Major Cyber Security Vendors Back SE Labs' New Model for Independent Security Testing

Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks and Sophos join the first public SE Labs PIVOT evaluation, designed to turn complex security testing into comparative evidence enterprise buyers can use.

LONDON, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SE LABS ®, the cyber security testing authority, today announced the first public evaluation under PIVOT, its advanced security testing programme, with Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks and Sophos confirmed to take part. Results will be published in early 2027.

The evaluation comes at a time of significant change in independent enterprise security testing. Several major vendors have stepped away from MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations, reducing the number of leading products being assessed through what had become one of the industry's most prominent common sources of technical evaluation data.

PIVOT takes a different approach. Rather than stopping at evidence of what a product detected, it is designed to show what happened during an attack, how far an attacker was able to progress, what defenders could see and understand, and how those outcomes compare across competing products.

For enterprise buyers, the aim is not to replace their own judgement, proof of concept or wider procurement process, but to provide better independent evidence on which to base those decisions.

PIVOT follows complete attack chains to determine where protection succeeded, where it failed and what happened next. This enables buyers to distinguish between a product that identified malicious activity, one that interrupted an attack before significant harm was possible, and one that detected activity but still allowed an attacker to escalate privileges or move further through an environment.

The evaluation also examines what the security team would actually see. SE Labs assesses the information presented to defenders during and after an attack, including whether products provide enough context to understand what is happening and to investigate the attempted breach afterwards.

"Independent security testing shouldn't stop at showing what happened. It should help buyers understand what it means," says Simon Edwards, CEO and founder of SE Labs. "We don't ask CISOs to choose between believing SE Labs and believing the vendors. We make the underlying evidence available to Gartner and Forrester, so their analysts can examine it and add their own independent interpretation. PIVOT is designed to give security leaders meaningful comparisons without asking them to take our conclusions on trust."

The first public PIVOT results will be published in early 2027 and will include a comparative analysis of the participating products, with detailed findings from the attack scenarios and SE Labs' inaugural public PIVOT Rankings.

About SE LABS ®

For more than 30 years, SE Labs has been a trusted authority in cyber security testing, validating the effectiveness of the products that protect people and businesses online. The company provides impartial, expert insights to both vendors and CISOs, and is relied on by some of the world's largest brands for its rigorous and unbiased evaluations. selabs.uk

Media contact:
Sara Claridge
press@selabs.uk 
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