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Graphic showing an illustrated trophy highlighting the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association's 2023 Excellence Awards winners.
5 min read

Microsoft announces the 2023 Microsoft Security Excellence Awards winners

  • By Maria Thomson, Director, Microsoft Intelligent Security Association

In a world that’s constantly changing and challenging us, we believe that nothing can stop us when we work together. That’s the spirit of collaboration we celebrated on April 24, 2023, at the fourth annual Microsoft Security Excellence Awards. These awards recognize outstanding contributions from Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA) members.

MISA is a coalition of Microsoft leaders and subject matter experts, independent software vendors (ISVs), and managed security service providers (MSSPs). Together, we work to defend organizations around the world from increasing threats. Security is a broad, collaborative business, and our amazing partners continue to show their resilience and excellence in delivering comprehensive protection integrated with Microsoft Security technology.

In San Francisco, California, on the first day of the RSA Conference (RSAC), we were honored to bring together MISA members and Microsoft Security leadership to honor the top finalists and announce award winners.

“It is my privilege to acknowledge this year’s Microsoft Security Excellence Awards recipients, who continually inspire us with their commitment to building a safer world for all. Their solutions, services, innovative spirit, and customer focus are integral to this goal. Security is a team sport, and we are proud to partner with our MISA community. My warmest congratulations to all the awardees.”

—Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President (CVP), Microsoft Security, Compliance, Identity, and Privacy

Security for all  

We believe that inclusivity is not just an ethical choice, but also a strategic advantage. That’s why we’re proud to showcase the investment and efforts our partner ecosystem has made to promote diversity and inclusion. This year we recognized the first winner of the new Diversity in Security award. This award honors a partner who has gone above and beyond to foster diversity and cultivate positive change within the industry, and ultimately improve our ability to protect customers against cyberthreats.

Security is a team sport, one that always needs new players. So, we were also proud to recognize the next generation of security defenders. Microsoft is partnering with Last Mile Education Fund by funding scholarships for underrepresented students to help target the nationwide shortage of cybersecurity talent while Shadow Hunter is our gamified experience that immerses contestants in a simulated real-world cybersecurity scenario to build and test security skills. Bringing the two together was natural. We invited students from around the United States to challenge themselves in our special Last Mile Education Fund and Microsoft Security Immersion Event: Shadow Hunter four-hour virtual events. To acknowledge those students who achieved the top scores among their peers, Bret Arsenault, CVP and Chief Information Security Officer, Microsoft, and Ruthe Farmer, Founder, Last Mile Education Fund, recognized the top 10 students—Logan Gamma, Joan Waldron, Dialla Diarra, Cristian Carrillo Mendez, Lisa Friel, Afraz Sakib, Alexandra Farina, Sean Dixon, Amanda Hite, and Angelina Zhukova—for their ongoing accomplishments.

2023 Security Excellence Award winners

Both technology and people are essential for creating a secure future, and we were thrilled to recognize some of the top companies and individuals in the field across 11 award categories that reflect the diverse and valuable contributions of MISA members. We were impressed by the hundreds of award nominations we received. The panel diligently reviewed each one and shortlisted five nominees for each category. Winners were then decided by the votes of Microsoft and MISA members.

We are proud to announce the finalists and winners in each category:

Security Trailblazer

Partners that have delivered innovative solutions or services that leverage the full Microsoft range of security products and have proven to be outstanding leaders in accelerating customers’ efforts to mitigate cybersecurity threats.

Compliance and Privacy Trailblazer

Partners that deliver innovative solutions or services and are distinguished leaders in driving holistic or end-to-end Microsoft compliance or privacy strategy with customers.

Identity Trailblazer

Partners that are leaders in the identity space and have driven identity-related initiatives and delivered innovative solutions or services with Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

Zero Trust Champion

Partners that are dedicated to supporting customers in their Zero Trust journey and have demonstrated vital integrations with the Microsoft Zero Trust platform.

Security Software Innovator

ISVs that have developed innovative solutions with disruptive and transformative technology in collaboration with Microsoft that makes work easier for our mutual customers.

Security Services Innovator

MSSPs that are exceptional at educating the market on security risks and driving holistic end-to-end managed extended detection and response (MXDR) security strategy with customers using Microsoft Security products and that deliver innovative and transformative security services to customers.

Security Customer Champion

Partners that go above and beyond to drive customer impact and that have a proven track record of customer obsession and success.

Security Changemaker

Individuals within partner organizations who have made a remarkable security contribution to the company or the larger security community.

Diversity in Security

Partners that have demonstrated a significant commitment to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion to better serve security customers and foster change in the industry.

Security ISV of the Year

ISVs that are all-around powerhouses, show growth potential and have innovative security solutions that integrate with a MISA-qualifying security product.

Security MSSP of the Year

MSSPs that are all-around powerhouses with strong integration between Microsoft products and ongoing managed security services that drive the end-to-end Microsoft Security stack to our mutual customers.

We’re ready for what’s next

This was an amazing evening, bringing together MISA members, Microsoft executives, and future security experts. Many thanks to all who came, and congratulations again to all our finalists and winners. One constant within the ever-changing world of cyberthreats is the way our community comes together to protect and empower customers. We look forward to seeing everything you accomplish in the upcoming year.

If you’re at the RSA Conference through April 27, 2023, come and visit us at the Microsoft Booth 6044 North Expo where MISA members will be showcasing their solutions at our MISA demo station and the Microsoft Theater. We’d love to see you at the following sessions:

Graphic showing the schedule for MISA sessions during the 2023 RSA Conference.

Figure 1. MISA member companies will share how they work together with Microsoft to protect customers from cyberthreats. Sessions will be presented by the following MISA members: BUI, SafeBreach, Cloudflare, Relativity and Epiq, and Ontinue.

Graph showing the MISA demo schedule at the Microsoft booth at the 2023 RSA Conference.

Figure 2. MISA and its ecosystem of ISVs and MSSPs, with solutions integrated with the Microsoft’s security technology, will have a demo station at the RSAC Microsoft booth. Demos will take place on Monday, April 24, 2023, through Thursday, April 27, 2023, throughout the conference hours. The following MISA ISV and MSSP vendors will be giving demos: Cerby Kovrr, Elevate Security, Red Canary, Yubico, Lighthouse, Ascent Solutions, Wipro, Adobe, Forsyte, Corelight, 42Crunch, Maureen Data Systems, Datawiza, Secude, Avanade, archTIS, Difenda, Quorom Cyber, Netrix, Theom, BlueVoyant, BigID, and Synergy Advisors.

Learn more

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and Twitter (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.