GigaOm’s 2025 Phishing Defense Radar (a buyer’s shortcut)

If you caught my Buyers Look at More Than Dots article on the Gartner Magic Quadrant earlier this year, you already know I’m not a fan of check‑box cheerleading. Yes, it’s nice when your company lands in a particular quadrant or, in today’s case, on the inner ring of GigaOm’s radar (I'm actually pretty darn happy about that). But the real win is a report that helps you (actual IT/Security leader) separate signal from noise when you're the one responsible for keeping your coworker's business communications safe.

Quick victory lap (and then we’re moving on)

• GigaOm tagged only three vendors as "outperformers." We’re in that club
• We earned top marks in AI‑enhanced threat protection, training automation, and security‑awareness analytics
• They also spotlighted our first‑of‑its‑kind deepfake detection for Microsoft Teams – handy when attackers pivot from email to chat

If you’re already an IRONSCALES customer, none of that is news. If you’re shopping for a new email security vendor, put those facts in your comparison sheet and let’s keep going.

What GigaOm got right (the scoring lens)

GigaOm didn’t just throw dots on a chart. They published a weighting model that maps to the jobs you (or your IT Sec team if you are so lucky) actually burn calories on:

1. Speed of detection & post‑delivery remediation – How fast can the platform find and retract bad mail everywhere it landed?
2. User‑reported signal ingestion – Does the tool convert that “Report Phish” click into higher detection fidelity, or just dump tickets on the SOC?
3. Campaign simulation realism – Can the training engine mirror what attackers are launching this quarter, not last year?
4. AI & ML transparency – Is the AI decisioning visible enough that you can justify an auto‑remediate policy to your audit committee?

Those criteria track to daily pain points I hear from admins and practitioners (and they’re often buried in Gartner notes as footnotes). Props to GigaOm for making them front‑and‑center.

SIDE NOTE: Methodology is the new feature

You know how everyone jokes that every vendor is an AI company now? Analyst reports are in a similar arms race. The ones that rank how a feature helps you shave MTTR instead of just listing that the feature exists…they’re the real gold. GigaOm’s radar gets closer to that ideal.

Why this matters to you (and your sleep schedule)

• Faster short‑listing. The key‑criteria grid lets you kill off vendors that miss your must‑haves before you sit through five demo calendars.
• Context over charisma. Scoring favors workflow depth over headcount or marketing spend. Handy when you’re a lean team.
• Forward‑looking sanity check. Their “Emerging Capabilities” filter surfaces tech—like deepfake protection—that will matter long before your next budget cycle.

Three questions to ask any vendor tomorrow

1. Show me end‑to‑end remediation metrics. How many seconds from user click to global removal? Now at scale.
2. Walk me through your AI evidence trail. Can I see why the model made that call, and can I override it easily?
3. Where does user feedback loop back in? If a VIP flags a phish at 8 a.m., does the system protect the entire org by 8 a.m. + 30 sec…or 8 p.m.?

If you don’t get crisp answers, keep moving.

I really like GigaOm’s approach and methodology. This 2025 radar won’t replace your own POC, but I think it can shave weeks off the hunt. Use it alongside that Gartner quadrant, overlay your specific risk profile, and you’ll land on a shortlist rooted in operational reality, not just marketing gravity.

And if IRONSCALES is on that list (and it should be if you ask me), you know where to us.

Want to see the full breakdown? Grab the 2025 GigaOm Radar for Phishing Defense right here.