CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Abnormal AI vs WatchGuard Technologies

Abnormal AI sells a behavioral security platform that protects email, identity, and AI. WatchGuard Technologies sells a Unified Security Platform that combines network, endpoint, identity and cloud protection, purpose-built for MSPs servicing midsize companies and SMBs. CISO Tribune files both under Identity threat detection and response. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Abnormal AI
  • WatchGuard Technologies
Abnormal AI vs WatchGuard Technologies: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
Abnormal AIAbnormal AI sells a behavioral security platform that protects email, identity, and AI.abnormal.aiWatchGuard TechnologiesWatchGuard Technologies sells a Unified Security Platform that combines network, endpoint, identity and cloud protection, purpose-built for MSPs servicing midsize companies and SMBs.watchguard.com
What it sells
  • Account Takeover Protection[3][12][19]Detects and remediates compromised Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace accounts.
  • Identity Threat Protection[3][11][12][15]Correlates signals to contain threats before and after authentication.
  • Email Productivity[12][18]Moves low-priority promotional email out of the inbox.
  • Unified Security Platform[1][5]WatchGuard unifies network, endpoint, identity and cloud protection under one agent, one console and one AI intelligence layer.
  • Firebox M Series[9]Firebox M Series rackmount appliances provide NGFW features.
  • Endpoint Security 360[11]WatchGuard Endpoint Security 360 is an autonomous zero trust endpoint detection and response solution.
  • AuthPoint[7][12][13]WatchGuard AuthPoint provides cloud-based authentication and access to applications.
  • Total Identity Security[13]Total Identity Security combines AuthPoint MFA with Dark Web Credential Monitoring.
  • WatchGuard Cloud[1][5][7][9][13]WatchGuard Cloud is built for MSPs and gives one place to deploy, standardize, monitor and report across all customers.
  • Compliance Reporting[15]WatchGuard Compliance Reporting offers configurable compliance controls and reports for regulatory needs.
Categories
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States[1]Seattle, United States[4]
Founded
2018[1]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[2][12][14]Series D (USD 250 million round), August 6, 2024[2]Owned by Vector Capital since 2022[6]
Named customers
  • Domino’s[4]
  • Avery Dennison[5]
  • Valvoline[6]
  • Ingersoll Rand[7]
  • Save the Children[8]
Not stated on its pages
Recent news
  • November 4, 2026Abnormal AI appointed Don Jeter as Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to the CEO and overseeing the global marketing team.[23]
  • September 24, 2026Abnormal AI previewed four AI Security suite products, including AI Agent Security and AI Cloud Security, with general availability planned for Q4 2026.[9]
  • August 27, 2026Abnormal AI expanded its email security platform with Control Center, Email DLP Rules and upgrades to its AI Phishing Coach.[10]
  • August 19, 2026Abnormal AI and OpenAI announced a strategic partnership, with Abnormal expanding its internal use of OpenAI and joining the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program as an early security partner.[25]
  • July 29, 2026Abnormal AI extended its behavioral security to cover identities, AI systems and insider threats.[13]
  • July 7, 2026WatchGuard Technologies appointed Vincent Hwang as Chief Product Officer, reporting to CEO Joe Smolarski.[16]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen October 23, 2026[14]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen October 30, 2026[6]
Who it fits
Not written yetWatchGuard delivers its security to businesses exclusively through managed service provider and reseller partners. Businesses receive protection configured and managed for them by a local WatchGuard partner. WatchGuard describes its devices as suited to securing branch offices, distributed networks and large data centers. WatchGuard secure access points are described for small offices, retail locations, schools, warehouses and outdoor deployments. WatchGuard Endpoint Security 360 is described as suited to organizations and MSPs.
Last verified
October 10, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies are both filed under Identity threat detection and response.
  • Both are headquartered in the United States.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Abnormal AI's primary category is Email security; WatchGuard Technologies's is Firewalls and NGFW.
  • Abnormal AI is also filed under Workforce AI usage security and AI model and agent security. WatchGuard Technologies is also filed under EDR and XDR and Workforce IAM and SSO.
  • Abnormal AI lists Account Takeover Protection, Identity Threat Protection and Email Productivity. WatchGuard Technologies lists Unified Security Platform, Firebox M Series, Endpoint Security 360, AuthPoint, Total Identity Security and 2 more.
  • Abnormal AI is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. WatchGuard Technologies is headquartered in Seattle, United States.
  • Abnormal AI was founded in 2018.
  • Abnormal AI is privately held. WatchGuard Technologies is owned by Vector Capital, since 2022.
  • Abnormal AI's latest recorded funding is Series D (USD 250 million round), dated August 6, 2024.
  • Abnormal AI publicly names Domino’s, Avery Dennison, Valvoline, Ingersoll Rand and Save the Children.

What it sells: Abnormal AI

What Account Takeover Protection does[3][12][19]
Account Takeover Protection learns normal sign-in, device, and behavioral patterns for each user. It remediates a confirmed compromise by signing out all open sessions, blocking access, and forcing a password reset. Abnormal AI says it correlates Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace sign-in signals with communication behavior. It identifies session and token-based attacks that defeat MFA.
What Identity Threat Protection does[3][11][12][15]
Identity Threat Protection correlates signals to contain threats before and after authentication. Abnormal AI says it correlates email, IdP, and SaaS signals into one behavioral model. The model catches privilege misuse and socially-engineered MFA resets.
What Email Productivity does[12][18]
Email Productivity uses behavioral AI to learn what matters to each employee and move low-priority promotional email out of the inbox. It moves detected graymail to a Promotions folder in Outlook or a Graymail label in Gmail. It deploys through API integration with no rules, policies, or quarantine configuration to manage. It supports Passive, Partial, and Active deployment modes.

What it sells: WatchGuard Technologies

What Firebox M Series does[9]
Firebox M Series rackmount appliances provide NGFW features. Firebox rackmount appliances integrate with WatchGuard Cloud and ThreatSync and offer centralized management and AI-powered XDR correlation.
What Endpoint Security 360 does[11]
WatchGuard Endpoint Security 360 is an autonomous zero trust endpoint detection and response solution that blocks unknown applications automatically and continuously monitors trusted applications for signs of compromise. WatchGuard Endpoint Security 360 provides visibility into blocked executions, compromised trusted applications and the progression of attacks across endpoints.
What AuthPoint does[7][12][13]
WatchGuard AuthPoint provides cloud-based authentication and access to applications. AuthPoint MFA supports push, passkeys, TOTP, QR codes, hardware tokens and zero trust policies. AuthPoint is managed in WatchGuard Cloud, which configures policies, synchronizes users and enforces controls from one interface.
What Total Identity Security does[13]
Total Identity Security combines AuthPoint MFA with Dark Web Credential Monitoring. WatchGuard continuously monitors workforce user credentials across dark web, deep web and breach databases using AI-driven intelligence, and can alert affected end users directly. WatchGuard Cloud lets MSPs manage MFA and credential monitoring across customer accounts.
What WatchGuard Cloud does[1][5][7][9][13]
WatchGuard Cloud is built for MSPs and gives one place to deploy, standardize, monitor and report across all customers. ThreatSync XDR is part of WatchGuard Cloud and correlates activity across WatchGuard security layers. WatchGuard Cloud provides visibility, configuration control and real-time threat monitoring so MSPs can manage network security from anywhere with an Internet connection.
What Compliance Reporting does[15]
WatchGuard Compliance Reporting offers configurable compliance controls and reports for regulatory needs. WatchGuard Compliance Reporting is integrated with WatchGuard NDR and WatchGuard SaaS, delivering over 100 AI-refined network cybersecurity controls. WatchGuard Compliance Reporting includes configurable compliance report templates for ISO-27001, NIST 800-53, NIST 171/CMMC, UK Cyber Essentials, FFIEC, CISA Ransomware Defense, Cyber Insurance Compliance and Supply Chain Compliance.

Questions about Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies

What do Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies sell?
Abnormal AI sells Account Takeover Protection, Identity Threat Protection and Email Productivity. WatchGuard Technologies sells Unified Security Platform, Firebox M Series, Endpoint Security 360, AuthPoint, Total Identity Security and 2 more.
Are Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies in the same category?
They share Identity threat detection and response. Abnormal AI's primary category is Email security and WatchGuard Technologies's is Firewalls and NGFW.
Where are Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies headquartered?
Abnormal AI is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. WatchGuard Technologies is headquartered in Seattle, United States.
When were Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies founded?
Abnormal AI was founded in 2018.
Who owns Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies?
Abnormal AI is privately held. Abnormal AI's latest recorded funding is Series D (USD 250 million round), dated August 6, 2024. WatchGuard Technologies is owned by Vector Capital, since 2022.
Which customers do Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies name?
Abnormal AI publicly names Domino’s, Avery Dennison, Valvoline, Ingersoll Rand and Save the Children.
Who are Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies sold to?
WatchGuard delivers its security to businesses exclusively through managed service provider and reseller partners.
What have Abnormal AI and WatchGuard Technologies announced recently?
November 4, 2026: Abnormal AI appointed Don Jeter as Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to the CEO and overseeing the global marketing team. July 7, 2026: WatchGuard Technologies appointed Vincent Hwang as Chief Product Officer, reporting to CEO Joe Smolarski.

About Abnormal AI

Abnormal AI sells a behavioral security platform that protects email, identity, and AI. Abnormal says AI-generated attacks are often too subtle for humans to see and too new for traditional threat intel to detect. Abnormal AI says its platform stops the attacks that slip past legacy gateways, including business email compromise, advanced phishing, vendor fraud, and account takeover. Abnormal AI states its mission is to stop crime with AI.[15]

Abnormal AI says its platform connects AI tools, people, agents, and cloud activity through behavioral context to govern adoption, enforce policies, detect threats, and support investigations. The platform has native API integrations across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Okta, CrowdStrike, and the customer's SIEM and SOAR. Abnormal AI says each supported connection helps Abnormal understand activity, investigate threats, and apply the controls the customer's team authorizes. Abnormal AI describes Attune as the behavioral AI model that learns what is normal and detects what does not fit. AI Data Analyst lets users ask plain-English questions and get security insights instantly. AI Data Analyst consolidates insights from across the Abnormal environment into a single source of truth.[15][16][20]

For email, Abnormal AI describes Inbound Email Security as stopping BEC, phishing, and credential theft before delivery. AI Security Mailbox is described as an AI co-worker for email security operations. AI Phishing Coach is described as just-in-time training that adapts to each user's real risk. Messaging Security is described as detecting and remediating malicious content in messaging apps, and Misdirected Email as preventing accidental data leakage from misaddressed email. Email DLP Rules combines a custom policy engine with an AI Triage Agent. Teams can launch Email DLP Rules in passive mode, logging matches without taking action, then move to active enforcement. Email Productivity uses behavioral AI to move low-priority promotional email out of the inbox, and Email Productivity deploys through API integration.[15][17][18][21]

For identity, Account Takeover Protection detects and remediates compromised Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace accounts by learning normal sign-in, device, and behavioral patterns for each user. Account Takeover Protection locks attackers out by revoking active sessions and forcing credential resets. Abnormal AI says Account Takeover Protection connects via API to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Abnormal AI says brute force, credential stuffing, and token or session theft produce sign-ins that satisfy authentication. Abnormal AI says its platform correlates email, IdP, and SaaS signals into one behavioral model, catching privilege misuse and socially-engineered MFA resets. Identity Threat Protection correlates signals to contain threats before and after authentication. Infiltration Prevention is described as detecting synthetic personas and infiltration campaigns before access is provisioned. Posture Management is described as catching risky misconfigurations across the email platform.[3][15][19]

AI Cloud Security is described as detecting AI-driven attacks against cloud identities and workloads and containing threats within the customer's response policies. AI Cloud Security is at the Priority First stage, available for purchase and production deployment to selected customers. AI Employee Guardrails is described as keeping employee AI use on task, protecting sensitive data, and enforcing policies based on the person, tool, and request. AI Agent Security is described as inventorying production agents and verifying that each one behaves as intended. AI Agent Security is at the Design Partner stage, where selected customers evaluate the product and give regular feedback to the product team. AI Employee Guardrails is at the Design Partner stage. AI Security Workbench is described as running AI-powered investigations across petabytes of behavioral events.[3][15][20][21][22]

Abnormal AI says it powers 5,000 customers, including 30% of the Fortune 500.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

Abnormal AI on the record

Sources

Abnormal AI full record

  1. [1]Launching 24m series a funding from greylockAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · published November 19, 2019 · Tier A
  2. [2]Series d 5b valuationAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · published August 6, 2024 · Tier A
  3. [3]PlatformAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Dominos rolls out stronger communications securityAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Avery dennison case studyAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]ValvolineAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Ingersoll randAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Save the childrenAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Abnormal ai expands its ai security suiteAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Abnormal expands email security platformAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · published August 27, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Abnormal extends behavioral security platformAbnormal AI · abnormal.ai · published July 28, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Behavioral AI for Email, Identity, and AI Security | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Abnormal AI extends behavioral security to identities, AI systems, and insider threatsHelp Net Security · published July 29, 2026 · Tier B
  14. [14]Abnormal AI Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  15. [15]The Behavioral Security Platform | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]AI Data Analyst | Automated Security Reporting | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Email DLP Rules | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Graymail Filtering | AI Email Productivity | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Stop Account Takeover | ATO Detection | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]AI Cloud Security | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]AI Agent Security | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]AI Employee Guardrails | Abnormal AIAbnormal AI · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Abnormal AI Names Don Jeter CMO to Accelerate Its Expansion in AI SecurityAbnormal AI · published November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  24. [24]Abnormal AI Expands Leadership Team to Advance Behavioral AI PlatformAbnormal AI · published April 29, 2026 · Tier A
  25. [25]Abnormal AI and OpenAI Partner to Accelerate Secure Enterprise AI Adoption and Strengthen Cyber DefenseBusiness Wire · published August 19, 2026 · Tier A

WatchGuard Technologies full record

  1. [1]watchguard.comWatchGuard Technologies · watchguard.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Watchguard launches new high performance firebox appliances secure modernWatchGuard Technologies · watchguard.com · published June 2, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]vectorcapital.comVector Capital · vectorcapital.com · published July 5, 2022 · Tier A
  4. [4]Dex991WatchGuard Technologies via SEC EDGAR · sec.gov · published July 25, 2006 · Tier A
  5. [5]WatchGuard | Comprehensive Cybersecurity SolutionsWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed October 30, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]WatchGuard Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 30, 2026 · Tier C
  7. [7]Centralized Management & Visibility | WatchGuard CloudWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Managed Security Services for MSPs | WatchGuardWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Rackmount Firewall Appliances | WatchGuardWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]WatchGuard Endpoint Security | AI-Powered ProtectionWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]WatchGuard Endpoint Security 360 - Zero Trust EDRWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]AuthPoint 30-Day Free Trial | WatchGuard Free AuthPointWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]AuthPoint Total Identity Security | WatchGuardWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Secure Wireless APs for Your Business | WatchGuardWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Compliance Reporting | WatchGuardWatchGuard Technologies · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]WatchGuard Appoints Vincent Hwang as Chief Product OfficerWatchGuard Technologies · published July 7, 2026 · Tier A

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