SAN FRANCISCO, June 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Optery today announced it has been named a winner in the 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards, in the category of Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Presented by the Business Intelligence Group, the award recognizes the organizations, products, and people applying cybersecurity in ways that deliver real, measurable protection.
The 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards honor achievement across the full landscape of digital defense, spotlighting the companies and leaders moving security beyond reaction and into proactive, accountable practice. This year’s program recognized winners across 27 categories and 6 countries.
Optery was recognized for its enterprise-grade personal data removal platform, which helps organizations find and remove employee and executive personal information from hundreds of data broker and people-search sites. Through this work, the company has helped organizations reduce exposed personal data, decrease the information available to attackers for social engineering, impersonation, and account takeovers, and strengthen protections for employees, executives, and high-risk individuals.
In the age of AI-enabled social engineering, reducing exposed personal data has become a security priority. Optery’s 2026 Enterprise Social Engineering Survey Report found that cybersecurity leaders rated data brokers as the #1 source of attacker intelligence, while personal data removal from data brokers ranked as the #1 investment for social engineering defense.
“The threats are real, and so is the defense. 2026 is about getting ahead of the attacker — execution, accountability, and measurable resilience,” said Russ Fordyce, Chief Recognition Officer, Business Intelligence Group. “Optery stood out because its work in Privacy Enhancing Technologies reflects where the market is headed: practical cybersecurity that solves real problems, earns trust, and protects the people and assets that depend on it. This recognition highlights a team that is not just keeping pace with the threat landscape, but helping define what meaningful defense looks like.”
“We’re honored to be recognized by the Fortress Cybersecurity Awards in Privacy Enhancing Technologies,” said Lawrence Gentilello, CEO and Founder of Optery. “Cybersecurity leaders on the front lines of defense recognize data broker exposure as a primary enabler of social engineering and targeted attacks, and they are expanding personal data removal coverage across the broader workforce as a result. This award reflects the work Optery has done to make that protection measurable, scalable, and accountable. We’re grateful to our team, our clients, and our partners for helping move this category forward.”
Optery scans hundreds of data broker and people-search websites to locate exposed personal information tied to an individual. The platform then automates opt-out requests, verifies removals, and continuously monitors for republished profiles. Users receive detailed Exposure and Removals Reports showing where their personal data was found and removed, including before-and-after screenshots.
Optery is unique among personal data removal solutions, combining patented search technology with sophisticated opt-out automation to discover and remove dozens more exposed data broker profiles per person on average than other services. The platform currently supports automated removals for 640+ data broker sites and 1,000+ sites including Custom Removals requests, with coverage continually expanding.
Optery for Business serves enterprises by removing personal information from the internet for employees and executives. The company also offers an API that enables organizations to embed data broker scanning and removal technology into their own applications.
The impact of reducing exposed personal data is being seen by Optery customers. In one client story, for instance, the CISO of a multi-billion-dollar regional bank said the bank implemented Optery after building a mature security culture, a social engineering training program, a phish-click rate below 2%, and strong employee reporting. Even with those controls, the CISO recognized that one successful phish could still cause serious damage.
After implementing Optery, the bank saw a significant reduction in spam, phishing, and smishing attempts. The CISO reported that his own spam emails decreased by about 50%, spam phone calls were significantly reduced, and employees noticed far fewer phishing attempts targeting them. The CISO also said Optery helped slow SMS-based impersonation attacks against employees.
Independent evaluations and cybersecurity analyst reviews have highlighted several strengths of Optery’s platform, including the breadth of its search capabilities, the speed of its removals, and the detailed reporting it provides to users.
In a blind study by Consumer Reports, Optery was the #1 most effective personal data removal service tested at the conclusion of the 4-month study.
Optery’s technology and growth have been widely recognized across the technology and cybersecurity industries. Business Insider named Optery one of the 30 early-stage startups in 2025 most likely to become tech’s next unicorns.
Optery has received numerous industry awards, including:
- PCMag Editors’ Choice for personal data removal (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)
- No. 12 on the 2026 Inc. Regionals: Pacific list of the fastest-growing private companies (2026)
- Cyber Defense Magazine Market Disruptor Award in Digital Risk Protection (2026)
- Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Human Risk Management, Anti-Phishing, Attack Surface Management (2026)
- Globee® Awards for Cybersecurity, Social Engineering Best of Category (2026)
- SiliconANGLE TechForward Award in the Digital Risk Protection Platform Category (2026)
- Evan Kirstel’s We Love Tech Award for Security/Cybersecurity (2026)
- Cyber Defense Magazine Most Innovative Anti-Phishing Award (2025)
- Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Privacy Enhancing Technologies (2025)
- Cyber Defense Magazine Best Service for Attack Surface Management (2025)
- Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Employee Privacy Protection, Attack Surface Management, and Digital Footprint Management (2024 and 2025)
- Cyber Defense Magazine Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Attack Surface Management (2024)
- Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech award for security and privacy (2023)
The Fortress Cybersecurity Awards celebrate the people and organizations leading the next phase of digital defense, where progress is judged not by novelty, but by impact. Winners are selected based on how effectively they are using cybersecurity to reduce risk, protect data and assets, prevent harm, and strengthen the resilience of the organizations and communities they serve.
To learn more about the 2026 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards, visit: https://www.bintelligence.com/posts/2026-fortress-cybersecurity-awards-honoring-the-organizations-products-and-leaders-defending-the-digital-world
About the Fortress Cybersecurity Awards
The Fortress Cybersecurity Awards recognize the world’s leading companies, products, and people working to keep data and digital assets safe. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and more frequent, the program identifies and honors the organizations and individuals building the defenses that protect businesses, governments, and the people who depend on them. Judged by a panel of experienced security and business professionals who provide transparent feedback and detailed scoring, the awards celebrate measurable progress in digital defense.
About Business Intelligence Group
Business Intelligence Group (BIG) is an independent awards organization that has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business since 2012. Now in its 14th awards season, BIG operates 12 annual programs spanning innovation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, customer service, cloud computing, sustainability, sales and marketing, workplace culture, and women’s leadership. Business award programs include the BIG Innovation Awards, AI Excellence Awards, Fortress Cyber Security Awards, Excellence in Customer Service Awards, Stratus Awards for Cloud Computing, Sustainability Awards, SAMMY Awards for Sales and Marketing, Best Places to Work Awards, Herizon Awards, We Love Tech Awards, NAA Top Employers Award, and BIG Awards for Business.
Unlike popularity contests, BIG programs use professional judging panels and objective scoring benchmarks to identify organizations, products, and individuals making real, measurable impact. Winners receive a complete promotional toolkit — including blockchain-verified credentials, press release support, social media assets, and featured placement across BIG’s global community of more than one million business professionals.
For more information about BIG award programs, nomination deadlines, and judging criteria, visit bintelligence.com.
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 escalating PII-based threats such as phishing and other social engineering attacks, credential compromise, identity fraud, doxing, and harassment. 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. Hundreds of thousands of people and over 1,000 businesses use Optery to prevent attacks and keep their personal information off the Internet. For more information, visit www.optery.com.
Media Contacts
Sara Trammell
Optery for Business
[email protected]
Eliana Starbird
Chief Nominations Officer
Business Intelligence Group
+1 909-529-2737
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/203f46a2-530b-4fde-be22-52bff0f534e7
