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Cyber Security Firms

Best Cyber Security Firms in Houston

Houston is an energy and healthcare market, where operational technology security for oil, gas and utilities sits alongside the largest medical complex in the world. The firms on this list were checked the same way as every list on the site. Rank one is the best overall, ranks two to four are the best for small business, managed detection and compliance work, and the rest cleared the same checks.

10 firms ranked16 evaluatedChecked
  1. 01Best overall
  2. 02Best for small business
  3. 03Best for managed detection
  4. 04Best for compliance
  5. 05+The rest of the shortlist, ranked on the same checks
Rank 01
Centre Technologies logo

Centre Technologies

Best overall

A Houston managed IT and security provider running its own round-the-clock operations center.

Checked
Why they are on this list
  • Headquartered on Greenspoint Park Drive in Houston with more than 350 local employees stated on its own about page
  • States that it has invested in a 24x7 security operations center, and runs managed detection and response, managed vulnerability scanning and security event monitoring from it
  • Named the third largest Houston-area cyber security company by the Houston Business Journal, which publishes that ranking
  • Keeps failover network operations centers in Dallas, Austin and along the Gulf Coast, which is a real consideration in a metro that loses power to hurricanes
  • Carries CMMC compliance consulting as a named service alongside the monitoring, which is what the defense and aerospace supply chain here is being asked for
Size
200 to 500 staff
Managed detection and responseSecurity information and event managementManaged vulnerability scanningCMMC and compliance consulting$$Houston, TX
Visit website, Centre Technologies281-506-2480
Rank 02
Uprite Services logo

Uprite Services

Best for small business

A Houston managed IT and security provider working with small and mid-sized Texas businesses since 1999.

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Why they are on this list
  • Operating in Houston since 1999, with its Texas headquarters on Space Center Boulevard and further offices in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas listed on its own contact page
  • Holds a SOC 2 attestation of its own, which is the document a small business should ask any provider with administrative access to produce
  • Sells the security work as a named managed security service with round-the-clock protection rather than as an unlabeled extra on the IT contract
  • Runs CMMC, NIST SP 800-171 and HIPAA compliance assessments, so a small manufacturer with a defense contract does not need to find a second firm
  • Listed on the CRN MSP 500 and the Channel Futures MSP 501, both of which publish their own rankings
Founded
1999
Attestations
SOC 2 attestation
Sectors
Oil and gas, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Maritime and logistics, Financial services
Managed security servicesNetwork securityManaged and co-managed ITCompliance and regulatory assessment$Houston, TX
Visit website, Uprite Services866-570-3065
Rank 03
Meriplex logo

Meriplex

Best for managed detection

A Houston founded managed IT and security provider selling managed detection and response as a named service.

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Why they are on this list
  • Founded in Houston and lists Houston first among the twelve offices on its own contact page
  • Sells managed detection and response under that name, described on its own site as round-the-clock monitoring with the team able to isolate an infected device during an incident
  • Reports around 700 technical staff across the United States, which is the depth a 24-hour rotation actually needs
  • Names an MSP 501 win in 2025, a ranking Channel Futures publishes and a buyer can look up
  • Runs compliance as a service alongside the monitoring, naming HIPAA and the HHS 405(d) practices for its healthcare customers
Managed detection and responseEndpoint detection and responseSecurity consultingCompliance as a service$$Houston, TX
Visit website, Meriplex877-637-4235
Rank 04
Ecuron logo

Ecuron

Best for compliance

A Houston consultancy registered with the Cyber AB to prepare defense suppliers for CMMC.

Checked
Why they are on this list
  • A CMMC Registered Provider Organization, a status the Cyber AB grants and lists publicly, so the credential can be checked before the first meeting
  • Built the practice around the defense industrial base and its supply chain, which in Houston means the contractors around the Johnson Space Center as well as Gulf Coast manufacturers
  • Runs the NIST SP 800-171 assessment and the CMMC readiness check as separate named services, so a supplier can buy the gap analysis without committing to a whole program
  • Adds cyber due diligence for acquisitions, which is the other moment a mid-sized company suddenly has to document its security posture for someone else
  • Publishes a Kirby Drive address in Houston and a direct local phone number rather than routing everything through a form
Attestations
CMMC Registered Provider Organization
Sectors
Defense contractors, Aerospace, Biotechnology and pharmaceutical, Technology
CMMC consulting and gap analysisNIST SP 800-171 assessmentISO 27001 consultingThird-party vendor risk assessment$$Houston, TX
Visit website, Ecuron713-646-5044
Rank 05

Red Trident

A Houston firm doing operational technology security only, for control systems rather than office networks.

Checked
  • Founded in 2014 and does operational technology security only, so its engineers work on control systems rather than splitting the week with helpdesk work
  • States that its people spent years designing control systems for upstream, midstream and downstream operators before moving to the security side
  • A service-disabled veteran-owned small business, a federal designation that is verified and searchable rather than self-declared
  • Works to ISA, NIST SP 800-82, NERC and API standards, which are the ones an operator's own engineers are already measured against
  • Publishes an office address on Park Ten Place in west Houston, inside the energy corridor most of its customers work in
Founded
2014
Sectors
Oil and gas, Electric power, Chemical, Water and wastewater, Maritime systems
OT risk and vulnerability assessmentsControl system remediationOT network monitoringIncident response$$$Houston, TX
Visit website, Red Trident346-708-8270
Rank 06

ABS Group

A Houston area risk consultancy running an industrial security operations center for maritime and energy operators.

Checked
  • Runs an industrial security operations center that watches control system networks, which is a different job from the corporate network monitoring most managed providers sell
  • Headquartered at City Plaza Drive in Spring, north of Houston, which puts the practice inside the metro its maritime and energy customers operate from
  • Brings more than fifty years of risk and safety management work to the cyber practice, which is the same discipline applied to a different failure mode
  • Works with Dragos and Nozomi Networks, the two vendors most industrial monitoring is built on, so the tooling is not proprietary to the consultancy
  • Names maritime and offshore as a specific practice alongside oil, gas and chemical, which are the sectors this metro runs on
OT cyber risk assessmentManaged OT security servicesIndustrial security operations centerIncident detection and response$$$Spring, TX
Visit website, ABS Group
Also on the shortlist
Rank 07

M7 Services

A Houston managed services provider with an ISO 27001 certified operation and its own security operations center.

Website, M7 Services
Rank 08

Aldridge

A Houston managed services firm operating since 1984, with IT audit and compliance sold as services of their own.

Website, Aldridge
Rank 09

Broadleaf Group

A Houston technology integrator with a security practice built around the energy and oilfield sector.

Website, Broadleaf Group
Rank 10

CITOC

A Houston managed IT provider running since 1995, with security work for energy and healthcare clients.

Website, CITOC

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How to Choose a Cyber Security Firm in Houston

Houston splits the question in two before anything else. If your risk is in an office, a clinic or a back-office system, you are buying the same thing a company in any city buys: someone watching accounts and endpoints around the clock, and a plan for the day that watching turns up something real. If your risk is in a refinery, a terminal, a pipeline or a vessel, you are buying a different discipline, done by engineers who know why a control system cannot simply be patched on a Tuesday afternoon. Several firms here do one of those well. Very few do both, and the ones that claim to should be asked which of their people did which.

Then work the local specifics. Texas gives you 60 days from determining a breach to notify residents and 30 days to notify the attorney general once 250 Texans are involved, and those reports become public, so ask how a firm handles the notification clock and not just the investigation. If you supply the defense or aerospace programs here, ask whether the CMMC work is done in-house. And whatever the sector, ask what the firm does about the email and password attacks that make up most of what actually reaches a business, because that is still how almost every incident starts.

What the Ranks Mean

Rank one is the best firm overall on the checks in the editorial policy. Ranks two to four are the best firm for one kind of buyer each: a small business, an organization buying managed detection, and an organization facing compliance work. The rest of the shortlist cleared the same checks and is ordered on them. A low rank on this list is not a warning; a firm that failed a check is not on it.

Questions about hiring a cyber security firm

What do cyber security firms in Houston charge?

Monitoring is sold per device or per user per month as a subscription, which for a fifty-person company usually lands in the low thousands of dollars a year. Tests and assessments are scoped projects, commonly a few thousand dollars for a small external test and considerably more for anything covering a plant. Operational technology work costs more, because the assessors have to be qualified on the control systems.

Do I need a cyber security firm based in Houston?

For monitoring, no. That work is remote and the right firm may be anywhere in the country. For incident response, a control system assessment or a compliance audit, people who can be on your site the same day are worth more than they sound, and in Houston that argument is strongest for anything with a plant, a terminal or a vessel attached.

What does Texas law require after a data breach?

Section 521.053 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code requires notice to affected individuals without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after you determine that a breach occurred. If at least 250 Texas residents are affected, the attorney general must be told as soon as practicable and within 30 days, through a form on its own website. Those reports are then published in a public listing.

Which industries drive cyber security demand in Houston?

Energy is the largest driver, and it brings operational technology into scope, which is a different discipline from office security. The Texas Medical Center makes HIPAA work constant. Contractors around the Johnson Space Center and across the Gulf Coast defense supply chain need CMMC and NIST SP 800-171. Port and maritime operators carry federal cyber requirements of their own on top of all that.

Is operational technology security different from IT security?

Yes, and the difference matters here more than in most cities. Operational technology means the control systems that run a plant, a pipeline or a vessel, and they cannot simply be patched or rebooted the way a laptop can. Assessments there are done by people who understand the process, working to standards such as NIST SP 800-82 and ISA 62443. A firm that lists only IT services is not the one to ask.

What should I ask a Houston firm before hiring it?

Ask who answers an alert at three in the morning and whether that person is in Texas. Ask which credentials on the website belong to the firm and which belong to individual staff. If any part of your risk sits in a plant or on a vessel, ask what the assessors have actually worked on. Ask for a starting price before the discovery call.

How is this list put together?

Every firm is checked on what it actually does, the attestations that can be verified, its track record, a response test where we contact it as a prospective client, and how clear it is about scope and price. Rank one is the best firm overall. Ranks two to four are the best for small business, managed detection and compliance. The editorial policy sets out each check and what fails it.

Ranked lists in other cities

Each metro is researched on its own. A firm that leads nationally does not automatically appear on a city list, and most city leaders are not national names.

The national ranking