Cybersecurity Companies in Atlanta: 9 Firms Compared for 2026
Founder and Principal Security Consultant - CISSP, CEH, CHFI, Mandiant

We have probably seen your problem before. Our smallest client had eight employees. Our largest secures the nuclear power plant of the United Arab Emirates. Whatever shape yours is, tell us about it and we will tell you how we would fix it.
Atlanta is a payments town, and that shapes what cybersecurity means here. A large share of the card transactions processed in the United States pass through companies headquartered in Georgia, which means PCI DSS obligations, acquirer scrutiny and a threat model built around payment data rather than intellectual property. This guide compares nine firms with a real presence in the Atlanta metro on what they charge and what they are actually good at.
Disclosure: this guide is published by Atlant Security, which appears at number 4 of 9 below. We are not a reseller or partner of any firm listed, none paid for placement, and none saw this before publication. Every company here was checked against its own live website on 14 September 2026. Strengths and weaknesses are our editorial judgement; each quoted line is taken verbatim from the firm’s own site.
What changed in this edition: This edition was rebuilt. Two entries from the previous version are gone for cause: Secureworks, which was an Atlanta company but was acquired by Sophos in a $859 million deal that closed on 3 February 2025, with secureworks.com now redirecting to sophos.com; and Booz Allen Hamilton, a Virginia consultancy with an Atlanta office, which is not what someone searching for an Atlanta cybersecurity company is looking for. Two further candidates were dropped during fact-checking: one firm’s site now returns a 404, and another has rebranded away from security entirely.
Start Here: the 30 Second Version
If you read nothing else on this page, read the row that describes you. Every provider is compared in detail further down, but choosing the right category of firm matters far more than choosing between two firms in the same category.
| If this is you | Buy this first | Because |
|---|---|---|
| You process or touch card payments | A PCI DSS scoping exercise before anything else | Most Atlanta overspending on PCI is spent securing systems that could have been taken out of scope. |
| Your last audit failed on access control | An identity and access management engagement | This is where a disproportionate share of real breaches begin, and it is fixable. |
| You need an actual break-in attempt | A penetration test from a testing firm | One firm below does this. A vulnerability scan is not the same purchase. |
| A 20 to 100 person Atlanta business | A local managed provider with a real security tier | Five of the nine firms below are this, at a $1,000 to $5,000 entry point. |
| You do not know which of these you are | A scoped, fixed-price audit | The cheapest thing to buy first is the ordering. |
Atlant Security editorial assessment, September 2026. This is our reading of the market, not a figure taken from any published source.
Does a Atlanta Cybersecurity Company Need to Be in Atlanta?
For most of the work, no. Cloud configuration, identity hardening, policy development and detection engineering happen remotely regardless of where the provider sits. Limiting a shortlist to firms inside the Perimeter usually costs you expertise and buys you a drive you will rarely make.
Location matters for three things in Atlanta specifically. Physical and social engineering testing needs people on site. Distribution and manufacturing sites along the I-85 and I-75 corridors often have equipment that cannot be assessed remotely. And PCI DSS assessment work frequently involves walking a store or a processing floor rather than reading a diagram.
Everything else is a question of working-hours overlap and whether the firm can get someone to you when an incident genuinely requires it. Several firms below are in Roswell, Suwanee, Sandy Springs or Cumming rather than downtown, and that makes no practical difference.
What Drives Security Spending in Atlanta: Payments, Logistics and Health
Georgia’s concentration of payment processing companies is the defining feature of the local security market. If your business touches card data, PCI DSS is not optional and its requirements are prescriptive in a way most frameworks are not: network segmentation, encryption of stored card data, restricted access, logging, and regular testing. An Atlanta provider that has taken clients through a PCI assessment before is meaningfully more useful than one who has read about it.
Logistics is the second pillar. The metro is one of the most important freight and air cargo hubs in the country, and logistics businesses have a characteristic weakness: a great deal of operational technology, warehouse systems, scanners, telematics and building controls that nobody can install a security agent on. Attacks on this sector tend to target availability, because a distributor that cannot ship is losing money by the hour and is more likely to pay.
Healthcare and health technology form the third. Atlanta hosts a substantial hospital and health technology cluster, which brings HIPAA obligations and the specific problem of medical devices that run unsupported operating systems and cannot be patched without vendor approval. That is a network-level problem rather than an endpoint one, and it needs a provider who understands the difference.
Underneath all three sits the ordinary Atlanta small business: fifty people, a Microsoft 365 tenant, a couple of servers and no security staff. Most of the firms on this page exist to serve that company, and for it the correct first purchase is almost never an enterprise platform.
Work out which one you are
What actually forces the spend in Atlanta
Atlanta processes an outsized share of the payment industry, and payment obligations behave differently from regulatory ones: they arrive from your bank and the card brands, through contract.
You touch card data in any form
PCI DSS, and the scope question of exactly which systems are in it
Enforced by your acquiring bank and the card brands, contractually
You run a health technology or claims business
The HIPAA Security Rule and a business associate agreement chain
Enforced by hHS, and your covered-entity customers
You sell software to enterprises
SOC 2, demanded contractually
Enforced by your customers and their auditors
The three most common situations. The full table below adds a fourth and gives the sourcing for each row.
| Your situation | What applies | Who enforces it | What it changes when you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| You touch card data in any form | PCI DSS, and the scope question of exactly which systems are in it | Your acquiring bank and the card brands, contractually | Reducing scope is almost always cheaper than securing it. See our PCI DSS page. |
| You run a health technology or claims business | The HIPAA Security Rule and a business associate agreement chain | HHS, and your covered-entity customers | Your provider becomes a business associate. See our HIPAA page. |
| You sell software to enterprises | SOC 2, demanded contractually | Your customers and their auditors | Fund it from revenue. See SOC 2 readiness. |
| Identity and access keep failing audits | No external framework. This is an internal control failure that every framework then flags | Whoever audits you next | One firm below does nothing else. Leavers keeping access is a solvable problem. |
These are frameworks rather than statutes, named because Atlant Security publishes a page on each. Georgia state law obligations should be checked with counsel rather than with any vendor summary.
Cybersecurity Companies in Atlanta: Side-by-Side Comparison
All 9 firms below have a real presence in the Atlanta area. The table is sorted in the same order as the reviews that follow.
| Provider | Based | Team size | Hourly rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raxis | Atlanta, GA | 10-49 | $200-$300 | Companies that need an actual break-in attempt, not a vulnerability scan |
| Idenhaus Consulting | Atlanta, GA | 10-49 | $150-$199 | Organisations with a stalled or failed identity management programme |
| TrustNet | Atlanta, GA | 50-249 | Not published | Companies that need an audit report they can hand to a customer |
| Atlant Security | Remote, serving 14 countries | Small senior team | Fixed price, not hourly | Companies that need someone to decide what to do and then implement it |
| Snap Tech IT | Cumming, GA | 10-49 | $150-$199 | Growing Atlanta-area businesses that want managed IT with a real security tier |
| Centerpoint IT | Roswell, GA | 10-49 | $150-$199 | Atlanta small businesses wanting local managed IT with a low entry point |
| Lenet | Sandy Springs, GA | 10-49 | $150-$199 | Sandy Springs and north Atlanta businesses wanting a small, flexible partner |
| MIS Solutions | Suwanee, GA | 10-49 | Not published | Established Atlanta businesses that value a long-running local relationship |
| trueITpros | Atlanta, GA | 10-49 | $100-$149 | Cost-conscious Atlanta businesses that still want security taken seriously |
Team size, hourly rate and minimum engagement are as published by each firm on the Clutch directory, checked 14 September 2026. They are the firms’ own figures, not our measurements. “Best for” is Atlant Security’s editorial assessment.
What kind of firm each one actually is
The table above compares them on price and location. This one compares them on what they are, which is the comparison that decides whether the engagement works. Most bad purchases in this market are the right firm in the wrong category.
| Provider | What kind of firm it is | What the engagement ends with | The limitation this guide flags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raxis | Offensive testing | A report describing how they got in | Testing only; they will not manage your environment day to day |
| Idenhaus Consulting | Consultancy | A prioritised plan, and with some firms the fixes as well | Narrow focus; they are not a general security or IT provider |
| TrustNet | Consultancy | A prioritised plan, and with some firms the fixes as well | Neither rate nor minimum project size is published |
| Atlant Security | Consultancy | A prioritised plan, and with some firms the fixes as well | No help desk, so day-to-day IT support still needs a local provider |
| Snap Tech IT | Managed IT (MSP) | A monthly service and somebody to call when it breaks | Small team, so capacity is finite |
| Centerpoint IT | Managed IT (MSP) | A monthly service and somebody to call when it breaks | General IT support rather than specialist security engineering |
| Lenet | Managed IT (MSP) | A monthly service and somebody to call when it breaks | Limited depth and no independent 24/7 capability |
| MIS Solutions | Managed IT (MSP) | A monthly service and somebody to call when it breaks | No published hourly rate |
| trueITpros | Managed IT (MSP) | A monthly service and somebody to call when it breaks | No published minimum project size |
Category is our reading of each firm’s own published description, quoted in its entry below. The limitation column is taken verbatim from the same entry. Checked against each firm’s live site in September 2026.
Read the Atlant Security row the same way you read the others. We are a consultancy. There is no help desk, no monitoring platform and nothing to resell, and that is a limitation as much as a position. If what you need is somebody to answer the phone when a laptop dies, buy from one of the managed providers on this page instead. We are here because deciding what to fix and in what order is a separate purchase from keeping the estate running.
The 9 Best Cybersecurity Companies in Atlanta for 2026
Ordered by fit for a typical Atlanta buyer. The first three are specialists in testing, identity and compliance respectively; the rest are managed providers serving the metro.
1. Raxis
Atlanta, GA · Website: raxis.com

Best for: Companies that need an actual break-in attempt, not a vulnerability scan
Raxis is an Atlanta penetration testing firm, and it is the entry on this list that does the thing most of the others do not: try to break in. That is a genuinely different discipline from managed IT. A scan produces a list of findings a tool noticed; a penetration test produces a narrative of how someone chained three unremarkable weaknesses into domain administrator. If you are being asked for a penetration test by a customer, an insurer or an auditor, this is the category you need, and Raxis is local to Atlanta.
Penetration Testing Services
How Raxis describes itself on raxis.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Genuine offensive security specialism, rare among local providers
- Atlanta headquartered, so on-site physical and social engineering testing is practical
Watch out for
- Testing only; they will not manage your environment day to day
- $200-$300 per hour is the top of the Atlanta band
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $200-$300 · Minimum engagement: $5,000+
2. Idenhaus Consulting
Atlanta, GA · Website: idenhaus.com

Best for: Organisations with a stalled or failed identity management programme
Idenhaus is narrow on purpose: identity and access management, which is where a disproportionate share of real breaches begin and where an enormous number of enterprise projects quietly stall. Identity work is unglamorous, politically awkward and genuinely hard, so a firm that specialises in it is worth knowing about. If your problem is that leavers keep their access for months, or an IAM rollout has been eighteen months from finished for two years, this is the specialism that addresses it.
Identity Management & Cybersecurity Experts - We Get IAM Done!
How Idenhaus Consulting describes itself on idenhaus.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Deep specialism in IAM, the area where most breaches actually start
- Well-regarded Atlanta practice with a long publishing record
Watch out for
- Narrow focus; they are not a general security or IT provider
- Not the right call if your problem is endpoints or monitoring
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $150-$199 · Minimum engagement: $5,000+
3. TrustNet
Atlanta, GA · Website: trustnetinc.com

Best for: Companies that need an audit report they can hand to a customer
TrustNet is an Atlanta firm working in the compliance and assessment space, which is a different purchase again from both managed IT and penetration testing. What you are buying is an attestation: a document a customer, regulator or insurer will accept. That matters if a deal is blocked because a prospect wants evidence. Be clear with any assessment firm about the line between advising you on readiness and auditing you, because the same firm doing both is a conflict some customers will reject.
Strengths
- Established Atlanta compliance and assessment practice
- Delivers the attestation documents that unblock enterprise deals
Watch out for
- Neither rate nor minimum project size is published
- Assessment and remediation from one firm can create an independence problem
Team size: 50-249 · Rate: Not published · Minimum engagement: Not published
4. Atlant Security
Remote, serving 14 countries · Website: atlantsecurity.com

Best for: Companies that need someone to decide what to do and then implement it
Atlant Security is a consultancy rather than a managed services provider or a product vendor, and the distinction is the reason it is on this list at all. There is no help desk, no monitoring platform and nothing to resell. What it does is the part most local providers leave to you: an audit that produces a prioritised remediation plan with named owners and effort estimates, and the same engineers then implementing the fixes. The firm has run 200+ security assessments across 14 countries since 2013, works to fixed prices rather than hourly billing, and is vendor-independent, so the recommendation carries no resale commission. For a company that does not yet know whether it needs an MSP, a penetration test or a compliance programme, that ordering is the useful thing to buy first.
Strengths
- Fixed price, so scope and invoice are agreed before work starts
- Implements the fixes rather than stopping at a findings report
- Vendor-independent, with no product resale margin behind the advice
Watch out for
- No help desk, so day-to-day IT support still needs a local provider
- No 24/7 monitoring platform of its own; continuous detection goes to a partner
- Remote-first, so regular on-site presence is not the model
Team size: Small senior team · Rate: Fixed price, not hourly · Minimum engagement: $8,000+
5. Snap Tech IT
Cumming, GA · Website: snaptechit.com

Best for: Growing Atlanta-area businesses that want managed IT with a real security tier
Snap Tech IT sits north of Atlanta and pitches managed IT, cybersecurity and AI consulting together. The security tier is presented as a first-class part of the offering rather than an upsell, which is the useful distinction when comparing managed providers. For a company in the northern Atlanta suburbs that wants one partner for both keeping the lights on and not getting breached, this is a reasonable shortlist entry. As always with a combined offering, ask what the security tier includes in writing.
Managed IT, Cybersecurity & AI Consulting
How Snap Tech IT describes itself on snaptechit.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Security presented as a core service rather than an add-on
- Well placed for businesses in the northern Atlanta metro
Watch out for
- Small team, so capacity is finite
- Adding AI consulting to the pitch risks spreading a small team thin
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $150-$199 · Minimum engagement: $5,000+
6. Centerpoint IT
Roswell, GA · Website: centerpointit.com

Best for: Atlanta small businesses wanting local managed IT with a low entry point
Centerpoint IT is explicitly an Atlanta managed IT provider, says so in its own page title, and takes engagements from $1,000. That low floor matters for a small business that wants to start with something bounded rather than sign a three-year managed contract on day one. What you are buying here is competent local IT support with security hygiene included, not a specialist security practice. For a great many small Atlanta businesses that is the correct and sufficient purchase.
Managed IT Support and IT Services in Atlanta
How Centerpoint IT describes itself on centerpointit.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Clear local Atlanta focus and a $1,000 entry point
- Good fit for a first, bounded engagement rather than a long contract
Watch out for
- General IT support rather than specialist security engineering
- Will refer out for penetration testing or formal audit work
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $150-$199 · Minimum engagement: $1,000+
7. Lenet
Sandy Springs, GA · Website: lenet.com

Best for: Sandy Springs and north Atlanta businesses wanting a small, flexible partner
Lenet is a small Sandy Springs provider covering managed IT, security and AI, with a $1,000 minimum that makes a trial engagement realistic. At this size the calculation is the same as with any small firm: you get direct access to the people doing the work and flexibility that larger providers cannot match, in exchange for limited depth and no round-the-clock coverage of their own. For a business of thirty to a hundred people in north Atlanta, that trade is often worth making.
Managed IT, Security and AI
How Lenet describes itself on lenet.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Direct access to the people doing the work
- Low minimum makes a trial engagement practical
Watch out for
- Limited depth and no independent 24/7 capability
- Three service lines is a lot for a team this size
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $150-$199 · Minimum engagement: $1,000+
8. MIS Solutions
Suwanee, GA · Website: mis-solutions.com

Best for: Established Atlanta businesses that value a long-running local relationship
MIS Solutions is a long-standing managed services provider in the Atlanta metro with the profile that suggests: steady, relationship-led, not chasing the newest category in security marketing. For an established manufacturer or distributor in the north Atlanta corridor, that is frequently exactly right. The gap, common to this whole tier, is that a relationship-led MSP is not the firm to design a compliance programme or run an adversary simulation. Use them for operations and buy the specialist work separately.
Managed IT Services Atlanta
How MIS Solutions describes itself on mis-solutions.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Long-established local presence and relationship continuity
- Sensible operational fit for manufacturers and distributors
Watch out for
- No published hourly rate
- Operational focus; specialist security work goes elsewhere
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: Not published · Minimum engagement: $5,000+
9. trueITpros
Atlanta, GA · Website: trueitpros.com

Best for: Cost-conscious Atlanta businesses that still want security taken seriously
trueITpros publishes an hourly band of $100 to $149, which is at the lower end of the Atlanta market, while still naming IT security explicitly in its positioning rather than treating it as implied. For a small Atlanta business weighing cost against capability, that combination is worth a conversation. Price is a legitimate factor and pretending otherwise helps nobody. Just make sure the lower rate reflects a leaner operation rather than junior staff doing work that needs experience.
Managed IT & IT Security Services Atlanta
How trueITpros describes itself on trueitpros.com, September 2026
Strengths
- Lower rate band than most of the Atlanta group
- Security named explicitly rather than assumed
Watch out for
- No published minimum project size
- Confirm seniority of the people actually assigned at that rate
Team size: 10-49 · Rate: $100-$149 · Minimum engagement: Not published
How to Choose a Cybersecurity Company in Atlanta
Several of the providers below are managed IT firms with a security practice attached, and the rest fall into four or five quite different categories. That makes the selection process matter more than the shortlist. Work through these five steps in order.
- Work out which of the things below you are buying
A managed provider keeps your estate running day to day. A testing firm tries to break in and reports how it went. A consultancy decides what you should do and in what order. A product vendor sells you a platform somebody then has to operate. The table above says which is which.
- Ask who fixes the problem after it is found
A scan, an audit and a penetration test all end with a document. Somebody then has to change firewall rules, rebuild permissions, roll out multi-factor authentication and argue with a vendor about a legacy application. Ask in writing whether remediation is included, excluded, or billed separately.
- Get the scope and the price in writing before anyone starts
A proposal that prices security services without listing what is monitored, tested or documented is not a proposal you can hold anyone to. Ask for a fixed or capped price and an explicit list of exclusions. The price transparency panel further down shows how many of these firms publish anything at all.
- Settle the PCI scope question before you buy anything
If card data touches your systems, the single most valuable hour you will spend is the one that establishes exactly which systems are in scope. Providers are paid to secure what is in scope. Nobody is paid to argue that less of it should be.
- Ask what you keep if you leave after twelve months
Documentation, configurations, log history, tenancy ownership. If the answer is that you keep nothing, you are not buying a security programme, you are renting one, and the renewal conversation will reflect that.
Good signs
- They name the engineer who will do the work, and you can check that person exists
- They tell you what is out of scope before you ask
- They are willing to quote a fixed price for a bounded piece of work
- They ask about your customers and your parent company, not just your firewall
- They can say plainly which parts of the job they would subcontract
Walk away if
- Security is one of a dozen services listed and nobody on the team does it full time
- The proposal prices security services as a single line with no itemised scope
- The recommendation happens to be the product they resell
- They will not put the remediation position in writing
- They quote a PCI DSS price before asking how card data flows through your systems
Five questions worth putting in the RFP
| Ask this | Why it matters | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| What proportion of your revenue is security work? | A directory search returns many firms listing cybersecurity among a dozen services. | A number, followed by the names of the people who do it full time. |
| Who specifically will be assigned, and what is their background? | Small teams sell with a senior and deliver with a junior. It is the most common complaint. | A name, a history you can verify, and a willingness to put it in the contract. |
| What does your managed security tier actually monitor, and during which hours? | MSSP is a marketing term as often as it is an operating model. | Named data sources, named hours, and who reads an alert at 03:00. |
| Is remediation included, excluded, or billed separately? | This is where the budget you did not plan for appears. | One of the three words, in writing, before you sign. |
| What happens contractually if we are breached during the engagement? | It reveals how much of the risk the provider is genuinely taking on. | A clear, unembarrassed answer. Whether they have thought about it matters most. |
Atlant Security editorial, September 2026. These are the questions we would ask, based on what goes wrong in engagements we are called in to rescue.
What Cybersecurity Costs in Atlanta
Atlanta rates run slightly below New York. The published bands among firms on this page are $100 to $149 at the lower end, $150 to $199 in the middle where most managed providers sit, and $200 to $300 for specialist offensive security work. Minimum engagements start at $1,000, which makes a small first project realistic.
A penetration test from a specialist firm generally starts around $8,000 for a bounded external assessment and rises quickly with scope. A PCI DSS readiness engagement depends almost entirely on how much of your environment is in scope, which is why the first useful piece of work is usually scoping: reducing what falls inside the cardholder data environment is the cheapest way to reduce the cost of everything that follows.
A fixed-price independent security audit typically runs $8,000 to $35,000. For an Atlanta business that has never had one, it is the purchase that tells you whether you need the penetration tester, the identity specialist or simply a better managed provider.
The practical problem with buying here
Price transparency among these providers
What each firm publishes about what it charges, before you have spoken to anyone.
| Provider | Hourly rate published | Minimum engagement published | Fixed price offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raxis | |||
| Idenhaus Consulting | |||
| TrustNet | |||
| Atlant Security | |||
| Snap Tech IT | |||
| Centerpoint IT | |||
| Lenet | |||
| MIS Solutions | |||
| trueITpros |
6 of the 9 publish an hourly rate. 7 publish a minimum engagement. Expect to ask, and expect to get the answer in writing before anyone starts.
Rates and minimums as published by each firm on the Clutch directory, checked 14 September 2026. A cross means the figure is not published. It is not a finding that the firm refuses to quote.
| What you are buying | Price | Where this number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate, published bands | $100-$149 · $150-$199 · $200-$300 | Published by 6 of the 9 firms above on the Clutch directory. |
| Minimum engagement, published | $1,000+ to $8,000+ | Published by 7 of the 9 firms above. |
| Fixed-price independent security audit | US$8,000 to US$35,000 | Atlant Security estimate, based on our own engagements. Not a published figure. |
| Penetration test, bounded scope | US$8,000 to US$20,000 | Atlant Security estimate. Varies more with scope than with provider. |
| Managed detection and response, per year | From US$30,000 | Atlant Security estimate. The variable is who reads the alerts, not the platform licence. |
| Gap assessment against PCI DSS page | Quoted per organisation | Scope depends on which framework applies. See our PCI DSS page page. |
Rows marked as published are the firms’ own figures, checked 14 September 2026. Rows marked as an estimate are Atlant Security’s, are labelled as such, and should be treated as a planning range rather than a quotation.
Frequently Asked Questions: Cybersecurity Companies in Atlanta
Is Secureworks still an Atlanta cybersecurity company?
No. Secureworks was headquartered in Atlanta, but Sophos completed its $859 million acquisition on 3 February 2025 and retired the brand. secureworks.com now redirects to sophos.com. Its capabilities continue inside Sophos, but it is no longer a separate Atlanta company, which is why it does not appear in this edition.
Which Atlanta firm should I use for a penetration test?
Raxis is the dedicated penetration testing firm on this list and is headquartered in Atlanta, which also makes on-site physical and social engineering testing practical. Be clear about what you are buying: a penetration test is an attempt to break in, which is a different service from a vulnerability scan, and considerably more useful.
Do Atlanta companies need PCI DSS compliance?
If you store, process or transmit payment card data, yes, regardless of location. It matters more in Atlanta than in most cities simply because so many local businesses sit somewhere in the payments chain. The most valuable early work is scoping, because shrinking the cardholder data environment reduces the cost of every subsequent requirement.
What does a cybersecurity company cost in Atlanta?
Published hourly bands on this page run from $100 to $300, with most managed providers at $150 to $199 and specialist testing at the top. Minimum engagements begin at $1,000. A fixed-price independent audit generally runs $8,000 to $35,000 depending on scope.
Should I choose a downtown Atlanta firm or a suburban one?
It rarely matters. Several of the strongest providers in the metro are based in Roswell, Suwanee, Sandy Springs or Cumming. Unless you need regular on-site presence, judge on specialism and on who is actually assigned to your account rather than on the address.
We use a payment processor. Are we still in PCI DSS scope?
Usually yes, to some degree. Outsourcing card processing reduces scope, it rarely eliminates it, and how much it reduces depends on the integration method. This is exactly the question to settle with a scoping exercise before you buy remediation work, because the answer changes the price of everything that follows.
What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test?
A scan compares your systems against a catalogue of known weaknesses and produces a list. A penetration test is a person attempting to break in, chaining weaknesses together the way an attacker would. Both are useful and they are not substitutes. If a proposal prices a scan and calls it a penetration test, that tells you what you need to know about the firm.
Not sure which of these you actually need?
That is the question a fixed-price security audit answers. We assess what you have, tell you what to fix and in what order, and give you a plan you can hand to any provider on this page, including one of our competitors. 200+ assessments across 14 countries since 2013, fixed price agreed before we start.
See what a fixed-price audit coversRelated reading: the 15 largest computer security companies compared, our fixed-price IT security audit, and virtual CISO services.
Looking wider than this list? cybersecuritycompanies.io is a free directory of cybersecurity companies worldwide, filterable by category, location and credentials.

Alexander Sverdlov
Founder of Atlant Security. CISSP, CEH, CHFI and Mandiant certified. Author of 2 information security books, cybersecurity speaker at the largest cybersecurity conferences in Asia and a United Nations conference panelist. Former Microsoft security consulting team member, external cybersecurity consultant at the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation.
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