CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Hornetsecurity vs Proofpoint

Hornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. 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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  • Hornetsecurity
  • Proofpoint
Hornetsecurity vs Proofpoint: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HornetsecurityHornetsecurity sells a suite of services for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup.hornetsecurity.comProofpointProofpoint sells security that covers data and AI as one system, with access that follows intent.proofpoint.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.
  • 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
Not stated on its pagesSunnyvale, United States[1]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2002[1]
Ownership and funding
Owned by Proofpoint, Inc. since 2025[2]Owned by Thoma Bravo since 2021[3][12][14][15]
Named customers
Not stated on its pages
  • Xcel Energy[4]
  • Princeton University[5]
  • Columbia University[6]
  • Informatica[7]
  • California Department of Motor Vehicles[8]
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • 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: Not stated on its pages
  • 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
November 4, 2026October 10, 2026

Where they overlap

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

Where they differ, field by field

  • Hornetsecurity is also filed under Security awareness training, Email authentication and DMARC and Backup and cyber recovery. Proofpoint is also filed under Collaboration app security, Human risk management and Insider risk management.
  • Hornetsecurity lists 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. Proofpoint lists ITM / Endpoint DLP, Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services, ET Intel and ET Pro.
  • Proofpoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
  • Proofpoint was founded in 2002.
  • Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. Proofpoint is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2021.
  • Proofpoint publicly names Xcel Energy, Princeton University, Columbia University, Informatica and California Department of Motor Vehicles.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint under Email security as the primary category, and the two are also linked by ownership: Proofpoint, Inc. has owned Hornetsecurity since 2025. Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, a suite for Microsoft 365 security, risk, governance, compliance and backup. Its products also include 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. Hornetsecurity states that over 12,000 partners serve more than 125,000 customers.

Proofpoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States, was founded in 2002, and is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2021. CISO Tribune also files Proofpoint under Collaboration app security, Human risk management and Insider risk management. Proofpoint sells ITM / Endpoint DLP, Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services, ET Intel and ET Pro. It describes its security as covering data and AI as one system. Proofpoint publicly names Xcel Energy, Princeton University, Columbia University, Informatica and California Department of Motor Vehicles as customers.

The offerings overlap in email security, while Hornetsecurity adds Microsoft 365 backup and DMARC management and Proofpoint adds endpoint DLP and threat intelligence subscriptions. On May 13, 2026, Proofpoint launched Proofpoint 365 Total Protection in North America and formed an MSP Platform business unit. On 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.

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: 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 Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint

What do Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint sell?
Hornetsecurity sells 365 Total Protection, 365 Total Backup, Advanced Threat Protection and DMARC Manager. Proofpoint sells ITM / Endpoint DLP, Proofpoint Threat Intelligence Services, ET Intel and ET Pro.
Are Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint in the same category?
Yes. Email security is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint headquartered?
Proofpoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
When were Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint founded?
Proofpoint was founded in 2002.
Who owns Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint?
Hornetsecurity is owned by Proofpoint, Inc., since 2025. Proofpoint is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2021.
Which customers do Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint name?
Proofpoint publicly names Xcel Energy, Princeton University, Columbia University, Informatica and California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Who are Hornetsecurity 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 Hornetsecurity and Proofpoint announced recently?
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 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

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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