CovertSwarm named in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Security Operations, 2026

CovertSwarm has been named a Sample Vendor for Red Teaming as a Service in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2026. We believe it is a validation of something we’ve argued since day one. The annual test has run out of road, and continuous adversarial testing is where security operations are heading.

What the recognition means for us

Gartner defines the Red Teaming as a Service category this way: “Red teaming as a service (RTaaS) delivers continuous, on-demand threat-led adversarial testing through a subscription model that combines humans and automation.”*

In our view, that is not a description of a product roadmap. It is a description of how we have run this company from the start.

For a security leader rebuilding a testing strategy, an independent analyst defining this category matters. It signals that continuous, threat-led testing is no longer a fringe approach. We truly feel, It is a recognised way of working, and CovertSwarm is named among the vendors in that category.

Why the annual test stopped working

Most security programs still validate themselves on a fixed cycle. One engagement a year, a defined scope, a report at the end. The cadence made sense when attack surfaces changed slowly. They don’t anymore.

Cloud, identity, and AI now reshape the attack surface daily. A scope agreed in January describes a different organization by June. The gap is structural, not a vendor failure. A snapshot tells you what held on the day it was taken. It says nothing about the three hundred and sixty four days you weren’t being tested. Real attackers don’t book a slot and wait. Neither should the testing that’s supposed to mirror them.

How CovertSwarm delivers it

We don’t run engagements. We run a Constant Cyber Attack. A Swarm of ethical hackers targets your full brand across digital, physical, and social vectors, continuously, with no fixed scope and no end date.

The work moves through a loop. We Recon to find what others miss, Attack the way a real adversary would, and Secure by proving what holds and exposing what breaks. Then we repeat. Every cycle hardens your defenses against the next one.

For regulated organizations, that continuous posture also produces something the annual test never could: a live, ongoing evidence trail. Proof of control effectiveness that maps to what auditors and regulators expect to see, generated on your audit cycle’s clock rather than once a year.

What security leaders should do now

If you’re rebuilding your testing strategy for 2026, it’s worth understanding where continuous, threat-led testing now sits in the analyst landscape. Read the Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2026 on Gartner’s site. (A Gartner subscription is required to view the full report).

Then ask the harder question of your own program. If your attack surface changes every day, what is an annual test actually validating?

If you’d rather see continuous red teaming in practice than read about the category, talk to the Swarm. We’ll show you what testing without a fixed scope or an end date looks like against your own attack surface.

Stop testing. Start attacking.

*Gartner, Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2026, Darren Livingstone, Jonathan Nunez, 5 June 2026.

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