The Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) market is quickly gaining attention for enterprises due to its ability to swiftly detect, investigate, and mitigate cyber threats. Organizations are not just focused on preventing breaches, they are equally invested in responding faster and learning from incidents to improve future resilience. As such, market research companies have actively started exploring this space and analyzing the competitive dynamics of key DFIR service providers.
Today, we will discuss the market analysis of the DFIR services market conducted by QKS Group’s SPARK Matrix for the years 2023 and 2024 and analyze the shifts in participant positions year-over-year. Below are the SPARK Matrix graphs that plot all key market participants on the parameters of Technology Excellence and Customer Impact (along the X and Y axes), divided into segments of Leaders, Contenders, and Aspirants.
Our analysis will cover the changing trends in this market and the comparative positions of key participants.
The Consistent Pillars of Leadership
2023:
During 2023, the SPARK Matrix featured notable Leaders namely CrowdStrike, Kroll, Palo Alto Networks (Uhl42), Secureworks, Orange Cyberdefense, Booz Allen Hamilton, Kaspersky, Group-IB, Optiv Security, BlackBerry, and Cyberreason.
2024:
In 2024, a strong showing in the SPARK Matrix was is clearly evident with CrowdStrike, Kroll, Palo Alto Networks, Kaspersky, Group-IB, and Booz Allen Hamilton maintaining their leadership position.
Few noteworthy changes:
• Rapid7 and Optiv Security solidified their Leader positions relative to their borderline ranking in 2023.
• Cyberreason continued to deliver but remained at the lower boundary of the Leader quadrant.
• Trustwave, a Strong Contender in 2023, moved into the Leader position in 2024, although it is nearer to the boundary, indicating scope for improvement.
Personally, I’m impressed with CrowdStrike’s consistency. It’s obvious that innovations in their Falcon Forensics platform constantly set the standard. Conversely, I believe Trustwave’s emergence is promising but conservative, they have to develop tighter client anecdotes and quick incident closure rates to firmly establish them in their new category.
The Emergence of Rapid7 and Optiv Security
Rapid7 and Optiv Security have moved themselves into the Leader category.
Potential factors that benefited them are:
• For Rapid7, strong integration among incident response, managed detection, and vulnerability management provided them with a holistic advantage.
• Optiv Security’s focus on adaptive, client-specific response engagements and increasing alliances with EDR/XDR platforms improved customer satisfaction.
Rapid7’s 2024 DFIR Services update features improvements like quicker forensic artifact collection, real-time incident playbooks, and streamlined litigation support capabilities. Optiv Security has made significant investments in AI-powered event triage and root cause analytics, enhancing both customer impact and service excellence.
BlackBerry’s Slipping Grip
BlackBerry appears to have moved closer to the lower edge of the Leader quadrant between 2023 and 2024. Even with deep investments following the Cylance acquisition, BlackBerry’s DFIR solution failed to prove market distinction, particularly from quicker-paced competitors. Their rigid incident response practices and glacial pace of adopting cloud-native forensics could have been contributory factors.
Truthfully, it’s a little disappointing. BlackBerry was so huge with their AI-based strategy but seemed to stall against nimble competitors emphasizing cloud-first and automation-intensive models.
The Decline of eSentire and SecurityHQ
Vendors such as eSentire and SecurityHQ, which were close to the Leader quadrant in 2023, dropped further into the Strong Contenders quadrant in 2024.
Possible reasons:
• Increased competition from hybrid IR boutiques that specialize and scalable MDR-IR hybrids.
• Clients seeking quicker, more tailored solutions, which legacy DFIR models were not able to fulfill.
Key Insight:
It’s apparent that the DFIR market is trending towards agility and proactive containment plans. Vendors who continue with customary, slower IR strategies risk falling behind.
New Faces and Missing Names
With the 2024 analysis:
•Ankura Consulting and CyberCX enhanced their position in the Strong Contenders quadrant.
•Sygnia, Mnemonic, and TrustedSec remained Aspirants, reflecting ongoing difficulties in having broader customer influence in spite of specialized knowledge.
•Uhl42 branding (by Palo Alto Networks) was discontinued, folding under the Palo Alto umbrella, allowing tracking to be more efficient.
Moreover, Flintfox-like entries (in analogy) are absent here; no brand-new players rocked the Leaders quadrant , a reflection of a more mature, closed competitive space.
Why Spark Matrix Insights Matter
For companies considering DFIR partners, Spark Matrix provides a critical, objective benchmark, cutting through vendor hype from reality. For vendors, it’s a mirror, not only of their strengths but of the areas that are most critical to accelerate in order to remain competitive.
Final Thoughts
The 2024 Spark Matrix report shows a more established but intensely competitive DFIR services market. Leaders such as CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks continue to reign supreme due to relentless innovation and customer-centric strategies. While that’s happening, upstarts such as Rapid7 and Optiv Security demonstrate how agility and technology innovation can push players into leading positions. As threat environments continue to shift, only those DFIR vendors who make investments in quicker, wiser, and more robust response mechanisms will survive, and thrive.
The race is certainly on.