Looking for the top names in cybersecurity? Look no further than the Cybersecurity 500 list of the world’s hottest and most innovative cybersecurity companies. http://www.cybersecurity500.com

The Q4 2016 edition was just published by Cybersecurity Ventures.

Going down the list, we take a look at the top five names from a branding and marketing perspective.

Criteria for the top five:

– The name is easy to say, easy to type, and easy to tell others

– The name is memorable

– The name is short, and relevant to what the company does (in this
case, cybersecurity)

– The name doubles as a domain name, with a dot com (.com) at the end

1. root9B. This company has the distinction of being No. 1 on the Cybersecurity 500 list, and also having the best name. ‘root’ — in plain english — is the basic cause, source, or origin of something.
In IT and security circles ‘root’ is widely used to describe a master account (or master key) that has access to all commands and files on an operating system. It is commonly referred to as the super-user account or a privileged account with root access to a system(s). And ‘9B’? 9 is joined with B — hex (hexidecimal) code for 11 — which is
9/11 or 911… either way, code red for a catastrophic breach. Call root9B! Or type in root9B.com. https://www.root9b.com/

2. Code Dx. You’d have to be Doctor to think this one up. And she did. Dr. Anita D’Amico is CEO at Code Dx and gets credits for naming the company and its flagship namesake product. As the name implies, Code Dx is all about diagnosing and healing sick code (software code that is). D’Amico ingeniously thought of a simple name for a complex topic – software vulnerability management. For software developers wondering if there’s a Doctor in the house, go to CodeDx.com. http://codedx.com/

3. KnowBe4. When it comes to ransomware and other hacks, you can know before, or you can know after. KnowBe4 is all about training users and employees on how to spot and respond to phishing attacks on their email accounts, and other cyber threats. When you know before, then you won’t click on that file attachment. A brilliant name for a
security awareness training company. Head over to KnowBe4.com and its no surprise to see this fast growing company is not only on the Cybersecurity 500, but they are also on the Inc. 500. https://www.knowbe4.com/

4. White Hat Security. There’s the black hats a.k.a. bad guys, hackers, cybercriminals, and the like — and there’s the white hats a.k.a. good guys, cyber defenders, and the crew over at a company smart enough to call themselves White Hat Security. A great name helped put this company on the radar screen at corporations who are battling cyber attacks on their web and mobile applications. Put whitehatsecurity.com in your browser and it auto-forwards to the
shorter and sweeter whitehatsec.com. https://www.whitehatsec.com/

5. SecureMySocial. The K.I.S.S. principle — Keep It Simple Stupid — in action. The company who aims to be the leader in securing social media accounts calls itself SecureMySocial. Businesses, parents, and individuals who ask themselves “How do I secure my social media?” — and then do the likely Google search on ‘secure my social media’ —
will see SecureMySocial as the first result. Or they can just type in SecureMySocial.com to find out how to protect their Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts. https://www.securemysocial.com/

So, what about names that are hard to say, hard to type, hard to remember, and confusing? Here’s some:

Accellion. That one belongs on a spelling test. http://www.accellion.com/

Comodo. Isn’t that something about playing music, slow? https://www.comodo.com/

Netwrix. Networx. Netrisk. Netrix. Wait, how do you spell that? https://www.netwrix.com

Nok Nok. Sounds like a joke. KnockKnock.com. Oops. Better try again. NokNok.com https://www.noknok.com/

Oxford Biochronometrics. Try to say it five times fast. http://oxford-biochron.com/hi

PortSwigger. And their product name is BURP. At least it’s not fart. https://portswigger.net/

Praetorian. Spell it right on the first shot and move on to the spelling bee. https://www.praetorian.com/

Signifyd. Ah, those clever names. Signified right? signified.com. Hmm. What’s that name again? https://www.signifyd.com/

Synack. Yum. snack.com. Yikes. Oh, Synack — right, right, should have known. https://www.synack.com/

Sqrrl, How many r’s are there again? Did you mean squirrel? https://sqrrl.com/

Wynyard Group.  Lynyrd Skynyrd fans? https://www.wynyardgroup.com/us/

These names may need some work, but the companies are hot movers and shakers who appear on the Cybersecurity 500. Kudos to all of them!

Here’s the Cybersecurity 500 in alphabetical order for anyone who wants to try their hand as a cybersecurity company name critic. http://cybersecurityventures.com/cybersecurity-500/#home/?view_1_sort=field_2|asc