CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Hornetsecurity vs HYCU

Hornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. HYCU sells a platform that protects 100+ workloads across AI systems, SaaS applications, cloud environments and on-premises infrastructure. CISO Tribune files both under Backup and cyber recovery. 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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  • Hornetsecurity
  • HYCU
Hornetsecurity vs HYCU: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HornetsecurityHornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup.hornetsecurity.comHYCUHYCU sells a platform that protects 100+ workloads across AI systems, SaaS applications, cloud environments and on-premises infrastructure.hycu.com
What it sells
  • 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.
  • HYCU[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]A platform protecting 100+ workloads across AI systems, SaaS applications, cloud environments and on-premises infrastructure.
  • HYCU R-Cloud[5][9]HYCU Data Resiliency Cloud (R-Cloud) is offered as Data Protection as a Service.
  • aiR[3][4][6]With aiR, backup data becomes searchable and explainable to a security team, auditors and AI.
  • HYCU for Google Workspace[10]HYCU for Google Workspace provides protection for emails, Shared Drive, My Drive, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesBoston, United States[1]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2018[1]
Ownership and funding
Owned by Proofpoint, Inc. since 2025[2]Privately held[1][5][7]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • May 14, 2026HYCU announced HYCU aiR (AI Resilience), a product that uses backup data from many applications to give security, compliance and IT teams information they can act on.[3]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • 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
Not written yetHYCU addresses business-critical SaaS apps and cloud services. HYCU offers disaster recovery for business-critical applications on-premises and in the public cloud. HYCU names admins and users as people who protect and restore critical data with role-based access controls. HYCU names a security team and auditors as groups for whom backup data becomes searchable and explainable with aiR.
Last verified
November 4, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Hornetsecurity and HYCU are both filed under Backup and cyber recovery.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Hornetsecurity's primary category is Email security; HYCU's is Backup and cyber recovery.
  • Hornetsecurity is also filed under Security awareness training and Email authentication and DMARC.
  • Hornetsecurity lists 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. HYCU lists HYCU, HYCU R-Cloud, aiR and HYCU for Google Workspace.
  • HYCU is headquartered in Boston, United States.
  • HYCU was founded in 2018.
  • Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. HYCU is privately held.

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.

What it sells: HYCU

What HYCU does[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
HYCU builds data protection specifically for each backup source with deep API integration. HYCU says zero agents are required for VMs, applications and servers. HYCU states that customers own their data and can choose any storage, both on-premises and in the cloud.
What HYCU R-Cloud does[5][9]
HYCU R-Cloud has a single pane of glass dashboard that provides a bird's eye view of the data estate. HYCU supports granular recovery of elements across the data estate.
What HYCU for Google Workspace does[10]
HYCU for Google Workspace supports GDPR compliance and Legal holds, storing audit-ready backups. HYCU performs granular and full recovery of Shared Drive and My Drive files. HYCU describes HYCU for Google Workspace as true SaaS with zero agents.

Questions about Hornetsecurity and HYCU

What do Hornetsecurity and HYCU sell?
Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. HYCU sells HYCU, HYCU R-Cloud, aiR and HYCU for Google Workspace.
Are Hornetsecurity and HYCU in the same category?
They share Backup and cyber recovery. Hornetsecurity's primary category is Email security and HYCU's is Backup and cyber recovery.
Where are Hornetsecurity and HYCU headquartered?
HYCU is headquartered in Boston, United States.
When were Hornetsecurity and HYCU founded?
HYCU was founded in 2018.
Who owns Hornetsecurity and HYCU?
Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. HYCU is privately held.
Who are Hornetsecurity and HYCU sold to?
HYCU addresses business-critical SaaS apps and cloud services.
What have Hornetsecurity and HYCU announced recently?
May 14, 2026: HYCU announced HYCU aiR (AI Resilience), a product that uses backup data from many applications to give security, compliance and IT teams information they can act on.

About Hornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. Hornetsecurity has been operating for 15 years. Hornetsecurity has a team of over 750 specialists. Hornetsecurity states that over 12,000 partners serve more than 125,000 customers around the globe. 365 Total Backup was formerly known as Altaro Office 365 Backup, and VM Backup was formerly known as Altaro VM Backup.[3][4][5][6]

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. Hornetsecurity's email security features include Spam, Malware and Phishing Filter, Advanced Threat Protection, Sandboxing, URL Rewriting, Quishing and Business Email compromise detection, AutoRemediate, Email Threat Response and Email Encryption. Hornetsecurity offers Email Archiving and Signatures and Disclaimers for managing email-related compliance and legal requirements.[1][3][4][7]

Hornetsecurity's backup and recovery solution for Microsoft 365 covers mailboxes and In-Place Archive mailboxes, Teams, Planner, OneNote, Entra ID Users and Groups, OneDrive for Business accounts, and SharePoint document libraries. The backup solution includes unlimited backup storage and restoration and a 4-eye-approval process. Hornetsecurity offers 12 regional data centers for storing data, independent of Microsoft's infrastructure.[4][7]

Hornetsecurity sells data leak prevention with permission management for Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. Hornetsecurity offers a Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) service for maintaining a compliant SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive data infrastructure and preventing users from sharing sensitive information. When a user shares a site or a file against the organization's compliance policy, site owners receive immediate notification about the violation. If a violation has not been removed by the site owner or admin, it is removed automatically based on the policy settings. Hornetsecurity's user profiling awareness engine detects the level of users, sends out automated attack simulations and creates awareness trainings based on the user's needs. Hornetsecurity lets customers set up and manage DMARC, DKIM and SPF policies for multiple domains through a single centralized platform. Hornetsecurity's suite can warn users whenever malicious links are shared through Teams chats, and it can delete entire conversations containing malicious messages.[4][7][8]

Teams Protection protects a tenant from internal compromised accounts by scanning all messages containing URLs and issuing a warning message in the conversation through the AI Cyber Assistant bot. Email Security Analyst automates responses to user queries about potential threats, replacing traditional manual analysis. AI Recipient Validation uses machine learning to analyse emails based on a user's previous communications and triggers warnings in several instances. AI Recipient Validation is available for Microsoft 365 users on the latest versions of their Outlook Mail Client for Windows, Mac and Web. AI Recipient Validation analyses email texts and attachments in the local Outlook client, and they are not transmitted to Hornetsecurity's servers. The AI Recipient Validation dashboard gives administrators an overview of the warning instances that users are exposed to and the user actions after being notified.[9][10]

Secure Links replaces the original link in an email with a rewritten version that goes through Hornetsecurity's secure web gateway. 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. Hornetsecurity's spam filtering service includes policy-based attachment filtering with nested archive inspection. Hornetsecurity services such as Email Encryption, Email Archive or the Continuity Service can be added with one mouse click. If a customer's mail server is unavailable, Hornetsecurity stores incoming emails for up to 7 days. Hornetsecurity sells an email archiving service for M365 and other email servers.[4][11][12][13]

Hornet.email is a hosted email service with features for collaborative work such as calendar, address book and tasks. The Hornet.email Starter Package consists of the Hornet.email email platform and the automatically integrated Spam Filter and Malware Protection. The Hornet.email Enterprise Package combines Advanced Threat Protection, Email Encryption and Email Archiving Services on a collaborative email platform. Hornet.email provides a mailbox for external and internal associates within an existing M365 license agreement. Hornetsecurity sells a backup and replication solution for Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox and VMware virtual machines. VM Backup can be bought as a perpetual license with a renewable Software Maintenance Agreement or as an annual subscription.[4][6][14]

Hornetsecurity states that its Partner Program applies no matter a partner's business model or team size. Hornetsecurity has an ebook for MSPs, written by a former MSP.[3][4][5][6][8][9][10][11][14][15]

Hornetsecurity on the record

Sources

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

HYCU full record

  1. [1]CompanyHYCU, Inc. · hycu.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Bain capital ventures leads 87 5m series a round to accelerate growth and innovation for boston based hycuHYCU, Inc. · hycu.com · published March 30, 2021 · Tier A
  3. [3]HYCU aiR detects insider risk and AI activity from backupsHelp Net Security · published May 14, 2026 · Tier B
  4. [4]Data Protection Solutions by Use Case & Industry | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Data Backup & Recovery | Cloud Based Solution | Backup | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]HYCU: #1 AI Resilience CompanyHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Disaster Recovery Solution | Data Backup & Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Secure, reliable backup & recovery for Amazon RDS | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Marketplace Integration Google CloudSQL | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Backup as a Service purpose-built for Google Workspace | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]HYCU for Citrix XenServer Backup and Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]HYCU for Dell PowerFlex with Nutanix Cloud Backup and Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]HYCU for Nutanix NC2 on Azure Backup and Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]HYCU for Draw.IO Backup and Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]HYCU for Jira Assets Backup and Recovery | HYCUHYCU · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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