CISO checklist: Cybersecurity platform or marketing ploy?

The cybersecurity market is booming with countless vendors claiming to offer unified platforms. Here's how to separate the real deal from empty marketing.

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• Alissa Irei, Senior Site Editor

More than 600 cybersecurity vendors crowded the RSAC 2026 Conference expo floor at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, along with their sales reps, event MCs, branded swag and multimedia displays. It amounted to an astounding commercial spectacle -- but also, somehow, a mere fraction of the current cybersecurity market, which Forrester estimates comprises around 4,000 vendors.

Expect that number to grow, Forrester Analyst Jeff Pollard warned security leaders during a conference session down the street from the expo floor.

"We have a real problem with vendor and tech sprawl in our environments," he said. "And this market is only going to get even bigger and more challenging for you to sort through on a ...