both established industry leaders and innovative newcomers who delivered forward-thinking products and services in 2025 designed to address fast-moving threats.

Best Enterprise Security Solution

The Best Enterprise Security Solution category includes tools and services from all product sectors specifically designed to meet the requirements of large enterprises. The winning solution will have been a leading solution during the last two years, having helped to strengthen the IT security industry’s continued evolution.

Best IT Security-Related Training Program

This category targets companies and organizations that provided end-user awareness training programs for organizations looking to ensure their employees are knowledgeable and supportive of IT security and risk management plans. It also considers training programs for IT security professionals, covering areas such as secure coding, vulnerability management, incident response, and business continuity.

Best Professional Certification Program

Professional certification programs are defined as those offered by industry groups to IT security professionals wishing to gain educational experience and credentials. These programs help professionals build expertise and credibility in the field.

Best Security Company

The Best Security Company category recognizes established companies with a proven track record, offering products and services to customers for at least three years. Nominations span all sectors of the cybersecurity industry. Judges evaluated a range of criteria, including product portfolio strength, customer base, service and support quality, research and development investment, financial stability and growth, and sustained innovation.

Best SME Security Solution

This category includes tools and services from all product sectors specifically designed to meet the requirements of small to mid-sized businesses during the last two years. These solutions are tailored to address the unique security needs of smaller organizations.

Innovator (Executive or Practitioner) of the Year

The Innovator of the Year category has been expanded to include executives and practitioners from the vendor, security services, and consultancy community. Candidates cannot be from the end-user community. Whether the nominee is a chief scientist of a large cybersecurity vendor or the CEO of one of the most promising tech startups, those entering this category lead the research and development efforts for their company, ensuring the cybersecurity industry does not fall behind adversaries.

Investor of the Year

Contenders for the Investor of the Year award should be venture capital or angel investors or firms that contributed to any stage of funding to cybersecurity startups during the 2025 calendar year. Entrants must demonstrate how they supported product development and growth, and show a unique and creative approach to investing in the cybersecurity market.

Most Promising Early-Stage Startup

Nominated businesses with great promise can come from any IT security product/service sector and should be a privately held startup offering a strong, flagship product within two years of its initial release. They should be focused on continued product development, customer growth, business development, and overall fiscal and workforce expansion. Submissions should include the launch date of their initial flagship offering.

Security Executive of the Year

The finalists for the Security Executive of the Year award represent the veteran leaders of the cybersecurity industry, reserved for companies within the vendor, security services, and consultancy community—not end-user organizations. These executives are the perennial influencers shaping cybersecurity’s evolution. Each has demonstrated sustained leadership, a deep understanding of the user community’s needs, and a proven track record of delivering products and services that support enterprises and small- to mid-sized businesses across diverse market sectors.