CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Hornetsecurity vs IRONSCALES

Hornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. IRONSCALES sells email security that protects Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace against business email compromise, account takeover, malware and malicious URLs, credential harvesting, generative AI attacks, QR code and image-based phishing, and deepfake impersonation in Microsoft Teams meetings. 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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  • Hornetsecurity
  • IRONSCALES
Hornetsecurity vs IRONSCALES: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HornetsecurityHornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup.hornetsecurity.comIRONSCALESIRONSCALES sells email security that protects Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace against business email compromise, account takeover, malware and malicious URLs, credential harvesting, generative AI attacks, QR code and image-based phishing, and deepfake impersonation in Microsoft Teams meetings.ironscales.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.
  • Phishing SOC Agent[6][10]Delivers L2-level forensics on suspicious email.
  • Phishing Simulation Agent[6][10]Builds phishing simulations from OSINT gathered on employees.
  • Human Risk Management[11]Phishing simulation, security awareness training, and user risk scoring.
  • Themis[2][9]An agentic AI virtual SOC that classifies, clusters, and remediates threats.
  • Email Incident Management Service (EIMS)[12]IRONSCALES experts handle email threat investigation, remediation, and AI tuning.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesAtlanta, United States[1][13]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2014[1][13]
Ownership and funding
Owned by Proofpoint, Inc. since 2025[2]Privately held[4][8]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen October 25, 2026[8]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetFrom its own pages, the company sells mainly to enterprises and to MSPs and MSSPs. One entry point addresses global companies that are transforming their email security to tackle modern threats. The site also presents a comparison of secure email gateways and API-based solutions for enterprises and MSPs.
Last verified
November 4, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Email security is the primary category of both Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Hornetsecurity is also filed under Security awareness training, Email authentication and DMARC and Backup and cyber recovery. IRONSCALES is also filed under AI SOC analysts.
  • Hornetsecurity lists 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. IRONSCALES lists Phishing SOC Agent, Phishing Simulation Agent, Human Risk Management, Themis and Email Incident Management Service (EIMS).
  • IRONSCALES is headquartered in Atlanta, United States.
  • IRONSCALES was founded in 2014.
  • Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. IRONSCALES is privately held.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files Hornetsecurity under Email security, Security awareness training, Email authentication and DMARC, and Backup and cyber recovery, with Email security as its primary category. CISO Tribune files IRONSCALES under Email security and AI SOC analysts, with Email security as its primary category. Both companies therefore sell email security, and both also sell phishing-related awareness or simulation tooling.

Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, a suite for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. It also sells 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection, and DMARC Manager for DMARC, DKIM and SPF management. IRONSCALES sells email security for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace that connects through a native API integration with no MX record changes. Its products include Themis, an agentic AI virtual SOC, Phishing SOC Agent, Phishing Simulation Agent, and Human Risk Management. IRONSCALES also sells Email Incident Management Service, in which its experts handle email threat investigation, remediation, and AI tuning.

Hornetsecurity has been owned by Proofpoint, Inc. since 2025. It states that over 12,000 partners serve more than 125,000 customers around the globe. IRONSCALES is privately held and headquartered in Atlanta, United States, and it was founded in 2014. Its Series C funding of $64 million was led by PSG, bringing total financing to $80 million since 2015. IRONSCALES serves organizations directly and through a network of more than 3,500 managed service provider (MSP) partners.

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: IRONSCALES

What Phishing SOC Agent does[6][10]
Phishing SOC Agent delivers L2-level forensics in minutes and runs five analysis tracks in parallel: sender verification, body analysis for social engineering, link inspection through the full redirect chain, attachment detonation across 100+ engines, and relay path tracing. The agent's output is a Security Assessment with a verdict, key evidence, and a full activity log of every step it took.
What Phishing Simulation Agent does[6][10]
Phishing Simulation Agent gathers OSINT on people, including social media profiles, data breach exposure, and recent job changes, and builds simulations that mirror the tactics targeting the organization. Personalized phishing emails are written in each employee's native language, and one sample per employee cluster is approved by the customer.
What Human Risk Management does[11]
The platform incorporates Human Risk Management: phishing simulation, security awareness training, and user risk scoring modules that automatically tailor simulations to each employee's specific threat profile. IRONSCALES offers a GPT-powered spear phishing module for VIPs and frequently targeted employees.
What Themis does[2][9]
Themis is described as an agentic AI virtual SOC that automatically classifies, clusters, and remediates threats detected by machine learning models or user-reported emails. When a threat is detected, Themis takes autonomous action: quarantining, clustering, or escalating based on automation preferences.

Questions about Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES

What do Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES sell?
Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. IRONSCALES sells Phishing SOC Agent, Phishing Simulation Agent, Human Risk Management, Themis and Email Incident Management Service (EIMS).
Are Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES in the same category?
Yes. Email security is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES headquartered?
IRONSCALES is headquartered in Atlanta, United States.
When were Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES founded?
IRONSCALES was founded in 2014.
Who owns Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES?
Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. IRONSCALES is privately held.
Who are Hornetsecurity and IRONSCALES sold to?
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to enterprises and to MSPs and MSSPs.

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

IRONSCALES full record

  1. [1]About usIRONSCALES · ironscales.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Platform | How It WorksIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Ironscales raises series c funding roundIRONSCALES · ironscales.com · published December 7, 2021 · Tier A
  4. [4]Ironscales ipoForge Global · forgeglobal.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier C
  5. [5]AI Email Security Platform for Phishing & Deepfakes | IronscalesIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Email Security AgentsIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]IRONSCALES | Complete Email Security & Training SolutionsIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]IRONSCALES Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier C
  9. [9]SOC Automation SolutionIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Platform | What's NewIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Platform | Human ElementIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Pricing | IronscalesIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]IRONSCALES | About Us | Our StoryIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Education Email Security Solutions | IRONSCALESIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Augment your Secure Email Gateway with IRONSCALESIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]DMARC Management and MonitoringIRONSCALES · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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