Cyber Security
The discipline of penetration testing is a niche laden with competition focussed on competing through `better` speeds and feeds, yet delivers limited value-add through manual techniques by providing a snapshot of isolated vulnerabilities at a chosen moment in time.
Fraught with skills challenges, traditional methods lack the one thing that organisations require to effectively manage their security exposure – the ability to understand at any time their actual situation versus their desired security posture.
Tel Aviv, Israel-based penetration testing experts, Psysys, approached Categorical with an unpronounceable name, analyst disinterest and a need to differentiate in a crowded market. The challenge was to rebrand and reframe the customer problem, creating an entirely new Category and a recognised leader..
This journey started with strong Category buy-in, CEO leadership and board-level alignment and agreement to abandon analyst-first endorsement. What followed was robust discussion and iterations and the creation of an industry-refining Point of View with targeted buying personas.
At the initial Strike the competition soon woke up to a new brand – Pentera – and a new Category – Automated Security Validation (ASV). ASV reframed customer expectations of security efficiency and effectiveness by allowing them to continually validate their organisation’s cyber defences, whilst focussing remediation only on breachable vulnerabilities.
Such was the power of the new differentiation, a new Category ecosystem started building immediately. Competitors capitulated to the new Category adopting security validation as core to their offerings, third party analyst endorsement soon followed, and enthusiastic partner amplification boosted visibility of Pentera’s new Category strike.
Venture Capital noticed, and within months delivered a new round of investment creating a new tech unicorn announced to the world on the NASDAQ screen in Times Square, New York.
This, in turn, boosted the new brand and eased recruitment. Gartner G2 and Peer Insights recognition and endorsement followed, a compelling, shareable sales asset
is Pentera and the Automated Security Validation category’s presence on the UK government’s Digital Marketplaces website – one of the key portals for public sector procurement.
Pentera’s ASV Category continues to thrive, receiving the highest level of CISO trust from organisations across industries including Blackstone, Brewdog, IP Telecom and Toyota. With the speed of Category growth boosted, Pentera featured in the latest (2023) Deloitte Technology Fast 500 listing.