CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Adaptive Security vs Material Security

Adaptive Security sells a platform that consolidates security awareness training, phishing simulations, email security, AI governance and human risk monitoring. Material Security is the company behind Material, an automated cloud workspace security platform for lean security teams that need to protect the email, files, and accounts that live in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. CISO Tribune files both under Email security. 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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  • Adaptive Security
  • Material Security
Adaptive Security vs Material Security: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security sells a platform that consolidates security awareness training, phishing simulations, email security, AI governance and human risk monitoring.adaptivesecurity.comMaterial SecurityMaterial Security is the company behind Material, an automated cloud workspace security platform for lean security teams that need to protect the email, files, and accounts that live in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.material.security
What it sells
  • Security Awareness Training[2][3][14][23]Interactive training modules covering AI threats, phishing, voice cloning, and compliance.
  • Phish Triage[2][3][17]Classifies employee-reported emails and takes action on them.
  • Compliance[2][3][21]Compliance and policy training for frameworks such as HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS and CCPA.
  • Email Security[2][3][5][8]Remediates email attacks that bypass traditional controls in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
  • File Security[2][6][8][13]Finds sensitive data in files and remediates excessive permissions and sharing.
  • Account Security[2][7][8]Detects account takeovers, contains their impact and hardens accounts.
  • OAuth Remediation Agent[8]Watches third-party clients and AI agents across Google Workspace.
  • Drive Agent[9][10]Investigates and remediates over-shared sensitive documents in Google Drive.
Categories
Headquarters
New York, United States[1]Redwood City, United States[1]
Founded
2024[1][17]2017[1][13]
Ownership and funding
Privately held[1][12][13]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 6, 2026Adaptive Security was named to Fast Company's 2026 Next Big Things in Tech list.[11]
  • June 9, 2026Adaptive Security announced a 15-video security awareness training series starring Conan O'Brien, available to its current enterprise customers.[23]
  • April 23, 2026Adaptive Security published a product update announcing a beta release of its AI Governance capability.[10]
  • December 16, 2025Adaptive Security announced an $81 million Series B with new investors NVIDIA, Bain Capital Ventures, Capital One Ventures and Citi Ventures, plus existing investors.[9]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 4, 2026[12]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Adaptive Security sells mainly to organizations that want training, simulations, email security and AI governance in one platform. Its enterprise material addresses security teams that use separate tools for each of those functions. Its healthcare material addresses training staff at healthcare organizations, and it describes a hospital and a bank among its customers. Its pages address lean IT and security teams as well as established SOCs.Not written yet
Last verified
September 27, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Adaptive Security and Material Security are both filed under Email security.
  • Both are headquartered in the United States.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Adaptive Security's primary category is Security awareness training; Material Security's is Email security.
  • Adaptive Security is also filed under AI governance. Material Security is also filed under Data security posture management, SaaS security posture and Identity threat detection and response.
  • Adaptive Security lists Security Awareness Training, Phish Triage and Compliance. Material Security lists Email Security, File Security, Account Security, OAuth Remediation Agent and Drive Agent.
  • Adaptive Security is headquartered in New York, United States. Material Security is headquartered in Redwood City, United States.
  • Adaptive Security was founded in 2024. Material Security was founded in 2017.
  • Adaptive Security is privately held.

What it sells: Adaptive Security

What Security Awareness Training does[2][3][14][23]
Training modules are drawn from a library of over 1,000 resources. Triggered and one-time campaigns run automatically, with completion tracked across the organization. Customers can build custom modules from their own policies using Adaptive's AI content creator.
What Phish Triage does[2][3][17]
The Phish Alert Button and AI-powered Phish Triage classify employee-reported emails and automatically take action. Phish Triage remediates confirmed threats and notifies affected employees.
What Compliance does[2][3][21]
Pre-built tracks cover HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS, CCPA, and more. Customers can upload a policy document or describe a requirement to generate training with AI. Audit-ready reports show completions and scores by framework, employee, and date.

What it sells: Material Security

What Email Security does[2][3][5][8]
Material runs on auto-pilot to remediate sophisticated email attacks that bypass traditional controls. It automates user report triage with AI-powered investigation and response workflows. It connects through native APIs rather than acting as a gateway.
What File Security does[2][6][8][13]
Material detects sensitive content in files and includes tools to automatically remediate excessive permissions and inappropriate sharing. It discovers and classifies sensitive data across Google Drive and maps it to every sharing permission.
What OAuth Remediation Agent does[8]
The agent classifies risk in real time and revokes access tokens the moment behavior turns suspicious. It can message the user in Slack to confirm whether an authorization was legitimate.

Questions about Adaptive Security and Material Security

What do Adaptive Security and Material Security sell?
Adaptive Security sells Security Awareness Training, Phish Triage and Compliance. Material Security sells Email Security, File Security, Account Security, OAuth Remediation Agent and Drive Agent.
Are Adaptive Security and Material Security in the same category?
They share Email security. Adaptive Security's primary category is Security awareness training and Material Security's is Email security.
Where are Adaptive Security and Material Security headquartered?
Adaptive Security is headquartered in New York, United States. Material Security is headquartered in Redwood City, United States.
When were Adaptive Security and Material Security founded?
Adaptive Security was founded in 2024. Material Security was founded in 2017.
Who owns Adaptive Security and Material Security?
Adaptive Security is privately held.
Who are Adaptive Security and Material Security sold to?
From its own pages, Adaptive Security sells mainly to organizations that want training, simulations, email security and AI governance in one platform.
What have Adaptive Security and Material Security announced recently?
October 6, 2026: Adaptive Security was named to Fast Company's 2026 Next Big Things in Tech list.

About Adaptive Security

Adaptive Security sells a platform that consolidates security awareness training, phishing simulations, email security, AI governance and human risk monitoring. Adaptive Security says its products work together or stand alone.[2][3][14]

Adaptive Security says adversaries use AI and LLMs to rapidly generate sophisticated social engineering attacks that exploit organizational complexity at every level. For enterprises, Adaptive Security describes threats that include executive impersonation targeting finance and leadership teams, AI-generated spear phishing built from OSINT data, deepfake voice and video attacks, and inbound email threats that existing gateways miss. Adaptive Security describes attacks that arrive via email, SMS, voice, and video.[2][3][14]

Security Awareness Training consists of interactive training modules covering AI threats, phishing, voice cloning, and compliance, drawn from a library of over 1,000 resources. Triggered and one-time campaigns in Security Awareness Training run automatically, with completion tracked across the organization. Adaptive Security supports custom modules built from a customer's own policies using Adaptive's AI content creator. Adaptive Security says its healthcare training modules are designed to be completed in under 10 minutes. Adaptive Security integrates with Workday, ADP, and other common LMS platforms used in healthcare environments, and supports SCORM exports for organizations that need to push content into an existing learning management system.[2][3][5]

Phishing Simulations recreate the people, channels, and business situations employees trust. Adaptive Security simulates every major attack vector, including email phishing, SMS, voice calls, and deepfake video attacks. When someone fails a simulation, Adaptive Security delivers a short micro-lesson explaining exactly what to look for next time. Podium uses Adaptive Security's realistic voice and SMS phishing simulations alongside automated training campaigns, custom content, and integrations with Okta and Slack.[4][5][15][16]

Adaptive Security's Email Security re-analyzes every inbound message after native filtering to catch the attacks that reach the inbox anyway, then remediates them automatically. Threats are broken out by type: credential phishing, callback phishing, business email compromise, extortion, and malicious payloads. Adaptive Email Security detects and removes phishing attacks, including threats employees never report, and can investigate and remove detected threats across affected inboxes, including messages that have already been delivered. Adaptive Email Security examines who is making a request, how they communicate, and the business context behind the message to identify fraud that may contain no malicious link or attachment.[2][15][18]

The Phish Alert Button and AI-powered Phish Triage classify employee-reported emails and automatically take action. Adaptive Phish Triage automatically classifies and resolves high-confidence reports, allowing the security team to focus on messages that require attention. Adaptive Security can send verdicts and relevant context to supported downstream security workflows through integrations.[2]

Adaptive AI Governance builds a clear view of AI activity across a customer's organization. Adaptive Security says customers can see how employees use AI, prevent sensitive data exposure, and apply context-aware policies across browsers, desktop apps, and developer workflows. Adaptive Security defines shadow AI as the use of AI tools, accounts, or workflows that an organization has not approved or cannot properly see and govern. Adaptive Security distinguishes personal and company AI accounts used in browser-based workflows.[19][20]

For compliance training, Adaptive Security offers pre-built tracks for HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS, CCPA, and more, with state and country-specific content in 40+ localized languages. Customers can upload a policy document or describe a requirement to generate training with AI. Adaptive Security exports audit-ready reports with completions and scores by framework, employee, and date.[3][21]

Adaptive Security says it is SOC 2 Type II certified, HIPAA compliant, and GDPR compliant. Adaptive Security connects to a customer's HRIS and identity provider so employee groups stay in sync automatically as people join, leave, or change roles. Adaptive Security describes Lake City Bank and Bay Federal among its customers, and says First Liberty achieved 98% security training completion, with staff finishing in about a day.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][14][18][21][22]

Adaptive Security on the record

Sources

Adaptive Security full record

  1. [1]Openai backed adaptive security named to fortunes cyber 60 list 302600736Adaptive Security via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published October 31, 2025 · Tier A
  2. [2]Protect Against Deepfakes and AI-Powered Attacks | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Finance | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Education | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Healthcare | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Government | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Hospitality | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Sports | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Our Series B, and the Future of Security Awareness in the Age of AIAdaptive Security · published December 16, 2025 · Tier A
  10. [10]AI Governance (Beta)Adaptive Security · published April 23, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Adaptive Security Named to Fast Company's 2026 Next Big Things in Tech ListAdaptive Security · published October 6, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Adaptive Security Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]Adaptive Security Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]Enterprise | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Payment & Vendor Fraud Prevention | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Deepfake & AI Impersonation Protection | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Automated Phishing Response | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Credential Phishing Protection | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]AI Governance & Data Protection | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Browser Security | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Compliance & Policy Training | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Executive Risk Reduction | Adaptive SecurityAdaptive Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Conan O'Brien Teams Up With Adaptive Security To Fight AI Threats with LaughsPR Newswire · published June 9, 2026 · Tier A

Material Security full record

  1. [1]Material Security Raises $40 Million Series B To Protect the Worlds Email From the Next SolarWinds AttackMaterial Security via Business Wire · businesswire.com · published May 26, 2021 · Tier A
  2. [2]ProductMaterial Security · material.security · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cloud Workspace Security Platform | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Deployment and Security | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Email Security Solutions for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 | MaterialMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]File Security for Google Drive and Gmail | MaterialMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Account Takeover Prevention & Detection | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]OAuth Security That Stops Malicious Apps | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Material Security | Security for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365Material Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Google Drive Security for the Agentic AI Era | MaterialMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Helping Secure Our Customers | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Material Security Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]About Us and Leadership | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Our Pricing Packages | Material SecurityMaterial Security · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A

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