Cobalt Achieved Record Pentests in 2022, Expanded PtaaS Adoption

Cobalt, the leading Pentest as a Service (PtaaS) company modernizing the traditional pentesting model, announced record business growth in 2022 and record pentests conducted with 36% YoY growth. In 2022, the cybersecurity company released Agile Pentesting, a versatile, ad hoc pentesting model, announced a partnership with NTT DATA Services to deliver security operations for end-users on a global scale, and expanded its customer base to continue strengthening organizations’ security posture in an evolving cybersecurity landscape.

“Reflecting on the past year, it is admirable to see what  Cobalt accomplished and the milestones we achieved despite the economic uncertainty facing the world,” said Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer of Cobalt. “This past year we received our ISO27001 and SOC2 Type 2 certifications and won numerous awards including being named to the Inc 5000 list. Our customers raved about us on G2, earning us a leader spot in penetration testing for the fifth quarter in a row. When I joined the team over five years ago, I was struck by the opportunity that lies ahead of us and I believe the same to be true today. I’m optimistic to see what 2023 holds for Cobalt.” 

In 2022, Cobalt reached a number of milestones in the growth of the business, including:

Delivery & Security

The company delivered over 3600 pentests representing 36% YoY growth, added 81 net new pentesters and is now officially ISO 27001 certified. This recognition highlights the gold standard of commitment to keeping partners and customers' data safe. 

Customer and Partner Momentum

Cobalt now has over 120 partners with a renewed focus on MSPs and MSSPs,  including the partnership with  NTT Data and NaviLogic. This year’s partner award winners include Tugboat Logic (acquired by OneTrust), Secureframe, Eden Data, NaviLogic and Brandvakt. This growth was fueled by the addition of a new head of Channel and Alliances, Scott Armstrong. Additionally, Cobalt added 493 customers, including Plextrac and Updater who spoke at the PtaaS Roadshow now available on demand. 

New Hires

To align with increased industry demand and upward company momentum, Cobalt welcomed Chris Manton-Jones as the new Chief Executive Officer and Jeri Allan as the new Chief Sales Officer. 

Cobalt also received significant third-party recognition. Most notably, G2 ranked Cobalt as a Leader in Penetration Testing for the fifth quarter in a row for Easiest to Use, Best Usability, and Best Meets Requirements based on independent customer reviews. Additionally, GigaOm named Cobalt the only “Outperformer” in the Radar for Penetration Testing as a Service report among PtaaS vendors based on feature set, risk reduction and speed.

Continued Product Innovation 

With more organizations adopting PtaaS, product updates in 2022 focused on providing faster automation and testing flexibility for customers. The company’s launch of Agile Pentesting is a new, innovative approach to testing a specific area of an asset, such as a new release, or a specific vulnerability across an asset. Agile Pentesting allows security and development teams to identify and address security gaps faster, accelerate their build-to-release timelines, and align pentesting more closely to DevSecOps workflows. 

Other key product updates in 2022 included: 

• Vulnerability Detector for pentesters: Cobalt introduced automatic checks for specific “potential” findings enabling quicker and more efficient detection. 

• Integrations + API (V2): Cobalt launched a new set of updates enabling our customers to interact with Assets and Findings through the API, so teams can directly integrate systems and applications. 

• Flexible reporting and tiered pricing: By providing more options for reporting like co-branded partner reports and a simplified attestation letter, Cobalt customers are able to showcase their findings to a variety of stakeholders. Additionally, with tiered pricing, customers can utilize their Cobalt Credits to find the on-demand testing that suits their needs and budgets. 

Thought Leadership and Industry Recognition 

In early 2022, Cobalt released its annual State of Pentesting report, revealing the most common vulnerabilities and challenges facing security teams. The report includes insights from more than 600 cybersecurity and pentesting professionals and nearly 2,400 pentests in 2021. The findings found security teams are struggling with the same vulnerabilities they have been for five consecutive years. The report also highlighted how the talent shortage is resulting in heavier workloads and  high-risk vulnerabilities being overlooked.  

Cobalt also kicked off its first-ever multi-city roadshow, “The PtaaS Exchange,” which brought together cybersecurity leaders from Slack, NextDoor and Riot Games. The agenda focused on emerging challenges and strategies for building data-driven security programs. 

Leaders at Cobalt continued to educate and share valuable insights with industry peers including: 

• Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer, spoke at RSA Conference and was inducted into the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame. As a renowned thought leader, her “Learning the OWASP Top 10” course was named one of the most popular 20 courses on LinkedIn. 
  
  
• Jay Paz, Senior Director, Pentester Advocacy & Research, authored a series in Hackernoon about the quality of pentests and the expectations needed from teams in terms of tester focus, bandwidth and communication. 
  
  
• Andrew Obadiaru, VP and CISO, spoke at an exclusive Diversity within Cyber event, in partnership with PRIMIA and sponsored by Dell US.
  
  
• Zach Stashis, Cobalt Core member, founded Hack Red Con and kicked off the first inaugural event in Louisville, KY to bring together CISOs, researchers, engineers, penetration testers, red teamers, hackers, and developers to drive security awareness across all aspects of InfoSec. 

In 2022, Cobalt proved its continued momentum for business and culture, securing wins for both the Inc. 5000 annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies and Quartz’s Best Company for Remote Workers for the second year in a row. Additionally, Cobalt was crowned a winner in several industry awards including:

• Cybersecurity Excellence Awards: Gold, Best PtaaS in North America
  
  
• Global InfoSec Awards: Next Gen Best Pentesting from Cyber Defense Magazine

Learn more about how Cobalt’s PtaaS platform is keeping businesses protected and how its network of pentesters can help your organization.