We are excited to share that Proofpoint has been recognized as a Pace Setter in Gartner's inaugural 2026 Emerging Market Quadrant™ for AI Application Security – Established Vendors.
As organizations rapidly adopt AI assistants and autonomous AI agents, the challenge is no longer simply protecting AI models—it is governing how AI interacts with employees, enterprise data, and business systems. We believe this recognition reflects the growing importance of securing AI across the entire enterprise.
The Emerging Market Quadrant for AI Application Security evaluates vendors based on Potential to Execute and Potential for Market Disruption. Emerging Market Quadrant is designed to help clients understand the dynamics of relatively new and fast-moving market capabilities and form shortlists of technology providers to explore when making tech-buying, partnering, acquisition, and investment decisions.
We are proud to be recognized as a Pace Setter in Gartner's inaugural evaluation.
According to Gartner, Pace Setter vendors are organizations whose "operational scale is supported by strong financial resources, global reach, and established customer bases, enabling them to quickly adapt to evolving AI security needs."
Securing the Agentic Workspace
We believe AI is fundamentally changing how work gets done. Employees are increasingly collaborating with AI assistants, while autonomous AI agents are beginning to perform business tasks on behalf of the enterprise. Together, humans, AI, enterprise data, and business applications are forming what we call the Agentic Workspace.
Securing this new operating model requires more than traditional cybersecurity controls. Organizations need visibility into how AI is being used, governance that reflects enterprise business policies, and runtime protection that ensures AI actions remain aligned with organizational intent.
Our AI Security platform is designed around three core principles:
- Secure how humans and AI agents use AI, preventing misuse and helping organizations detect rogue behavior.
- Secure AI and data as one, combining Proofpoint's expertise in protecting sensitive information with governance for AI interactions.
- Govern security, business, and safety risks, ensuring AI actions align with enterprise policies through the combination of enforcing written policies and understanding intent
These principles underpin innovations we are announcing at Protect such as Semantic Business Policies, Intent-Based Access Control, and Agentic Insights, helping organizations operationalize governance across employees, AI assistants, and autonomous AI agents.
The next chapter of AI security is about governing AI across the enterprise. As organizations embrace the Agentic Workspace, they need a solution that not only protects AI, but also operationalizes governance, understands intent, and continuously adapts to emerging risks. We believe this recognition from Gartner reinforces our vision for the future of AI security, and we're excited to continue helping customers build trusted AI at enterprise scale.
Read the Gartner research to learn more.
Learn more about Proofpoint AI Security: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/platform/ai-security
Gartner, Emerging Market Quadrant for AI Application Security — Established Vendors, By Meghan Hollis, Dionisio Zumerle, Dennis Xu, Marissa Schmidt, 14 September 2026
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This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Proofpoint.