Top 10 Biggest Cybersecurity Companies in the World by Market Capitalization in 2024

Cyber attacks know no borders. And they are getting more complex and sophisticated every single year, making them incredibly difficult to fend off, even for well-prepared large companies.

The world’s top cybersecurity companies are vital bastions, defending the front lines against bad actors online, as they can provide advanced security solutions.

At Business2Community, we’ve ranked the top companies by market cap, providing a list of the industry’s key players. Largely dominated by US-based security companies, all firms on the list are public and hold a market cap of at least $10 billion.

The World’s Biggest Cybersecurity Companies

According to the World Economic Forum, over a third of organizations experienced a material cyber incident in 2023. Another survey by CompTIA highlighted the key problems in the cybersecurity sector, with nearly half of respondents being concerned about the growing number of hackers and cybercriminals.

Google announced it blocked its largest-ever DDoS attack in October 2023. At the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Davos, INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock also drew attention to the widening cyber inequity across various companies and countries, emphasizing the need for private sector involvement.

As the number of hackers increases, so will the companies’ comprehensive cybersecurity solutions. Expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.56%, the cybersecurity industry is predicted to reach a market volume of $273.60 billion by 2028.

From independent security tests to endpoint protection cloud security, the world’s largest cybersecurity companies offer a wide range of services. Here is the top 10 by market cap:

1. Palo Alto Networks – $91.80 billion

Palo Alto Networks is the leading provider of advanced firewalls and cloud-based security solutions.

Nir Zuk started the company in 2005, aiming to change the way network security and cybersecurity markets worked. In 2008, Palo Alto Networks introduced the industry’s first next-gen firewall (NGFW), which offered natively integrated capabilities, intrusion prevention, and web security in addition to firewall security.

In 2014, two years after it went public, the company started a series of acquisitions, buying up cybersecurity and SaaS companies such as Morta Security, Cyvera, and Cirrosecure.

It also expanded its offerings with the 2017 launch of its cloud-based logging service and the 2019 launch of Cortex, the industry’s first AI-based continuous security platform.

Cortex continues to provide advanced cybersecurity solutions, reducing investigation time by 90% through threat detection.

As the largest cybersecurity company, Palo Alto Networks protects over 80,000 organizations worldwide. In the 2023 fiscal year, it made $6.89 billion in revenue, representing a 25% year-over-year increase.

2. CrowdStrike – $77.54 billion

CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 to provide cloud cybersecurity solutions. Its platform, CrowdStrike Falcon, became the first multi-tenant, cloud-native platform. By 2016, CRN had recognized CrowdStrike as the best endpoint security platform. In 2020, CrowdStrike became the fastest-growing public cybersecurity company.

Instead of antivirus management products, the company has been focusing on building a comprehensive security platform. With CrowdStrike Falcon, it has developed an artificial intelligence system to fight cyber threats, pioneering the use of AI in cybersecurity.

In 2023, the company introduced Charlotte AI, its generative AI security analyst. By using existing data, Charlotte AI predicts organizations’ risk profiles.

In the 2023 fiscal year, CrowdStrike generated $2.24 billion in revenue, with its new subscription customers increasing 41% year-over-year. Through its AI-native platform, it offers services like SEC readiness, incident response, maturity assessment, and more.

3. Fortinet – $52.12 billion

Founded in 2000 in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet started by building a physical firewall called FortiGate.

This first product gave the company a competitive edge so that it could extend into other security solutions such as networking, endpoint protection, enterprise cybersecurity, and unified SASE.

Over the years, Fortinet strengthened its portfolio through strategic acquisitions, such as the 2020 acquisition of the cloud security innovator OPAQ Networks.

As of 2024, Fortinet held 957 US patents, making it the cybersecurity firm with the highest number of patents. The firm is incredibly popular with the world’s largest companies because of its high reputation, extensive feature set, and competitive pricing. It’s trusted by 76% of Fortune 100 companies in various fields, from manufacturing to healthcare.

Fortinet continuously expands its Security Fabric platform with new products and features, such as real-time response, automation, and AI-powered threat intelligence. Its service categories span across a wide range of areas, including enterprise solutions, network security, threat intelligence, privileged access management, identity management, and more.

In the 2023 fiscal year, Fortinet generated a revenue of $5.305 billion.

4. Cloudflare – $32.69 billion

Cloudflare secures and ensures the performance of internet applications with DDoS protection, web optimization, and other services. The company’s origins date back to 2004, when Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway started Project Honey Pot to understand how spammers harvested email addresses.

In 2009, when Michelle Zatlyn joined the team, Project Honey Pot leveled up: besides tracking cybersecurity threats, it was now able to stop them. This marked the beginning of Cloudflare. Distinguished as the world’s first connectivity cloud, Cloudflare connects employees, devices, products, and customers worldwide, while making websites more secure and faster at the same time.

In line with its mission of building a better internet, Cloudflare has made several notable acquisitions. In 2020, it acquired S2 Systems Corporation to build better remote browser isolation, aiming to secure and isolate web browsing activities from potential cyber threats. With the 2022 Vectrix acquisition, it developed its zero-trust platform, allowing security teams to make their businesses more visible across all SaaS apps.

In 2023, Fortune selected Cloudflare as the top 50 global public companies with long-term growth potential. The same year, Cloudflare’s revenue was $1.296 billion.

5. Zscaler – $28.86 billion

A leading network security company, Zscaler was founded in 2007 to provide cloud services.

Only a year after its founding, the company introduced the industry’s first multi-tenant architecture, where it was possible to keep each customer’s data separate.

In 2011, Zscaler’s security cloud had over 1 billion transactions per day in more than 40 data centers worldwide. By 2020, the cloud security platform reached 100 billion transactions daily, which was ten times more than daily Google searches.

A leader in zero-trust security, Zscaler operates the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform in over 150 data centers around the world. In 2023, Zscale reported a revenue of $1.617 billion and announced that it aimed to surpass the $2 billion milestone in 2024.

With zero trust, users connect to apps individually, instead of connecting to them through a network. According to Zscaler, this technology provides 85% greater protection from ransomware than legacy network security. The charts below show how Zscaler’s zero trust exchange works in comparison to firewalls and VPNs.

6. Check Point Software – $19.18 billion

Check Point Software specializes in threat prevention, offering solutions for network, cloud, mobile, and endpoint security. When it was launched in 1993, the company was known for developing FireWall-1, the industry’s first stateful inspection firewall technology. By 1996, the company dominated the global firewall market, bosting over 40% market share.

In the 2000s, Check Point Software expanded its cybersecurity services through strategic acquisitions, including Nokia’s security appliance business. In 2017, it introduced Check Point Infinity, providing threat prevention through network, cloud, endpoint, mobile, and data security.

Besides Infinity, its other products include AI-driven network security platform Quantum, automated cloud security platform CloudGuard, and workplace protection platform Harmony. Committed to providing a secure digital future, the company also runs Check Point Research, gathering and analyzing global attacks to provide better cyber security services.

Check Point’s 2023 revenue was $2.415 billion.

7. Leidos – $17.70 billion

One of the oldest companies in the list, Leidos was founded in 1969 by physicist Dr. J. Robert Beyster. Named Science Applications Incorporated (SAI) back then, its first client was the US government, which hired SAI to analyze nuclear weapon effects.

Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, SAI worked with defense, government, intelligence, and healthcare clients around the world.

In 2013, SAI rebranded as Leidos, short for kaleidoscope, symbolizing the company’s mission of finding solutions to complex topics. Leidos generated $15.3 billion in 2023, with cybersecurity contributing $1 billion to its annual revenue. Its clients include the federal government’s Security Operations Centers, with five of them requiring Leidos’ support every day.

8. Okta – $17.51 billion

Okta is an identity and access management company, founded in 2009 by two former Salesforce employees, Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest.

Starting out as a single sign-on and multi-factor authentication app, Okta then evolved into a comprehensive cloud platform offering secure access to cloud applications, apps, and services. Its core product, Okta Identity Cloud is targeted at both customers and workplaces, allowing secure access, authentication, and authorization to office apps, customer onboarding documents, and more.

A year after going public in 2017, Okta acquired zero-trust security company ScaleFT to make its Workforce Identity Cloud stronger. The company’s other notable acquisitions were no-code, cloud-based business application Azuqua in 2019, secure access platform Auth0 in 2021, and identity security company Spera Security in 2023.

Okta’s 2023 revenue was $1.86 billion, with subscription revenue making for the majority of this amount.

9. Akamai – $16.48 billion

With its cloud service, Akamai secures and delivers digital experiences. A year before founding Akamai, co-founders Tom Leighton and Danny Lewin entered the prestigious MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition.

Their idea was to build a content delivery solution to prevent web congestion, making sure everyone could access the internet. The duo received an exclusive license to certain intellectual property from MIT, laying the foundations of Akamai.

Only seven months after Akamai delivered its first traffic in 1999, Microsoft invested $15 million in the company. Besides content delivery, which remains one of the company’s main services, it expanded its portfolio to include cybersecurity solutions, real-time data analytics, and cloud computing.

In cybersecurity, Akamai’s products and services include API Security, App and API Protector, Prolexic, DDoS protection, and Edge DNS. In 2023, the company generated $3.812 billion in revenue.

10. Gen Digital – $14.26 billion

Headquartered between Arizona and Prague, Gen Digital serves over 50 million customers in 150 different countries. The company was formed as a result of the merger between two big cybersecurity companies, Norton LifeLock and Avast who combined their security expertise.

Norton LifeLock traces its roots back to 1982, when consumer software company Symantec was founded. When Broadcom acquired Symantec’s enterprise cloud business in 2019, Norton LifeLock spun off, changing its name. In 2021, Norton LifeLock acquired Avast for $8.1 billion.

A year later, the merged company rebranded into Gen Digital, or Gen for short. Thanks to its diverse portfolio of brands, including Norton, Avast, and AVG, Gen is a leader in cybersecurity, identity protection, online privacy, threat monitoring, and mobile security. Combined, Gen’s cybersecurity brands block over 10 million cyber threats per day.

In 2023, the company made a total of $3.792 billion in revenue. As it operates brands in different areas, Gen Digital competes with both SaaS giants and antivirus management companies through its security, identity protection, online privacy, and cyber safety segments.

Learning From the Biggest Cybersecurity Companies in the World

To platform-ize cybersecurity, Palo Alto Networks founder Nir Zuk single-handedly turned it into a SaaS-delivered industry.

While cybersecurity SaaS is today’s norm, it wasn’t the case back in the early 2000s, as people weren’t used to sharing their personal data with vendors.

Cybersecurity companies constantly need to adapt and develop to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats. In the SaaS-delivered cybersecurity model, artificial intelligence and machine learning have become integral tools. All of the top companies in our list use AI, be it for analyzing user behavior patterns or for detecting potential malware.

For example, in the Cortex Security Operation Center, Palo Alto Networks uses AI to learn how sophisticated threats develop, so it can provide the appropriate detection and response strategies.

In addition to their investments in AI, cybersecurity companies recognize the need to hire skilled professionals. In Fortinet’s 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report, 90% of business leaders said they would pay for an employee to get a cybersecurity certification.

The biggest companies in the industry address the skills gap by offering comprehensive cybersecurity training programs, internships, and scholarships. Fortinet runs the Fortinet Training Institute, with various free and paid programs. Similarly, CrowdStrike hires interns for multiple positions every year.

Last but not least, Cloudflare shows the importance of having a strong mission, beyond preventing cyber attacks.

Since its early days, its mission has resonated with tech enthusiasts all around the country: building a better internet. This has allowed Cloudflare to hire the best engineering talent from tech giants like Google, Yahoo, and PayPal before its core product was even launched.

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