CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cofense vs Hornetsecurity

Cofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data. Hornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. CISO Tribune files both under Email security and Security awareness training. 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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  • Cofense
  • Hornetsecurity
Cofense vs Hornetsecurity: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CofenseCofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data.cofense.comHornetsecurityHornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup.hornetsecurity.com
What it sells
  • Cofense Phishing Defense Platform[2]A phishing defense platform powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters.
  • Cofense Phishing Remediation[8]Removes confirmed phishing threats from inboxes, including every variant of a confirmed campaign.
  • Cofense Command Center[2][6][8]One place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working.
  • Cofense Phishing Training[3]Phishing training that uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs.
  • 365 Total Protection[3][4][7]A suite for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup.
  • 365 Total Backup[3][4][6]Automated Microsoft 365 data backup, recovery and protection.
  • Advanced Threat Protection[3][4][7][14]AI-powered protection of emails and data.
  • DMARC Manager[3][4][15]Safeguards domains against email impersonation, phishing and spoofing with DMARC, DKIM and SPF management.
Categories
Headquarters
Arlington, United States[1]Not stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesOwned by Proofpoint, Inc. since 2025[2]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • September 23, 2026Cofense added a Competency Dashboard to its Command Center that measures how ready an organization is against phishing threats, rather than only training completion.[4]
  • February 4, 2026Cofense released a threat intelligence report titled The New Era of Phishing: Threats Built in the Age of AI.[9]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 4, 2026[5]
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cofense sells mainly to security teams that run phishing defense at enterprise scale. Cofense describes its automated remediation as transparent, explainable, and safe to operationalize at enterprise scale. Cofense offers experts who can manage detection, remediation, and training end to end for teams that want to take the operational load off. Cofense positions its products as adding to existing email defenses.Not written yet
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Email security is the primary category of both Cofense and Hornetsecurity; both are also filed under Security awareness training.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cofense is also filed under Human risk management. Hornetsecurity is also filed under Email authentication and DMARC and Backup and cyber recovery.
  • Cofense lists Cofense Phishing Defense Platform, Cofense Phishing Remediation, Cofense Command Center and Cofense Phishing Training. Hornetsecurity lists 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager.
  • Cofense is headquartered in Arlington, United States.
  • Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Cofense and Hornetsecurity under Email security as the primary category, and both also appear under Security awareness training. Cofense is headquartered in Arlington, United States, and sells the Cofense Phishing Defense Platform, Cofense Phishing Remediation, Cofense Command Center and Cofense Phishing Training. Cofense says its products add to existing email defenses and cover phishing detection and response gaps after delivery.

Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, a suite for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. Its other products include 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. CISO Tribune also files Hornetsecurity under Email authentication and DMARC and under Backup and cyber recovery, categories not listed for Cofense. Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025.

On the training side, Cofense says its phishing simulations can replicate smishing, vishing and QR-code phishing, built from real phishing data. Hornetsecurity describes a user profiling awareness engine that sends automated attack simulations and creates awareness trainings. Hornetsecurity states that over 12,000 partners serve more than 125,000 customers around the globe. Cofense added a Competency Dashboard to its Command Center on September 23, 2026, and released a threat intelligence report titled The New Era of Phishing: Threats Built in the Age of AI on February 4, 2026.

What it sells: Cofense

What Cofense Phishing Defense Platform does[2]
The Cofense Phishing Defense Platform is powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters. Cofense says threat intelligence from real attacks connects remediation and training into a single defense rather than separate tools. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI classifies and processes reported threats at scale, and every decision it makes is explainable and analyst-verified.
What Cofense Phishing Remediation does[8]
Cofense says it can remove confirmed threats in seconds and automatically eliminate similar threats going forward. Cofense says it quarantines every variant of a confirmed campaign in under a minute. Cofense describes AI-powered clustering to detect polymorphic attacks before threats are confirmed.
What Cofense Command Center does[2][6][8]
Cofense Command Center is one place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working. Cofense says Phishing Remediation data in Cofense Command Center adds real-world threat and remediation context alongside training and competency insights.
What Cofense Phishing Training does[3]
Cofense Phishing Training uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs. Cofense says simulations can replicate smishing, vishing, and QR-code phishing. Cofense says employees can report threats with one click into a global intelligence network.

What it sells: Hornetsecurity

What 365 Total Protection does[3][4][7]
365 Total Protection plans can be onboarded in Hybrid mode. Hornetsecurity offers one package that combines email security, backup, security awareness, access and permission control and domain fraud protection.
What 365 Total Backup does[3][4][6]
The backup and recovery solution covers mailboxes and In-Place Archive mailboxes, Teams, Planner, OneNote, Entra ID Users and Groups, OneDrive for Business accounts, and SharePoint document libraries. It includes unlimited backup storage and restoration and a 4-eye-approval process.
What Advanced Threat Protection does[3][4][7][14]
Hornetsecurity's Sandbox Engine scans email attachments for potential malware by running the file in a virtual, isolated test environment. Hornetsecurity's QR Code Analyzer detects QR codes embedded directly into an email or an image. Real Time Alerts notify an IT security team about acute attacks on the company in real time.
What DMARC Manager does[3][4][15]
DMARC Manager can capture all reports sent by recipient servers back to the sender and aggregate them into a single report. Hornetsecurity describes real-time data on email messages that fail DMARC checks.

Questions about Cofense and Hornetsecurity

What do Cofense and Hornetsecurity sell?
Cofense sells Cofense Phishing Defense Platform, Cofense Phishing Remediation, Cofense Command Center and Cofense Phishing Training. Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager.
Are Cofense and Hornetsecurity in the same category?
Yes. Email security is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Cofense and Hornetsecurity headquartered?
Cofense is headquartered in Arlington, United States.
Who owns Cofense and Hornetsecurity?
Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025.
Who are Cofense and Hornetsecurity sold to?
From its own pages, Cofense sells mainly to security teams that run phishing defense at enterprise scale.
What have Cofense and Hornetsecurity announced recently?
September 23, 2026: Cofense added a Competency Dashboard to its Command Center that measures how ready an organization is against phishing threats, rather than only training completion.

About Cofense

Cofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data. Cofense says it is the only cybersecurity platform focused exclusively on stopping phishing. Cofense says it is purpose-built for phishing, the most persistent and costly cyber threat.[2][6][7]

Cofense says its expert-supervised AI, combined with real-time intelligence from 35M+ trained users, detects advanced phishing attacks other solutions miss and remediates them in minutes. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI is continuously trained and validated by human analysts.[2][7]

The problem Cofense says it addresses starts after delivery. Cofense says polymorphic campaigns slip past secure email gateways and AI-only defenses. Cofense says removing one email at a time leaves entire campaigns active in inboxes. Cofense combines purpose-built phishing AI, trained on real attacks, with expert validation for post-perimeter detection. Cofense says it augments existing email defenses, covering phishing detection and response gaps.[6][7]

The Cofense Phishing Defense Platform is powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters. Cofense says threat intelligence from real attacks connects remediation and training into a single defense rather than separate tools. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI classifies and processes reported threats at scale, and every decision it makes is explainable and analyst-verified. Cofense Command Center is one place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working. Cofense says Phishing Remediation data in Cofense Command Center adds real-world threat and remediation context alongside training and competency insights.[2][8]

Cofense says Cofense Phishing Remediation goes further than detecting threats that evade perimeter defenses, and that Cofense removes threats with 99.998% accuracy. Cofense says it can remove confirmed threats in seconds and automatically eliminate similar threats going forward. Cofense says it quarantines every variant of a confirmed campaign in under a minute. Cofense describes AI-powered clustering to detect polymorphic attacks before threats are confirmed. Cofense also describes email triage and response with precision clustering, AI-driven auto classification, and click tracking to process reported threats in minutes.[2][8]

Cofense Phishing Training uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs. Cofense says its training turns verified attacks into real-world simulations instead of generic templates. Cofense says simulations can replicate smishing, vishing, and QR-code phishing. Cofense says employees can report threats with one click into a global intelligence network. Cofense says it turns real attacks into the simulations employees train on, then measures competency against what attackers are actually sending.[2][3]

Cofense says its experts can manage detection, remediation, and training end to end, taking the operational load off the customer's team. Cofense connects to the tools customers already use, and says intelligence and remediation extend across the existing stack.[2][3][6][8]

Cofense on the record

Sources

Cofense full record

  1. [1]ContactCofense · cofense.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Unified Phishing Defense Platform Built to Learn & Adapt | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]PhishMe Security Awareness Training (SAT) Platform | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cofense Expands AI-Driven Phishing Defense Platform to Advance Secure Behavior ManagementBusiness Wire · published September 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Cofense Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  6. [6]Phishing Defense Powered by AI & Human Insight | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]About Us | Cofense Email SecurityCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Phishing Detection & Rapid Response Platform | Cofense PDRCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cofense Report Reveals AI-Powered Phishing Accelerated to One Attack Every 19 SecondsCofense · published February 4, 2026 · Tier A

Hornetsecurity full record

  1. [1]hornetsecurity.comHornetsecurity · hornetsecurity.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Proofpoint acquisition completed press releaseHornetsecurity · hornetsecurity.com · published December 8, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]hornetsecurity.comHornetsecurity · hornetsecurity.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cybersecurity Services for Microsoft 365 | HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Hornetsecurity – Next-Gen Microsoft 365 SecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Backup Service Renewal | Hornetsecurity (formerly Altaro)Hornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]365 Total Protection | Next-Gen Microsoft 365 Security SuiteHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]365 Permission Manager for Microsoft 365 | HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Cyber Assistant by Hornetsecurity: Meet AI.MYHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]AI Recipient Validation: Prevent Misdirected Emails | HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Advanced Threat Protection for Email | AI-powered Threat DefenseHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Spam Filter & Malware Protection | HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Business Email Continuity Service | HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Hosted Business Email | Hornet.emailHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]DMARC Manager - Secure Your Domain with HornetsecurityHornetsecurity · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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