Adaptive Shield vs Expel
Side-by-side comparison of AI visibility scores, market position, and capabilities
SSPM platform acquired by CrowdStrike in 2023; deep security configuration management across 150+ SaaS applications. Tel Aviv Israel;
About
Adaptive Shield is a SaaS security posture management (SSPM) company founded in 2019 by Maor Bin and Jony Shlomoff in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company pioneered the SSPM category, which Gartner formally named as a distinct security market in 2021. Adaptive Shield's platform connects to an organization's SaaS applications via native APIs and continuously monitors security configurations, user permissions, and integration settings against security best practices and compliance frameworks. When a configuration drifts from the desired state — for example, multi-factor authentication being disabled for a user, or a permissive external sharing setting turned on — the platform alerts security teams and provides remediation guidance.\n\nAdaptive Shield raised $30 million before being acquired by CrowdStrike in 2023 for approximately $300 million. CrowdStrike integrated Adaptive Shield's SSPM technology into its Falcon platform as Falcon SaaS Security, giving CrowdStrike customers deep visibility into the security posture of their SaaS estates alongside CrowdStrike's existing endpoint, identity, and cloud security capabilities. The acquisition reflected CrowdStrike's strategy to expand from endpoint-centric security to comprehensive platform coverage.\n\nPrior to acquisition, Adaptive Shield supported security configuration checks across more than 150 SaaS applications including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zoom, Slack, GitHub, and Workday. Its check library covered thousands of individual configuration settings mapped to CIS Benchmarks, SOC 2, and other frameworks. The platform also provided an integration risk monitoring capability that inventoried third-party apps connected to core SaaS platforms, similar to the SSPM expansion toward full SaaS security management.
Expel is a Forrester Wave Leader in MDR with 5/5 scores across 15 criteria, providing 24/7 AI-powered threat detection and response across cloud, endpoint, identity, and network.
About
Expel is a Herndon, Virginia-based managed detection and response (MDR) company founded in 2016 that provides 24/7 security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response as a managed service. Rather than replacing a customer's existing security tools, Expel integrates with the tools organizations already have — SIEMs, EDRs, cloud platforms, and identity providers — and applies AI-powered automation and expert human analysis to triage alerts and respond to threats around the clock.
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