CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Coalfire vs Optiv

Coalfire sells advisory, audit and assessment services. Optiv sells cybersecurity services that advise on, deploy and operate security programs for organizations. CISO Tribune files both under Security consulting and advisory and Penetration testing and red team services. 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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  • Coalfire
  • Optiv
Coalfire vs Optiv: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CoalfireCoalfire sells advisory, audit and assessment services.coalfire.comOptivOptiv sells cybersecurity services that advise on, deploy and operate security programs for organizations.optiv.com
What it sells
  • Compliance Essentials[3]A SaaS platform that enterprises use to manage complex compliance programs and audit cycles.
  • Hexeon[3]A platform combining high-frequency offensive pen testing with strategic defensive risk management.
  • DivisionHex[3]A team of offensive, defensive and managed cybersecurity experts.
  • Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services[3]Services that cover the professional services layer of Coalfire.
  • AI Security and Trust Engineering[4]Services that help companies design, build and operate AI systems that meet compliance targets.
  • Application Security[3][6]Services that protect applications, APIs and development pipelines.
  • Identity Security[2][3]Services for managing identities and securing access.
  • Co-Managed SIEM Service[5]A managed SIEM service with access to SIEM experts.
Categories
Headquarters
Chicago, United States[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • October 21, 2026Optiv launched CyberBOT, a free cybersecurity awareness training program for classrooms, nonprofits and communities.[10]
  • August 5, 2026Optiv announced Optiv Agentic Security Operations, formerly Optiv MDR, a managed security operations model combining agentic AI and practitioner expertise.[9]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[7]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Coalfire states that it helps boards and C-level executives identify their critical assets, potential vulnerabilities and which risks to address. Coalfire offers responsible AI governance for healthcare and regulated organizations. Coalfire provides independent audit support for CMS-regulated entities. Coalfire's AI Security and Trust Engineering services are aimed at companies that design, build and operate AI systems.Optiv describes services for small organizations just getting started and for large corporations well into security maturity. Optiv states that security teams are managing more tools, more telemetry and more AI-driven pressure than their operating models were built to absorb. Optiv states that it is tool agnostic and works within a client's existing technology environment. Optiv says it delivers expertise to organizations across every major industry.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Security consulting and advisory is the primary category of both Coalfire and Optiv; both are also filed under Penetration testing and red team services.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Coalfire is also filed under Compliance automation and MDR and managed SOC. Optiv is also filed under Managed security service providers and Incident response and forensics.
  • Coalfire lists Compliance Essentials, Hexeon, DivisionHex, Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services and AI Security and Trust Engineering. Optiv lists Application Security, Identity Security and Co-Managed SIEM Service.
  • Coalfire is headquartered in Chicago, United States.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Coalfire and Optiv under Security consulting and advisory as the primary category, and both also appear under penetration testing and red team services. Coalfire is headquartered in Chicago, United States. Optiv is backed by KKR.

Coalfire sells Compliance Essentials, a SaaS platform for managing compliance programs and audit cycles, which supports coordinated assessments for over 75 frameworks. It also sells Hexeon, which combines high-frequency offensive pen testing with strategic defensive risk management, and AI Security and Trust Engineering services for companies that design, build and operate AI systems. Coalfire offers advisory work for CMS-regulated entities and HITRUST support across the full lifecycle. Coalfire names Premera as a client. Coalfire released a SOC2 Type 2 report covering the examination period of 3/1/2025 to 2/28/2026.

Optiv sells services that advise on, deploy and operate security programs, including Application Security, Identity Security and a Co-Managed SIEM Service. In that SIEM service, alerts go to threat analysts in the SOC for human analysis. Optiv says it is tool agnostic and has relationships with 450+ technology vendor partners. Optiv names financial services, health care, government, energy and retail among the industries it serves, and says it serves 73% of the Fortune 100. On August 5, 2026, Optiv announced Optiv Agentic Security Operations, formerly Optiv MDR. On October 21, 2026, Optiv launched CyberBOT, a free cybersecurity awareness training program for classrooms, nonprofits and communities.

What it sells: Coalfire

What Compliance Essentials does[3]
Compliance Essentials supports coordinated assessments for over 75 frameworks using Coalfire's proprietary controls mapping. Data is provided to Compliance Essentials by the organization's assessment users. Compliance Essentials carries the certifications ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type 2.
What Hexeon does[3]
The Hexeon platform combines high-frequency offensive pen testing with strategic defensive risk management. Hexeon uses data collected by Coalfire offensive security teams, such as penetration testing findings, vulnerability data and other data concerning technical risk.
What Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services does[3]
Coalfire's Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services cover the professional services layer of the company. Coalfire's Advisory expertise specializes in GRC, AI cloud engineering, healthcare risk and FedRAMP. Coalfire assesses, simplifies and provides guidance across PCI DSS, HITRUST, ISO, FedRAMP and 85+ frameworks.
What AI Security and Trust Engineering does[4]
Coalfire's AI Security and Trust Engineering services help companies design, build and operate AI systems that meet compliance targets. The services deploy AI agents to enhance security and compliance operations. Coalfire has a framework to secure AI systems end-to-end for compliance and risk mitigation.

What it sells: Optiv

What Application Security does[3][6]
Optiv's application security services protect applications, APIs and development pipelines by identifying vulnerabilities and improving secure coding practices throughout the software lifecycle. Optiv AppSec services help organizations design and build application security programs.
What Identity Security does[2][3]
Optiv's identity security services secure access across an organization. Identity Security covers managing identities, enforcing least privilege and improving authentication, governance and visibility.
What Co-Managed SIEM Service does[5]
Optiv's co-managed SIEM service helps monitor security events with just-in-time threat intelligence. In the service, the SIEM sends alerts to threat analysts in the SOC for human analysis.

Questions about Coalfire and Optiv

What do Coalfire and Optiv sell?
Coalfire sells Compliance Essentials, Hexeon, DivisionHex, Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services and AI Security and Trust Engineering. Optiv sells Application Security, Identity Security and Co-Managed SIEM Service.
Are Coalfire and Optiv in the same category?
Yes. Security consulting and advisory is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Coalfire and Optiv headquartered?
Coalfire is headquartered in Chicago, United States.
Who are Coalfire and Optiv sold to?
Coalfire states that it helps boards and C-level executives identify their critical assets, potential vulnerabilities and which risks to address. Optiv describes services for small organizations just getting started and for large corporations well into security maturity.
What have Coalfire and Optiv announced recently?
October 21, 2026: Optiv launched CyberBOT, a free cybersecurity awareness training program for classrooms, nonprofits and communities.

About Coalfire

Coalfire sells advisory, audit and assessment services.[1][3]

Coalfire's Advisory, Audit, and Assessment services cover the professional services layer of the company. Coalfire's Advisory expertise specializes in GRC, AI cloud engineering, healthcare risk and FedRAMP. Coalfire assesses, simplifies and provides guidance across PCI DSS, HITRUST, ISO, FedRAMP and 85+ frameworks.[3]

Compliance Essentials supports coordinated assessments for over 75 frameworks using Coalfire's proprietary controls mapping. Data is provided to Compliance Essentials by the organization's assessment users. Compliance Essentials carries the certifications ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701 and SOC 2 Type 2.[3]

The Hexeon platform combines high-frequency offensive pen testing with strategic defensive risk management. Hexeon uses data collected by Coalfire offensive security teams, such as penetration testing findings, vulnerability data and other data concerning technical risk.[3]

Coalfire's AI Security and Trust Engineering services help companies design, build and operate AI systems that meet compliance targets. Coalfire's AI Security and Trust Engineering services deploy AI agents to enhance security and compliance operations. Coalfire has a framework to secure AI systems end-to-end for compliance and risk mitigation. Coalfire's Secure Agent Construct maps to AWS services to implement proper isolation, permissions, and feedback loops.[1][4]

For healthcare and federal programs, Coalfire offers end-to-end advisory for entities within the CMS environment, including readiness assessments and System Security and Privacy Plan development. Coalfire provides independent audit support for CMS-regulated entities, helping organizations demonstrate compliance with ARC-AMPE-AE and related federal security and privacy requirements. Coalfire conducts Privacy Impact Analyses for CMS entities and their contractors. Coalfire delivers automated and manual accessibility testing that meets federal standards. Coalfire provides HITRUST support across the full lifecycle, including gap assessments, policy development, remediation guidance, interim assessments and recertification. Coalfire delivers a workshop-based vendor risk program design built on three pillars: vendor criticality categorization, policy and procedure enhancement, and an SCRM tabletop exercise.[5]

Coalfire offers a unified approach to AI compliance across HITRUST and ISO 42001. The unified AI compliance offering combines readiness assessments, documentation development, remediation support, coordinated assessments, and continuous AI compliance monitoring. Coalfire provides responsible AI governance for healthcare and regulated organizations. Coalfire vCISO services provide program oversight, roadmap development, executive and board reporting, risk leadership, and incident readiness support. Coalfire advisors lead executive tabletop exercises, conduct business impact analysis, and build downtime continuity plans. Coalfire training offerings include incident response training, compliance and privacy training, and executive and board tabletop exercises.[5]

Coalfire helps boards and C-level executives identify their critical assets, potential vulnerabilities, and what risks to address based on business objectives. Dr. Adrian Mayers, Global CISO at Premera, is a Coalfire client. Coalfire released a SOC2 Type 2 report covering the examination period of 3/1/2025 to 2/28/2026. The Coalfire Cybersecurity team and DivHex are finalizing certification to the CyberEssentials Plus standards.[1][3][5][6]

Coalfire on the record

Sources

Coalfire full record

  1. [1]coalfire.comCoalfire · coalfire.com · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Coalfires managed and transformation services will deliver security at scaleCoalfire · coalfire.com · published August 4, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Coalfire Trust Center | Powered by ConveyorCoalfire · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Coalfire AI Security and Trust Engineering™ | CoalfireCoalfire · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Healthcare Advisory Services | CoalfireCoalfire · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Cybersecurity and Compliance Services | CoalfireCoalfire · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Coalfire Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & FeaturesG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

Optiv full record

  1. [1]Optiv sells advisory consulting and transformation act business vobisOptiv · optiv.com · published June 2, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]About Us | OptivOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Optiv Services | OptivOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Optiv | Cybersecurity Consultants and SolutionsOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Co-Managed SIEM Services Improve Security | Optiv | Learn MoreOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Threat & Vulnerability Remediation Solutions | OptivOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Cybersecurity Solutions | Innovation and Risk Reduction | OptivOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Our Leadership Team | OptivOptiv · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Optiv Introduces Agentic Security Operations, Redefining Managed Security Services with the Power of Google Security Operations and Extensive Wiz IntegrationPRNewswire · published August 5, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Optiv Launches CyberBOT®, A Free Cybersecurity Awareness Training Program for Classrooms, Nonprofits and Communities | OptivOptiv · published October 21, 2026 · Tier A

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