Cybersecurity Excellence Awards Reveal Nomination Shift from AI Hype to Governance Execution

Washington DC, USA, February 17th, 2026, CyberNewswire

The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards today published early nomination insights from the 2026 program, highlighting a shift in vendor emphasis from broad AI positioning toward governance frameworks, identity architecture, and measurable accountability.

Produced by Cybersecurity Insiders, the analysis draws on more than 200 submissions received ahead of RSA Conference 2026.

Agentic AI categories are among the fastest-growing in the 2026 program.

Autonomous systems are moving from pilot to production faster than governance frameworks can keep pace — introducing risks ranging from shadow AI deployments operating outside security oversight to autonomous agents acting unpredictably without adequate safeguards.

Nominations reflect the tension, emphasizing oversight mechanisms, governance structures, and operational controls designed to close the gap between AI adoption and enterprise security readiness.

The patterns mirror findings across Cybersecurity Insiders’ independent research portfolio, including the 2026 CISO AI Risk Report, the 2026 Cloud Security Report, and the 2026 Zero Trust Report (https://www.cybersecurity-insiders.com/research-library/).

While survey research outlines CISO priorities, nomination data highlights how vendors are responding:

• Agentic AI divides along autonomy and governance lines: Nominations span distinct platform and governance categories, including autonomous SOC copilots, ISO 42001-aligned governance frameworks, and human-in-the-loop safeguards. Submissions reflect both platforms deploying autonomous agents and solutions designed to govern, constrain, and monitor them.
• Identity expands into identity lineage: Identity-related nominations show year-over-year growth, with expanded participation in non-human identity (NHI) and identity security posture management (ISPM) categories. Submissions emphasize identity lineage capabilities that trace the origin, context, and lifecycle of machine identities across hybrid environments.
• Data security reasserts itself as the AI-era foundation: Nominations across DSPM, governance, and security data layer categories position data security as a structural foundation of AI risk management, with emphasis on visibility into AI-driven data access, cross-cloud governance, and policy enforcement.

“Our research has documented the widening governance gap around AI, identity, and data for more than a year. Agentic AI is moving from pilot to production, and governance frameworks are still catching up,” said Holger Schulze, founder of Cybersecurity Insiders.

“This year’s nominations confirm that vendors are now responding, but the market is still early. The vendors who win will be the ones who can prove their governance frameworks work under pressure.”

Submissions for the 2026 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards remain open through February 21, ahead of RSA Conference 2026 at https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/

About the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards

Now in its second decade, the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards are a global recognition program honoring companies, products, and professionals advancing cybersecurity worldwide.

Presented by Cybersecurity Insiders, the awards spotlight innovation, leadership, and operational impact across the cybersecurity ecosystem.

Users can learn more at https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/

About Cybersecurity Insiders

Cybersecurity Insiders is an independent research and strategic intelligence platform serving more than 600,000 cybersecurity professionals worldwide.

Its research analyzes how enterprise security strategies perform under operational pressure, identifying measurable gaps between intent and real-world risk exposure.

Through data-driven analysis and CISO-informed insight, Cybersecurity Insiders informs security decision-making, vendor evaluation, and industry benchmarking.

More information is available at https://www.cybersecurity-insiders.com/

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Holger Schulze

Cybersecurity Insiders

holger.schulze@cybersecurity-insiders.com