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Cyber Security Firms

Best Cyber Security Firms in San Francisco

San Francisco is the Bay Area, where the buyers are software companies at every stage, and the requirements are SOC 2, customer security questionnaires and cloud security rather than compliance regimes. 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
Xantrion logo

Xantrion

Best overall

An East Bay managed IT and security provider that has served Bay Area mid-sized organizations since 2000.

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Why they are on this list
  • Founded in the East Bay in 2000 and still built around the Bay Area, with staffed offices listed in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego
  • Named to Channel Futures' MSP 501 list for nine consecutive years and to MSSP Alert's Top 250 managed security service providers every year since 2019
  • Named to the San Francisco Business Times list of Bay Area Best Places to Work every year since 2020, which is a public read on whether the engineers who know your network stay
  • Publishes an AICPA SOC 2 attestation covering its own operations, so the firm holding your administrator credentials has been audited on the same basis it will ask of you
  • Around one hundred staff, with a stated average tenure of more than seven years for both employees and clients
Founded
2000
Size
50 to 200 staff
Sectors
Financial services, Life sciences, Legal, Healthcare
Managed cybersecurityManaged IT servicesIT consultingManaged cloud services$$Lafayette, CA
Visit website, Xantrion510-272-4701
Rank 02
TruAdvantage logo

TruAdvantage

Best for small business

A San Jose managed IT and security provider that sells to companies of twenty to two hundred and fifty staff.

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Why they are on this list
  • States its customer as businesses of twenty to two hundred and fifty employees, which is the band most Bay Area shortlists skip straight past
  • Founded in 2001, with a San Jose head office and a San Francisco office listed with its own phone line rather than a forwarding number
  • Holds a SOC 2 Type 2 attestation on its own operations and is Great Place to Work certified
  • Named to Channel Futures' MSP 501 and to the CRN MSP 500
  • Sells managed cybersecurity and compliance management as named services with their own pages, not as an add-on to a helpdesk contract
Founded
2001
Attestations
SOC 2 Type II
Sectors
Healthcare, Life sciences, Nonprofits, Startups
Managed cybersecurityManaged IT servicesCompliance managementBackup and disaster recovery$San Jose, CA
Visit website, TruAdvantage408-680-8389
Rank 03
Ontinue logo

Ontinue

Best for managed detection

A managed extended detection and response provider built on Microsoft security tooling, with its North America base in Redwood City.

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Why they are on this list
  • Sells managed extended detection and response under that name and names a 24/7 security operations center, rather than forwarding alerts to the customer to triage
  • Lists its North America headquarters at 450 Maple Street in Redwood City as one of four offices worldwide, so the Bay Area presence is staffed rather than a mailing address
  • Holds ISO 27001 along with ISO 27017 and ISO 27018, and publishes a SOC 1 Type 2 report on its own operations
  • Named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape for managed detection and response
  • Built on Microsoft security tooling, which fits the many Bay Area companies already standardized on Microsoft 365 and paying for licences they do not use
Attestations
ISO 27001
Sectors
Financial services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Legal
Managed extended detection and responseSecurity operations center monitoringPhishing protectionVulnerability mitigation$$Redwood City, CA
Visit website, Ontinue
Rank 04
BPM logo

BPM

Best for compliance

A San Francisco accounting and advisory firm whose security practice performs the assessments its clients are asked for.

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Why they are on this list
  • Named a Registered Provider Organization by the CMMC Accreditation Body in May 2021 and listed on the CMMC-AB Marketplace, a credential a buyer can check on the register rather than on the firm's own website
  • Its security operations center holds ISO 27001 certification, awarded in February 2021
  • Founded in San Francisco in 1986, and the One California Street office is still where the firm started
  • Names SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-171, CMMC and FedRAMP as the frameworks its compliance practice works to, so the scope of an engagement is settled before the first call
  • Runs a round-the-clock security operations center alongside the assessment practice, so a finding can be watched for in production rather than only written up
Founded
1986
Attestations
CMMC RPO, ISO 27001
Cybersecurity complianceCyber risk assessments and penetration testingIT assurance and SOC reportingManaged security services$$San Francisco, CA
Visit website, BPM415-421-5757
Rank 05

Emagined Security

A San Carlos consultancy that sells a contracted security team across testing, monitoring and response.

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  • Describes its offer as a full security team on a contract the customer scopes, covering testing, monitoring, incident response and virtual CISO work under one agreement
  • States that its penetration testing is CREST certified, an accreditation of the testing process that can be checked on the CREST register rather than taken on trust
  • Headquartered in San Carlos on the Peninsula, with staff listed across eleven other states, so Bay Area work is run by the office that runs the firm
  • States more than four thousand completed projects, over twenty years serving Fortune 500 organizations, and thirty or more consultants on staff
  • Now operates as a Neovera company following an acquisition, which is worth knowing before signing a multi-year contract
Size
Under 50 staff
Attestations
CREST
Sectors
Financial services, Government
Penetration testingVirtual CISO and compliance servicesManaged security services and incident responseRisk assessments$$San Carlos, CA
Visit website, Emagined Security
Rank 06

Cobalt

A San Francisco penetration testing firm that runs engagements through a vetted tester community on its own platform.

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  • Lists its address as 575 Market Street in San Francisco, and the firm was built here rather than opening a Bay Area sales office on top of a business elsewhere
  • Runs tests through the Cobalt Core, a vetted community it puts at more than five hundred testers, and states it delivers more than five thousand pentests a year
  • Sells testing on a credit model, so a company can buy a fixed amount of testing and spend it across the year instead of scoping every engagement from scratch
  • Named a leader in the GigaOm Radar for penetration testing as a service in 2025
  • Covers web applications, APIs, cloud infrastructure, large language model systems and secure code review on one contract, which matters when a customer questionnaire asks for all of them
Application penetration testingNetwork and cloud penetration testingRed teamingSecure code review$$San Francisco, CA
Visit website, Cobalt
Also on the shortlist
Rank 07

Bugcrowd

A San Francisco firm running bug bounty, vulnerability disclosure and penetration testing through a researcher community.

Website, Bugcrowd
Rank 08

Synack

A Redwood City testing firm founded by former NSA operators, running engagements through a vetted researcher network.

Website, Synack
Rank 09

HackerOne

A San Francisco firm running bug bounty, disclosure and penetration testing programs for large software and public sector customers.

Website, HackerOne
Rank 10

Jones IT

A family-owned San Francisco managed IT provider with cybersecurity and compliance as named practices.

Website, Jones IT

Cyber Security Firms may earn a referral fee if you engage a firm through a link on this site. How that works.

How to Choose a Cyber Security Firm in San Francisco

Start with the problem, not the vendor. Most Bay Area buyers arrive here because a customer sent a security questionnaire or asked for a SOC 2 report, and what that calls for is readiness work and a penetration test, not monitoring. A biotech with lab systems and patient records needs HIPAA in scope and someone who will walk the building. A defense technology startup holding a federal contract needs CMMC, and the firms that can help with it say so on their own site. A company that has already been breached needs a responder on retainer, and the first days of what to do after a data breach are containment, preservation and notice, in that order.

Then check three things a website will not volunteer. First, whether an attestation the firm displays covers its own operations or only describes what it helps clients achieve. Those are different claims, and around here they get blurred constantly. Second, who investigates an alert at three in the morning, where that person sits, and what they are allowed to do before calling you. Third, whether the firm will name a starting range for the work you described before a discovery call.

One more thing worth saying out loud in this market. The threats that actually cause breaches at a Bay Area company are the ordinary ones, phishing and stolen credentials against cloud accounts, not novel attacks on your code. A firm that leads with the exotic is selling to your imagination.

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 San Francisco charge?

None of the firms on this list publish a rate card. In practice, managed IT and security for a fifty-person Bay Area company is priced per user per month and runs into the tens of thousands of dollars a year. A small external penetration test starts in the low thousands. Compliance readiness is quoted per framework. Ask for a starting range against your headcount before you agree to a discovery call.

Do I need a cyber security firm in the Bay Area, or will a remote one do?

For monitoring, remote is fine. A managed detection service watching your accounts can sit anywhere, and several of the firms here run that work from other states. For incident response, an assessment that involves walking your offices, or awareness training your staff attend in person, people within driving distance are worth more than they sound. Bay Area rates also run high, so compare a local quote against a remote one.

What does California law require after a data breach?

California Civil Code section 1798.82 requires a business to notify residents whose unencrypted personal information was acquired, or is reasonably believed to have been acquired, by an unauthorized person. The statute sets no fixed day count. Where a single breach requires notice to more than 500 California residents, a sample copy of the notice goes to the Attorney General. The CCPA, as amended by the CPRA, adds a private right of action where unreasonable security caused the breach.

Which industries drive cyber security demand in the Bay Area?

Software and AI companies drive most of it, and the trigger is commercial rather than legal. A prospect sends a security questionnaire or asks for a SOC 2 report, and the deal stalls until it exists. That is why so many Bay Area firms sell readiness work and penetration testing rather than monitoring. Biotech and digital health add HIPAA, payments companies add PCI DSS, and defense technology startups now face CMMC.

What should I ask a San Francisco firm before hiring it?

Ask whether an attestation on the firm's website covers its own operations or only describes what it helps clients achieve, because those are very different claims and marketing pages blur them. Ask for the register entry behind any credential. Ask who investigates an alert at three in the morning, where that person sits, and what they may do before calling you. Then ask for a starting range.

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