Trustwave is proud to announce that Gartner has named us as a Representative Vendor in the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) Retainer Services.
This is the sixth time Trustwave has been placed as a Representative Vendor in the Market Guide DFIR six times since the report's inception.
This recognition comes on the heels of the industry analyst firm naming Trustwave a Representative Vendor in the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Co-Managed Security Monitoring Services and a Representative Vendor in 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Third-Party Risk Management Technology Solutions. In addition, Trustwave was named a Representative Vendor in its 2024 Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
DFIR Market Definition by Gartner
Gartner noted, "DFIR retainer services help organizations assess and manage the impact of a security incident. Digital forensics (DF) services assist with forensic response, aid in forensic information gathering, and advise on proactive best practices for avoiding a breach. Incident response (IR) services assist with breach investigation, triage, and impact classification. These capabilities are delivered as professional services, supported by technology services from the same provider."
Mandatory features for a DFIR vendor should include the following:
Providers of DFIR retainer services offer both reactive services to help organizations respond to breaches and proactive services to help organizations avoid and better prepare for breaches.
Mandatory Features
In the report, Gartner noted mandatory DFIR features for this market include:
- Pre-incident design and assessment: Services assist with the creation and/or review of IR policies and processes. Services offer assessments of incident response procedures, security posture (configuration and policies), and organizational readiness.
- Post-incident response assistance: Services assist with forensic collection, examination and analysis of items for use in investigations to build a timeline of the incident, determine the scope of the compromise and perform root cause analysis.
- Prepaid retainers: DFIR services are available as an annual spend, giving access to incident response capabilities within an agreed SLA in the event of an incident. Response services might be bundled with regular exercises and/or assessments.
In addition, Gartner listed features commonly supplied by a provider. This non-exhaustive list included:
- Tabletop exercises and training
- Assistance with data recovery, including finding decryptors and providing a chain of custody
- Adversary simulation and penetration testing services
- Specialized use cases, such as operational technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT) or mobile devices
What Trustwave DFIR Delivers
Trustwave positions our Digital Forensics and Incident Response as multi-faceted, offering both reactive and proactive services. Trustwave SpiderLabs experts are on hand to provide immediate response to an advanced threat breach and swiftly pinpoint the cause and scope of a breach, empowering organizations to prepare for the inevitable.
Trustwave is also well-prepared to help an organization proactively prepare by improving its IR readiness posture.
Trustwave also offers a DFIR consulting retainer. The retainer offers a client immediate access to Trustwave SpiderLabs' elite team, acting as the first line of defense. With a global presence, expert responders are on call 24/7 to initiate forensic investigations instantly.
A Trustwave DFIR retainer offers:
- Rapid Response: On-call DFIR experts with a 2-hour remote triage guarantee and on-site deployment within 24 hours.
- Priority Service: Retainer clients receive top priority, ensuring swift incident handling.
- Cost Efficiency: Pre-negotiated rates provide significant savings compared to standard consulting fees.
- Flexibility: Unused retainer hours can be allocated to other IR readiness services.
Why we think Trustwave is the Only Choice for DFIR Services
We believe that Trustwave's DFIR solutions touch on all of the mandatory DFIR requirements listed by Gartner.
Our expert team comprises hundreds of top security professionals with diverse career backgrounds, including corporate security executives, security research labs, and experience in federal and local law enforcement. This team has the expertise and dedication to stay ahead of the issues and threats affecting your organization's security posture.
During Trustwave's 25-plus year history, our security teams have performed thousands of incident response and forensic investigations, as well as application and network security penetration tests for customers around the globe — from startups to Fortune 50 companies.
What this all adds up to is the fact that Trustwave's skill and experience allow us to cut through the complexity of cyber incidents, providing the speed, expertise, and support needed to minimize impact and preserve critical evidence.
Gartner, Market Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Retainer Services, By Carlos De Sola Caraballo, Steve Santos et al., 23 July 2025
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