The Impact of New Categories on the Cybersecurity Industry

The podcast episode discusses the question of whether new categories of cybersecurity products help or hurt the industry. One viewpoint expressed is that the creation of new categories overcomplicates the marketplace and makes it difficult for security practitioners to keep up. This perspective argues that new categories primarily benefit the vendors rather than the practitioners. On the other hand, some argue that new categories allow vendors to differentiate themselves and convince potential customers that their solution is unique. However, this leads to an abundance of vendors with too few unique offerings, resulting in challenges for both analysts and CISOs in categorizing and evaluating solutions. The episode highlights the tension between the need for categorization and the desire for uniqueness within the cybersecurity industry.