Fortra is a global cybersecurity company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA. The company has established itself as a major provider of security and automation solutions, offering an extensive portfolio designed to help organizations of all sizes manage and secure their IT infrastructure. Fortra's stated mission is to simplify the complexity of cybersecurity by providing a comprehensive, integrated platform of solutions from a single vendor.
The company's strategy focuses on delivering a "stronger, simpler future for cybersecurity" by combining best-in-class, (often acquired) point solutions into a unified portfolio. This allows organizations to address numerous security challenges, from data protection and infrastructure security to offensive security testing, without having to manage dozens of disparate security tools. Fortra's services are used by tens of thousands of customers worldwide, including many in the Fortune 500, and span industries such as finance, healthcare, retail, and government.
A key element of its platform is the Fortra Threat Brain, a centralized threat intelligence service. This system aggregates and correlates vast amounts of threat data gathered from its diverse product ecosystem?spanning email, data, network, and endpoint security. It uses machine learning and data science to refine this data into actionable intelligence, which is then fed back into its products to provide a more proactive and predictive security posture for all its customers.
The Evolution from HelpSystems
A significant aspect of the company's identity is its rebrand from HelpSystems in November 2022. HelpSystems was founded in 1982 and built a strong reputation, primarily within the IBM i (formerly AS/400) ecosystem, as a leading provider of IT operations management, automation, and security tools. Its products, such as the Robot (workload automation) and Powertech (IBM i security) lines, became staples for organizations running on that platform.
Starting in the late 2010s, HelpSystems, backed by private equity, embarked on an aggressive acquisition strategy to pivot and expand deep into the broader cybersecurity market. This strategy involved acquiring numerous well-known security companies, fundamentally transforming its business. Key acquisitions included:
Core Security: Known for penetration testing (Core Impact) and identity management.
Cobalt Strike: A widely used adversary simulation and red team tool.
Agari: A leader in DMARC and anti-phishing email security.
PhishLabs: A provider of digital risk protection and anti-phishing services.
Digital Guardian: A prominent Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution.
Alert Logic: A major player in Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and XDR.
Globalscape: A leading provider of Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions.
Clearswift: Specialized in email and web gateways with deep content inspection.
By 2022, the company's capabilities had expanded far beyond its original IT automation roots. The HelpSystems name no longer reflected its primary focus on cybersecurity. The rebrand to Fortra was initiated to unify these disparate brands under a single, defense-oriented identity ("Fortra" evokes "fortress" and "strength") and present its comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio to the market.
Products and Services
Fortra organizes its extensive portfolio into several key solution areas, designed to protect organizations across the entire "cyber kill chain."
Data Security
This category focuses on protecting sensitive data wherever it resides?at rest, in motion, or in use.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Featuring the Digital Guardian DLP platform, these solutions discover, classify, and protect sensitive data from exfiltration, whether accidental or malicious, on endpoints, servers, and in the cloud.
Data Classification: Provides tools (like Fortra's Data Classification Suite) that allow users and automated systems to classify data based on sensitivity, which then informs DLP and access control policies.
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM): A newer offering designed to discover, classify, and protect sensitive data within complex cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Drive).
Secure Collaboration: Enables employees to share sensitive files securely, ensuring encryption and policy enforcement.
Infrastructure Protection
This area covers the foundational security of networks, servers, and cloud environments.
Vulnerability Management: (e.g., Fortra Vulnerability Manager) Provides continuous scanning to identify, prioritize, and report on security weaknesses across the IT environment.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) & MDR: Through the Alert Logic brand, Fortra offers a managed 24/7 service (MDR) that monitors endpoint, network, and cloud environments to detect and respond to threats in real-time.
Cloud Security: Includes Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) functionality to monitor and secure cloud application usage, as well as Security Configuration Management for cloud and on-prem systems.
Secure Web Gateway (SWG): (e.g., Clearswift) Filters internet traffic to protect users from web-based threats and enforce acceptable use policies.
Offensive Security (Red Team)
Fortra is a leader in the offensive security space, providing tools used by both in-house security teams and professional penetration testers to simulate attacks and find vulnerabilities.
Cobalt Strike: The industry-standard platform for adversary simulation. It allows red teams to emulate the tactics and techniques of advanced persistent threats (APTs) to test an organization's defensive resilience.
Core Impact: An automated penetration testing solution that safely exploits vulnerabilities to demonstrate risk. It guides security teams through the testing process, from reconnaissance to reporting.
Outflank Security Tooling (OST): A collection of advanced tools for red teams designed to bypass modern defensive measures.
Penetration Testing as a Service: Fortra's own experts provide manual penetration testing services for networks, applications, and social engineering.
Threat and Digital Risk Protection
This portfolio is focused on identifying and mitigating external threats targeting a company's brand, employees, and customers.
Email Security: A multi-layered offering (via Agari and Clearswift) that includes DMARC enforcement to prevent domain spoofing, advanced threat protection against business email compromise (BEC), and anti-phishing.
Digital Risk Protection: (via PhishLabs) Scours the open web, dark web, and social media to find and take down threats like brand impersonation, executive impersonation, phishing sites, and data leaks.
Security Awareness Training: Provides training and phishing simulations to educate employees and reduce human-related risk.
Automation and Secure File Transfer
Rooted in its HelpSystems legacy, Fortra continues to be a market leader in automation and data movement.
Managed File Transfer (MFT): (e.g., Globalscape EFT) Provides an enterprise-grade platform for securely and reliably automating the exchange of files with partners, customers, and internal systems, ensuring compliance and visibility.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA): (e.g., Automate Plus) A platform that allows businesses to build and deploy software "bots" to automate manual, repetitive tasks across desktops and servers.
IBM i Solutions
Fortra remains the de facto standard for security, automation, and business intelligence on the IBM Power (IBM i) platform.
Powertech: The premier security suite for IBM i, providing access control, encryption, antivirus, integrity monitoring, and auditing.
Robot: The leading workload automation and systems management suite for IBM i, handling job scheduling, monitoring, and high availability.
Sequel: A powerful business intelligence and data access tool that allows users to easily query and visualize data from IBM i and other databases.
Please note: This information is generated by AI. For legal use, verify with company sources.
