2025 SC Awards Finalists: Best Emerging Technology

Quantum technology is reshaping cybersecurity, and SandboxAQ stands at the forefront with AQtive Guard, earning its place among the Best Emerging Technology finalists. With the rise of quantum computing, organizations face a new era of cryptographic vulnerabilities and decryption threats. AQtive Guard is designed to future-proof encryption strategies, providing post-quantum cryptographic resilience that ensures sensitive data remains secure even against advanced computational attacks. More than just a security tool, AQtive Guard is a roadmap for organizations transitioning to quantum-safe encryption standards, offering automated risk assessments, cryptographic agility, and seamless policy enforcement. This recognition highlights SandboxAQ’s role in shaping next-generation security paradigms.

Bolster AI has been named a Best Emerging Technology finalist for its cutting-edge AI-driven fraud detection and threat intelligence capabilities. As phishing attacks and digital fraud become more sophisticated, businesses require real-time, automated protection against malicious actors. Bolster AI’s platform leverages deep learning to detect, analyze, and take down phishing sites in seconds, significantly reducing the risk window for enterprises. Traditional security tools struggle with the scale and speed of modern cyberattacks, but Bolster AI operates at machine speed, continuously monitoring the internet for brand impersonation, credential theft, and fraudulent domains. This finalist position underscores Bolster AI’s innovative contribution to real-time threat mitigation.

As businesses increasingly rely on non-human identities (NHIs) — AI agents, applications, and automation tools — attackers are exploiting static credentials, token hijacking, and misconfigurations to move laterally and escalate privileges undetected. Aembit’s Non-Human Identity and Access Management (IAM) Platform, a finalist in the SC Awards 2025, eliminates static secrets altogether, enforcing Zero Trust authentication for NHIs. Instead of relying on persistent API keys or service accounts, Aembit issues dynamic, short-lived credentials based on identity, security posture, and contextual risk. This MFA-like approach for workloads ensures attackers cannot exploit stolen credentials, as authentication is continuously verified and ephemeral. Security teams benefit from automated policy enforcement, identity-driven access control, and seamless integration with CrowdStrike, Wiz, Splunk, and major DevSecOps platforms. Developers avoid the risk of hardcoded credentials, while organizations lock down workload-to-workload authentication without disrupting workflows. With weekly feature updates, real-world customer-driven enhancements, and a commitment to Zero Trust security, Aembit is redefining how enterprises secure non-human identities at scale.

Given the hockey stick of AI adoption, understanding and managing the risks associated with AI use is crucial for security teams. Nudge Security has responded to this need with a solution that discovers all AI apps and accounts in use, delivers risk insights for each app, and provides real-time guidance and guardrails to end users as soon as they create a new AI account. Nudge’s AI dashboard ensures that security teams are the first to know when new AI tools are introduced to the org and helps them quickly assess risks related to supply chain dependencies, breach history, vendor trust, and more. With these capabilities, security teams can proactively surface and mitigate risks posed by AI use without slowing down the business.

With the explosion of Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices, security gaps in enterprise environments have widened, creating an urgent need for proactive attack surface management. Phosphorus Cybersecurity earns its place among the Best Emerging Technology finalists with its Intelligent Active Discovery and Remediation Platform — a game-changing solution for securing IoT, OT, and network-connected assets. Unlike traditional endpoint security solutions, Phosphorus provides automated risk assessments, device hardening, and continuous monitoring, ensuring that organizations maintain full visibility and control over their IoT landscape. By addressing previously overlooked vulnerabilities in unmanaged and unmonitored devices, Phosphorus Cybersecurity is reshaping how organizations approach attack surface reduction and security hygiene.

Torq has secured a spot among the Best Emerging Technology finalists for its pioneering Agentic AI automation platform. Security teams are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of alerts and threats, leading to delayed response times and inefficiencies. Torq Agentic AI addresses this challenge by introducing a hyper-automated, AI-driven security operations system that dynamically adapts to evolving threats. Unlike conventional SOAR platforms, Torq leverages autonomous workflows and contextual decision-making to reduce alert fatigue and enhance remediation speed. What sets Torq apart is its ability to act as a true security copilot, allowing organizations to optimize their incident response efforts while maintaining compliance and security integrity.