**Cobalt Wins Top InfoSec and Cybersecurity Breakthrough Awards**
**Raising the Bar: Why This Double Recognition Matters to InfoSec Leaders**
In a world where cyber threats evolve faster than most organizations can react, companies providing innovative, agile security solutions are more critical than ever. Enter Cobalt — a leader in Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) — which just earned top honors from two respected industry awards: Top InfoSec Innovators and Cybersecurity Breakthrough Awards. These aren’t just shiny accolades. They’re a strong signal to CISOs, CEOs, and security teams that investing in agile, continuous testing environments is no longer optional.
Consider this: 82% of organizations experienced at least one data breach due to vulnerabilities in 2023, according to Ponemon Institute. The need for proactive, rapidly deployable security testing is urgent. Cobalt’s dual awards speak not only to its innovation but to how it directly addresses the reality of today’s evolving attack surface.
In this article, we’ll explore why Cobalt’s recognition is worth your attention, how their PTaaS model is changing security strategies, and what you can take away for your own organization.
**Inside the Awards: Why Cobalt’s Model Is Earning Recognition**
Industry awards aren’t just handed out for good marketing—they reflect real innovation backed by results. Cobalt won categories in both the 2024 Top InfoSec Innovator Awards (presented by Cyber Defense Magazine) and the 2024 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards. More than 4,500 nominations were received globally. Winners were evaluated based on innovation, leadership, and capability to solve real-world InfoSec problems.
So what set Cobalt apart?
– **Speed and Flexibility**: Most traditional pentests take weeks to set up and longer to deliver results. Cobalt’s PTaaS reduces onboarding time and accelerates remediation by giving access to results in real-time via their cloud platform.
– **Scalable Talent Network**: Cobalt’s community of vetted testers allows security teams to tap into a global pool of ethical hackers, reducing reliance on static internal teams or expensive third-party firms.
– **Integration-Ready Reporting**: Seamless integrations with Jira, GitHub, and other developer tools ensure vulnerabilities are not only found quickly but can be operationalized without friction.
Where many testing solutions are siloed and reactive, Cobalt offers a model that fits the DevSecOps mindset—where security is continuous, collaborative, and adaptive.
**Why PTaaS Is Gaining Ground — And What You Should Do About It**
The old pentesting model is failing to keep pace with today’s fast-moving threats. Traditional penetration tests are point-in-time inspections, usually conducted annually or after major releases. That might have worked when the average infrastructure changed slowly. But in 2024, the average enterprise deploys code over 30 times per day, according to GitLab’s DevSecOps report.
Here’s where PTaaS steps in:
– **Continuous Coverage**: You don’t wait for a yearly check-up — Cobalt’s platform enables you to launch tests on-demand as new code is shipped or systems change.
– **Real-Time Remediation Support**: Instead of waiting weeks for a final PDF report, Cobalt provides immediate access to findings and interaction with testers as issues emerge.
– **Adaptability to Modern Environments**: Whether it’s cloud-native apps, microservices, or ephemeral infrastructure, the flexibility of PTaaS complements agile development workflows.
For CISOs feeling the pressure to demonstrate fast, measurable improvements in security posture, PTaaS is a compelling tool. And if you’re already investing in automation and DevOps, integrating PTaaS bridges a major security gap.
**Actionable Tip**: Pilot a PTaaS model on a high-priority application or recent feature update. Measure not just vulnerability discovery, but time to remediation and developer feedback — and compare it with your traditional testing model.
**Building Security Resilience Through External Collaboration**
Cobalt’s approach isn’t just about tools — it’s also about people. At the heart of their PTaaS platform is a community of over 400 vetted testers from more than 60 countries. These aren’t general-purpose contractors; they’re domain specialists selected based on skill, experience, and relevance to your tech stack.
Why does this matter?
– **Bias Reduction**: Internal teams inevitably develop blind spots. A rotating network of external professionals brings fresh perspectives and can uncover overlooked issues.
– **Scalability Across Environments**: Need a specialist in Kubernetes one week and mobile app security the next? Traditional partnerships may not scale easily. Cobalt’s network does.
– **Speed of Engagement**: Launching a test doesn’t mean weeks of negotiation and paperwork. With Cobalt, qualified pentesters are matched quickly — sometimes within 24 hours.
This kind of flexibility supports an agile security team’s biggest strength: responsiveness. And in risk mitigation, time is money — or more accurately, time is data saved.
**Statistic to Watch**: IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that companies with proactive testing and red teaming had breach costs that were $1.49 million lower on average than those without.
**Actionable Tip**: Start building a case for budget reallocation. If your current security assessment budget is spread thin across legacy vendors, consider how a PTaaS provider could offer a better ROI — especially if you’re scaling fast.
**Conclusion: Innovation That’s Worth Your Attention (and Action)**
Cobalt’s recent awards from two of the industry’s most respected cybersecurity panels aren’t just newsworthy—they’re a signal of where modern InfoSec is headed. The increasing pace of development, the complexity of modern app stacks, and the ever-changing threat landscape are forcing security leaders to find smarter, faster, and more scalable ways to test and secure infrastructure.
For CISOs, CTOs, and security engineers, this isn’t a passing trend—it’s a strategic advantage. PTaaS models like Cobalt’s provide more than vulnerability reports: they integrate security into the fabric of your daily operations.
The key takeaways are clear:
– Annual assessments are no longer enough
– Continuous, integrated testing creates faster response and better resilience
– External, vetted talent can scale faster than static internal teams
If you’re ready to align your security program with today’s development speed, now is the time to evaluate a PTaaS approach. Start with a targeted platform review. Engage stakeholders from both the security and dev teams. And ask the hard question: is our current testing model still protecting us?
**Ready to see if PTaaS fits your strategy?** Schedule a tech assessment or request a pilot with a trusted vendor like Cobalt. You’ll gain fast insights—and perhaps more importantly, a faster path to resilience.
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