Company Description
Tenable Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TENB) is a cybersecurity company focused on exposure management – identifying, understanding and helping close the cybersecurity gaps that can erode business value, reputation and trust. Founded in 2002, Tenable began by providing vulnerability management solutions under its Nessus software and has since expanded into a broader platform that addresses risk across modern IT, cloud and operational environments. The company is based in Maryland and went public in 2018.
Tenable describes itself as the exposure management company, with an AI-powered exposure management platform that unifies security visibility, insight and action across the attack surface. According to the company’s disclosures and press materials, this platform is designed to equip organizations to protect against attacks spanning traditional IT infrastructure, cloud environments, critical infrastructure and other connected systems. By focusing on security exposure rather than only individual vulnerabilities, Tenable aims to help organizations reduce business risk.
Business focus and exposure management platform
Tenable’s core offerings center on exposure management, which the company positions as an evolution from traditional vulnerability management. Its portfolio includes exposure management modules and solutions that address areas such as cloud security and compliance, Active Directory management, operational technology (OT) security and advanced vulnerability analytics. Over time, Tenable has expanded from its original Nessus vulnerability management software into a broader set of exposure management capabilities.
The company highlights the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform as its flagship offering. Tenable states that Tenable One delivers visibility, insight and action across what it calls the modern attack surface, including IT, cloud, AI, identity, third-party, web applications and OT. The platform is described as AI-powered and focused on providing a complete, contextualized view of risk, along with prioritization capabilities that help organizations focus on exposures that matter most before attackers can exploit them.
According to Tenable’s public communications, Tenable One is built to unify data and insights from across a customer’s security stack. The company notes that the platform supports a large number of integrations, enabling it to ingest exposure data from a wide range of source types. This extensibility is intended to support large-scale, complex environments and allow customers to tailor the platform to their technology stacks without heavy reliance on additional point tools.
Cloud security and CNAPP capabilities
Cloud security is a major pillar of Tenable’s exposure management strategy. The company offers Tenable Cloud Security, which it describes as a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). Tenable states that this solution provides unified visibility and control across multi-cloud environments, helps protect sensitive data, and supports modernization of cloud infrastructure. In the public sector, Tenable has highlighted a FedRAMP-authorized cloud security solution offered to U.S. federal agencies under a OneGov agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration.
Tenable’s cloud security capabilities are described as addressing identities, misconfigurations and access governance, while also enabling organizations to incorporate AI-specific exposures into their risk strategies. The company has cited use cases in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, where organizations often operate across multiple cloud providers and on-premises systems, creating complexity and potential blind spots.
In customer feedback highlighted by Tenable, users have noted deep visibility across cloud infrastructure environments, integration with existing workflows and the ability to pull cloud data into exposure management views. Reviews referenced by the company also mention intuitive interfaces, straightforward setup and reporting, and the ability to see assets and exposures in a unified view.
AI, analytics and research-driven capabilities
Tenable emphasizes the role of AI and analytics in its exposure management approach. The company describes its exposure management platform as AI-powered and notes that it invests in AI-driven analytics, including generative AI used for remediation guidance, attack path generation and ownership detection. These capabilities are intended to enhance risk prioritization and accelerate response.
The company has also announced Tenable AI Exposure, which it characterizes as a comprehensive solution to see, manage and control risks introduced by generative AI. In addition, Tenable has released an evolution of its Tenable Vulnerability Priority Rating (VPR), which it describes as powered by generative AI to sharpen precision and help organizations focus on risks that pose the greatest threat.
Tenable conducts and commissions research to better understand evolving risk landscapes. For example, its "State of Cloud and AI Security 2025" report, developed with the Cloud Security Alliance, highlights challenges organizations face with hybrid, multi-cloud and AI-driven infrastructures, including disjointed visibility and identity governance issues. Tenable uses these findings to frame the need for unified exposure management and to position its cloud security offerings as tools to help organizations move from reactive incident management to a more proactive exposure management approach.
Public sector and enterprise focus
Tenable reports that it serves tens of thousands of customers around the world, including public sector and enterprise organizations. The company describes itself as a long-time government partner with an understanding of public sector requirements. Its OneGov agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration is presented as a way for federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, to access its FedRAMP-authorized cloud security solution under favorable terms for a defined period.
In its public statements, Tenable explains that its cloud security and exposure management capabilities are intended to help federal agencies support cloud-first policies, safeguard mission-critical systems, maintain operational continuity and uphold public trust. The company also notes that its CNAPP capabilities can support Zero Trust initiatives by delivering identity risk management and enforcing least privilege, as well as helping agencies maintain continuous compliance with evolving federal cybersecurity standards.
Beyond the public sector, Tenable references customers across industries such as software, banking, retail and others, often through anonymized customer quotes. These references emphasize use cases like integrating Tenable’s platform into existing workflows, consolidating visibility across assets, and using prioritized insights for remediation.
Industry recognition and market perspective
Tenable has been recognized in several third-party analyst and peer review reports that focus on exposure management and related security categories. The company has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Exposure Management 2025 Vendor Assessment, where its Tenable One platform is evaluated for unified exposure management capabilities. According to excerpts cited by Tenable, the IDC MarketScape notes the importance of proactive cybersecurity solutions that provide comprehensive attack surface visibility, risk prioritization and integration with remediation workflows, and highlights Tenable One’s ability to ingest exposure data from diverse sources and support AI-driven analytics.
Tenable has also been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Unified Vulnerability Management, Q3 2025 and a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Exposure Assessment Platforms, based on the company’s reporting of these designations. In the Gartner Magic Quadrant, Tenable is described as positioned highly for Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. In addition, Tenable has been recognized as a Customers’ Choice in the Gartner Peer Insights "Voice of the Customer" for Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms, based on end-user reviews in that program.
The company also cites rankings such as being ranked first in Device Vulnerability and Exposure Management market share by IDC for multiple consecutive years. These external evaluations, as presented by Tenable, support its positioning in exposure management and vulnerability-related markets.
Corporate developments and leadership
Tenable is listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol TENB. The company has reported periodic financial results and other material events through filings such as Form 8-K, including quarterly earnings releases and updates to its share repurchase program. For example, the company has disclosed increases to its share repurchase authorization and reported on revenue, operating margins, cash flows and other financial metrics for recent quarters.
In corporate governance and leadership updates, Tenable has reported the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer and principal financial officer, as well as the appointment of a Chief Technology Officer who is also Managing Director of Tenable Israel. These appointments are described in SEC filings and press releases that outline the executives’ prior experience and roles in guiding Tenable’s financial and technology strategies, including responsibilities for platform strategy, AI strategy and long-term technology vision.
Tenable has also formed an Exposure Management Leadership Council, composed of Chief Information Security Officers and cybersecurity leaders from various industries. The council’s stated mission is to develop and advance principles, best practices, policies and frameworks for exposure management, and to help shift board-level discussions from technical metrics to strategic conversations focused on risk reduction.
Investor and financial context
As a public company, Tenable provides regular updates on its financial performance and outlook. In its reported results for recent periods, the company has discussed demand for the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform, trends in calculated current billings, operating margins, cash flow metrics and share repurchases. Tenable also provides non-GAAP financial measures such as non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP net income, free cash flow and unlevered free cash flow, along with reconciliations to GAAP measures, to present management’s view of its operating performance.
The company explains that it uses metrics like calculated current billings to monitor its ability to generate working capital from upfront customer payments, and that it uses non-GAAP measures to evaluate core operating performance by excluding items such as stock-based compensation, acquisition-related expenses, restructuring expenses and amortization of acquired intangible assets. These explanations are included in its earnings-related disclosures and SEC filings.
Role within the cybersecurity and data services sector
Within the broader information sector and the data processing, hosting and related services industry classification, Tenable operates as a cybersecurity-focused company with a concentration on exposure management. Its offerings intersect with areas such as vulnerability management, cloud security, identity risk management and operational technology security. By emphasizing unified visibility and contextual risk analysis across diverse environments, Tenable positions its exposure management platform as a way for organizations to move from reactive security postures to more proactive risk reduction strategies.
The company’s research, analyst recognition and customer references, as presented in its public communications, underscore its focus on addressing challenges created by hybrid, multi-cloud and AI-driven infrastructures. For investors and analysts, Tenable’s story centers on the growth and adoption of exposure management as a discipline, the expansion of its platform capabilities, and its efforts to serve both public sector and commercial customers across a range of industries.