Optery Wins Transformational Anti-Phishing Award in Cyber Defense Magazine’s Top InfoSec Innovators Awards for 2026
Recognition highlights Optery’s approach to helping prevent phishing and other social engineering attacks by removing
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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Optery, the leading provider of enterprise-grade personal data removal software, today announced that it has won the Transformational Anti-Phishing award in Cyber Defense Magazine’s Top InfoSec Innovators Awards for 2026, announced during CyberDefenseCon 2026.
Threat actors use personal and professional information exposed on data broker and people-search sites to identify employees, research their relationships, and target them through phishing, smishing, vishing, and impersonation. Optery for Business helps security teams reduce this exposure by finding and removing employee and executive personal information from these sites.
“Phishing prevention needs to account for the information attackers gather before they ever contact an employee,” said Paul Mander, Chief Commercial Officer and General Manager of Optery for Business. “Data broker sites give threat actors access to phone numbers, email addresses, employment details, relationships, and other information they can use to target people inside an organization. This award recognizes the value of Optery’s technology as part of a proactive defense against phishing and other forms of social engineering.”
Optery combines patented search technology and automated and custom removals to reduce exposure across hundreds of data broker and people-search sites. Optery typically finds approximately 100 exposed profiles per employee, including dozens missed by other services, and provides visual proof of its results. Recurring scans identify new and reappearing profiles, while before-and-after screenshots show where information was found and removed.
Through a self-service administrative dashboard, security and IT teams can enroll employees, monitor exposure, track removals, and measure progress across their organizations. Enterprise capabilities include real time reporting, and Optery is SOC 2 Type II attested.
Independent evaluations have repeatedly validated Optery’s effectiveness and industry leadership.
CNET named Optery Editors’ Choice and the Best Overall Data Removal Service of 2026, ranking it number one among leading data removal services. PCMag has named Optery Editors’ Choice for five consecutive years. In a TechCrunch evaluation, Optery found nearly 50 exposed profiles that had remained after the journalist used a competitor.
Optery is the most awarded personal data removal service in the industry, with major cybersecurity and technology recognition from CNET, PCMag, Cyber Defense Magazine, the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, the Globee® Awards, SiliconANGLE, the Fortress Cybersecurity Awards, Fast Company and Evan Kirstel’s We Love Tech Awards.
“Optery embodies three major features we judges look for with the potential to become winners: understanding tomorrow’s threats, today, providing a cost-effective solution and innovating in unexpected ways that can help mitigate cyber risk and get one step ahead of the next breach,” said Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.
Now in its 14th year, Cyber Defense Magazine’s awards program recognizes cybersecurity innovators across a broad range of security categories. The full list of Top InfoSec Innovators for 2026 is available on the Cyber Defense Awards website.
To learn more about Optery for Business, visit optery.com/business.
About Optery
Optery is the first company to offer a free report with dozens of screenshots showing where your personal information is being posted by hundreds of data brokers online, and the first to offer security teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee personal information from the web. Optery subscription plans automatically remove customers from these sites, clearing your home address, phone number, email, and other personal information from the Internet at scale. The service provides users with a proactive defense against PII-based threats. Optery has completed its AICPA SOC 2, Type II security attestation, and distinguishes itself with unparalleled search technology, data removal automation, visual evidence-based before-and-after reporting, data broker coverage, and API integration options. Over one million people and 1,000 businesses use Optery to prevent attacks and keep their personal information off the Internet. For more information, visit www.optery.com.
About Cyber Defense Awards
This is Cyber Defense Magazine’s 14th year of honoring cybersecurity innovators on the Cyber Defense Awards platform. Judges include cybersecurity industry veterans, trailblazers and market makers Ron Gula of Gula Tech Adventures, Gary Miliefsky of CDMG, Dr. Lindsey Polley de Lopez of VentureScope, Katie Gray of In-Q-Tel, Robert R. Ackerman Jr. of DataTribe, Ira Winkler from CruiseCon and Dino Boukouris of AltitudeCyber, with appreciation to emeritus judges Robert Herjavec of Cyderes, Dr. Peter Stephenson of CDMG and David DeWalt of NightDragon. Learn more at www.cyberdefenseawards.com.
About Cyber Defense Magazine
Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited special editions exclusively for the RSAC, BlackHat and Cyber Defense Conferences. Learn more at www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Cyber Defense Magazine is a member of the Cyber Defense Media Group.
Optery Media Inquiries:
Sara Trammell
sara@optery.com
CDM Media Inquiries:
Irene Noser, Marketing Executive
marketing@cyberdefensemagazine.com
Toll Free (USA): 1-833-844-9468
International: 1-646-586-9545
www.cyberdefensemagazine.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0c248893-a548-4823-8e31-74c00fc10889
