CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Darktrace vs Proofpoint

Darktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools. Proofpoint sells security that covers data and AI as one system, with access that follows intent. 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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  • Darktrace
  • Proofpoint
Darktrace vs Proofpoint: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
DarktraceDarktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools.darktrace.comProofpointProofpoint sells security that covers data and AI as one system, with access that follows intent.proofpoint.com
What it sells
  • Darktrace / EMAIL[14][15]Email security that catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation and social engineering attacks.
  • ITM / Endpoint DLP[19]Endpoint software whose main features are supported on Windows, Mac and Linux.
  • Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services[21]A Proofpoint team that provides Threat Insights.
  • ET Intel[21]A subscription that gives full access to all insights.
  • ET Pro[21]A subscription that gives full access to all insights.
Categories
Headquarters
Cambridge, United Kingdom[2]Sunnyvale, United States[1]
Founded
2013[2]2002[1]
Ownership and funding
Owned by Thoma Bravo since 2024[3][12][13][17]Owned by Thoma Bravo since 2021[3][12][14][15]
Named customers
  • Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast[4]
  • HARMAN International[5]
  • City of Las Vegas[6]
  • Centre Parcs[7]
  • Banco Galicia[8]
  • Xcel Energy[4]
  • Princeton University[5]
  • Columbia University[6]
  • Informatica[7]
  • California Department of Motor Vehicles[8]
Recent news
  • September 24, 2026Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings.[9]
  • September 22, 2026Darktrace made its SECURE AI product generally available, giving enterprises tools to discover AI use, monitor people and agents, and act on policy risks.[10]
  • August 4, 2026Darktrace announced an integration that feeds behavioral risk signals about AI agents from its SECURE AI product into the Microsoft Agent 365 portal.[11]
  • October 15, 2026Proofpoint and Varonis announced a definitive agreement under which Proofpoint will acquire Varonis in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6.3 billion.[16]
  • September 22, 2026Proofpoint announced the Agentic Collaboration Security system, combining an intent-based detection model with agentic capabilities for email, collaboration tools and the browser.[17]
  • September 22, 2026Proofpoint announced the Proofpoint Agentic Data and AI Security system, built to secure AI and data as one connected risk.[18]
  • September 3, 2026Proofpoint introduced the SOC Analyst Agent, an AI capability that helps security teams investigate threats across Proofpoint security data, built with OpenAI models.[9]
  • August 4, 2026Proofpoint launched an OEM program that lets technology providers, security vendors and managed service providers embed its threat intelligence and detection capabilities.[10]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[13]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[14]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetFrom its own pages, Proofpoint addresses cyberattacks on organisations where people and AI agents work side by side across email, cloud and collaboration tools. The customers Proofpoint quotes include an organisation using Proofpoint for AI security for employees using AI services and tools, and for AI security in the tools and agents it is building. A quoted Proofpoint customer runs email security, DLP and insider threat management that work together, with its analyst using a single security console.
Last verified
October 10, 2026October 10, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Darktrace and Proofpoint are both filed under Email security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Darktrace's primary category is Network detection and response; Proofpoint's is Email security.
  • Darktrace is also filed under OT and ICS security. Proofpoint is also filed under Collaboration app security, Human risk management and Insider risk management.
  • Darktrace lists Darktrace / EMAIL. Proofpoint lists ITM / Endpoint DLP, Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services, ET Intel and ET Pro.
  • Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Proofpoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
  • Darktrace was founded in 2013. Proofpoint was founded in 2002.
  • Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024. Proofpoint is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2021.
  • Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia. Proofpoint publicly names Xcel Energy, Princeton University, Columbia University, Informatica and California Department of Motor Vehicles.

What it sells: Darktrace

What Darktrace / EMAIL does[14][15]
Darktrace / EMAIL learns from each organization's own activity and users, not a shared cross-customer model. Darktrace says it catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation, and social engineering attacks. Behavioral detection extends across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. Each employee's risk score adapts their email controls.

What it sells: Proofpoint

What Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services does[21]
Threat Insights are provided by the Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services team. Premium Threat Intelligence Services analysts curate threat news highlights.
What ET Intel does[21]
Subscribing to ET Intel or ET Pro gives full access to all insights. Threat Insights are provided by the Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services team.
What ET Pro does[21]
Subscribing to ET Intel or ET Pro gives full access to all insights. Threat Insights are provided by the Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services team.

Questions about Darktrace and Proofpoint

What do Darktrace and Proofpoint sell?
Darktrace sells Darktrace / EMAIL. Proofpoint sells ITM / Endpoint DLP, Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services, ET Intel and ET Pro.
Are Darktrace and Proofpoint in the same category?
They share Email security. Darktrace's primary category is Network detection and response and Proofpoint's is Email security.
Where are Darktrace and Proofpoint headquartered?
Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Proofpoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
When were Darktrace and Proofpoint founded?
Darktrace was founded in 2013. Proofpoint was founded in 2002.
Who owns Darktrace and Proofpoint?
Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024. Proofpoint is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2021.
Which customers do Darktrace and Proofpoint name?
Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia. Proofpoint publicly names Xcel Energy, Princeton University, Columbia University, Informatica and California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Who are Darktrace and Proofpoint sold to?
From its own pages, Proofpoint addresses cyberattacks on organisations where people and AI agents work side by side across email, cloud and collaboration tools.
What have Darktrace and Proofpoint announced recently?
September 24, 2026: Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings. October 15, 2026: Proofpoint and Varonis announced a definitive agreement under which Proofpoint will acquire Varonis in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6.3 billion.

About Darktrace

Darktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools. Darktrace says it understands behavior across people, networks, applications, cloud, and AI. Darktrace says its Adaptive AI learns an organization's own operational patterns, unlike security tools that rely on static rules or training data from other organizations. Darktrace says its AI learns from each organization's own business data to identify anomalous activity for each asset across domains.[1][14]

Darktrace says a dynamic understanding of every email user in an organization allows Darktrace / EMAIL to take a targeted response to threats that others miss. Darktrace learns from each organization's own activity and users, not a shared cross-customer model. Darktrace says its email security catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation, and social engineering attacks. Darktrace says its behavioral detection extends across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. When credentials are compromised, Darktrace responds autonomously by terminating sessions, forcing re-authentication, and restricting access across email, SaaS, and cloud. Darktrace says each employee's risk score adapts their email controls, so protection strengthens for higher-risk users as training progresses. The Darktrace Email Analysis Agent integrates with Microsoft Defender and Security Copilot to streamline investigation and response for SOC teams.[1][15][16]

Darktrace says one solution detects, investigates, and contains threats across network, cloud, OT, endpoint, and identity, and learns the environment from the ground up. Darktrace / HYBRID NETWORK passively ingests traffic from on-premises and virtual networks, multi-cloud environments, OT, endpoints, and identities. Darktrace analyzes encrypted and decrypted traffic across network, cloud, and OT to surface activity that does not fit the environment. Darktrace then contains that activity with response actions taken natively or through firewalls, EDR, SOAR, and ITSM tools. Darktrace says it can flag account takeover, privilege escalation, and insider misuse when an identity stops matching how that identity normally behaves. When a threat is identified, Darktrace automatically acquires host and workload artifacts across endpoints, cloud, containers, and SaaS environments. Darktrace says its approach detects zero-day threats an average of 8 days before public CVE disclosure.

For cloud, Darktrace says its Adaptive AI continuously monitors activity across cloud assets, workloads, APIs, containers, and identities. Darktrace says Cyber AI Analyst automatically investigates alerts and connects related cloud and infrastructure activity. Darktrace's coverage extends across Compute, Serverless, Containers, IAM, Storage Services, and beyond. Darktrace draws data from lightweight host-based server agents or a combination of traffic mirroring and API logs. Darktrace supports security investigations by combining its detection and response capabilities with Amazon Security Lake.[18][19]

For operational technology, Darktrace maintains a live asset inventory, obtained through passive and active scanning, and immediately reveals CVEs and End-Of-Life status. Darktrace says it identifies and contains threats across converged IT and OT environments with Adaptive AI. Darktrace says Cyber AI Analyst automatically investigates alerts and correlates related activity across OT and IT environments. Darktrace says it automatically maps its models to the MITRE for ICS attacks/techniques, and says it helps organizations meet NIST and other regulations and standards.[20]

Darktrace calls its endpoint functionality Network Endpoint eXtended Telemetry (NEXT), which shows the endpoint process root cause for network threats. Darktrace says Cyber AI Analyst autonomously investigates alerts, gathers evidence, tests hypotheses, and delivers incident context. Darktrace responds autonomously with targeted actions that contain threats and avoid business disruption. Darktrace lets customers set response policies with configurable actions based on device types, user groups, locations, business hours, and operational requirements. Darktrace complements Microsoft Defender for Endpoint by connecting endpoint signals with behavioral understanding across a wider infrastructure.[15][21]

Darktrace says action can be taken independently or via integrations with native security controls, and that alerts are sent wherever the customer wants them. Darktrace extends its autonomous response to Check Point firewalls and to Palo Alto firewalls. Darktrace incidents and model breach alerts can be analyzed in CIM compatible Splunk dashboards. Darktrace enriches its AI decision-making with alerts from the Crowdstrike Falcon platform. Darktrace's Cyber AI Analyst integrates with Microsoft Copilot for Security.[14][15][22][23]

HARMAN International uses Darktrace coverage for email, network, and OT systems. Centre Parcs turned to Darktrace to protect its network, email, and cloud environments with a single AI security platform. Darktrace says organizations across all sizes and industries rely on it to get proactive about cyber security.[14][16][20]

Darktrace on the record

Sources

Darktrace full record

  1. [1]ProductsDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Darktrace named technology pioneer by world economic forumDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Darktrace announces formal completion of its acquisition by thoma bravoDarktrace · darktrace.com · published October 1, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Coca cola beverages northeastDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Harman internationalDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]City of las vegasDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Center parcs darktraceDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Banco galiciaDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Darktrace launches signal labs to research emerging risks of enterprise ai agentsDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Darktrace extends behavioral security with general availability of darktrace secure aiDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Darktrace among first cybersecurity companies selected to integrate risk signals into microsoft agent 365Darktrace · darktrace.com · published August 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Darktrace | The Essential AI Cybersecurity PlatformDarktrace · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Darktrace / HYBRID NETWORK Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]AI Cyber Security Solutions | Harden Defenses Inside & OutDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Microsoft Azure Security & Compliance | Security ServicesDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]AI-Based Email Security Software | Email Threat ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Network Security Management | AI Network Security ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Cloud Security Solutions | AI for Cloud Cyber SecurityDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]AWS Data Loss Prevention, Security Compliance, & ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Operational Technology (OT) Cyber Security SolutionsDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]AI Endpoint Security | Cyber Security Endpoint Protection SuiteDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Network Security Integrations | Darktrace/NetworkDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Integrations | Darktrace/EndpointDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A

Proofpoint full record

  1. [1]AboutProofpoint · proofpoint.com · published April 21, 2025 · Tier A
  2. [2]ProductsProofpoint · proofpoint.com · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Thoma bravo completes acquisition of proofpointThoma Bravo · thomabravo.com · published August 31, 2021 · Tier A
  4. [4]Xcel energyProofpoint · proofpoint.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Princeton university safe with proofpoint email securityProofpoint · proofpoint.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Columbia universityProofpoint · proofpoint.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]InformaticaProofpoint · proofpoint.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]California department motor vehiclesProofpoint · proofpoint.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Proofpoint soc analyst agent openai daybreakProofpoint · proofpoint.com · published September 3, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Proofpoint launches oem program help security providers embed trusted threatProofpoint · proofpoint.com · published August 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Proofpoint launches dedicated msp business unit and introduces 365 totalProofpoint · proofpoint.com · published May 13, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Enterprise Cybersecurity Solutions, Services & Training | Proofpoint USProofpoint · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Integrating ITM On-Prem (ObserveIT) with a Service Desk SystemProofpoint · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Proofpoint Core Email Protection Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 27, 2026 · Tier C
  15. [15]Proofpoint Acquires Acuvity to Deliver AI Security and Governance Across the Agentic WorkspaceProofpoint · published February 12, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Proofpoint to Acquire Varonis in a $6.3 Billion TransactionProofpoint · published October 15, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Proofpoint Stops the Attacks Traditional Defenses Miss in the AI EraProofpoint · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Proofpoint Breaks Down the Divide Between Data Security and AI Security with the Industry’s First Unified Agentic SystemProofpoint · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]ITM / Endpoint DLP Windows / Mac / Linux SupportProofpoint · published November 9, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Assigning SQL Permissions to the Service Account UserProofpoint · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Proofpoint: Emerging Threats IntelligenceProofpoint · published November 9, 2026 · Tier A

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