SBS CyberSecurity vs Praetorian
SBS CyberSecurity
SBS CyberSecurity is a US cybersecurity consulting, audit and testing firm founded in Madison, South Dakota in 2004. Its core market is regulated financial institutions, community banks and credit unions, served through risk management programmes, IT and network security audits, penetration testing, and the TRAC governance, risk and compliance platform. Co-founders Chad Knutson and Jon Waldman acquired full ownership of the company in July 2022. Penetration testing covers external network, internal network, web application, wireless, and PCI DSS Requirement 11 engagements, aligned to NIST, OWASP and PTES. Alongside testing, SBS runs red team, purple team and social engineering assessments, and advisory work including virtual CISO, NIST Cybersecurity Framework assessments, cybersecurity maturity assessments, and vendor risk management. For defense contractors, SBS provides CMMC readiness for Level 1 and Level 2: gap identification, documentation and preparation for assessment. Certification itself is completed by a separate Certified Third Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO); SBS is not listed on the Cyber AB Marketplace as an RPO or C3PAO.
Pros
- Two decades focused specifically on regulated financial institutions, with reporting built for board and examiner audiences
- Platinum Member of the American Bankers Association Partner Network, with preferred provider relationships across more than 20 state banking associations
- TRAC GRC platform used by more than 1,500 organizations, bundling testing findings into ongoing risk management rather than a standalone report
- CMMC readiness work maps directly to Level 1 and Level 2 gap preparation for defense contractors
Pricing: Custom (contact sales)
Praetorian
Founded in 2010 by Nathan Sportsman and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Praetorian positions itself around 'continuous offensive security.' It pairs traditional consulting with Chariot, a platform combining external attack-surface management, continuous testing, and AI-driven workflow automation to surface exploitable issues on an ongoing basis.
Pros
- Chariot supports continuous, year-round testing rather than annual point-in-time pentests
- Strong engineering culture with mature internal tooling and automation
- Bootstrap-grown firm with stable leadership and long consultant tenure
- Service model designed to satisfy annual testing requirements across multiple frameworks in one program
Pricing: Custom (contact sales)