Cold outreach to Cybersecurity companies
The buyer is a Cybersecurity Compliance Officer, primarily measured on achieving SOC 2 compliance within tight deadlines. They respond to outreach that clearly outlines how your solution can streamline compliance processes and reduce audit preparation time, as they often deal with last-minute requests from auditors and internal stakeholders.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 569 cybersecurity company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- last-minute audit requests
- insufficient compliance resources
- inconsistent documentation practices
- high costs of compliance failures
The playbook
- 01
Identify companies with upcoming audits
Use tools like LinkedIn or industry news sites to find companies announcing SOC 2 audits in the next 3-6 months. Focus on firms that have publicly shared their compliance goals, as they are more likely to engage with solutions that can simplify their audit preparations.
- 02
Segment by company size and revenue
Filter your list to include only mid-sized cybersecurity firms with annual revenues between $5M and $50M. These companies often lack the dedicated resources for compliance and are more likely to seek external help to meet their deadlines.
- 03
Highlight pain points in the subject line
Craft subject lines that address specific compliance challenges, such as 'Avoiding SOC 2 audit headaches' or 'Streamline your SOC 2 compliance process'. This will resonate with Compliance Officers who are under pressure to deliver results efficiently.
- 04
Mention industry regulations in the email body
In your email, reference specific compliance regulations they must adhere to, such as the need for continuous monitoring or risk assessments. This demonstrates your understanding of their regulatory environment and positions your outreach as relevant and timely.
- 05
Propose a compliance readiness assessment
In your follow-up, suggest a no-obligation compliance readiness assessment to identify gaps in their current processes. This approach provides immediate value and encourages them to engage, as they often seek ways to improve their compliance posture.
Can cybersecurity companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 569 cybersecurity companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 30.3% of 1–10-person companies against 91.3% of the largest — 61 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Avoid SOC 2 audit headaches
- Streamline your SOC 2 compliance process
- Are you ready for your next audit?
Questions
- Why do cybersecurity compliance officers ignore outreach about compliance tools?
- Compliance Officers often receive numerous unsolicited emails and may overlook them if they don't immediately see relevance to their specific compliance challenges. If the outreach doesn't directly address their pressing needs or deadlines, it risks being dismissed.
- What compliance metrics are most important to cybersecurity firms?
- Cybersecurity firms typically prioritize metrics related to audit readiness, such as the number of compliance gaps identified, the time taken to resolve issues, and the overall cost of compliance. These metrics are crucial for demonstrating their commitment to security and regulatory adherence.
- How can I effectively follow up with a compliance officer?
- Follow up by referencing specific pain points they may face, such as upcoming audit deadlines or recent regulatory changes. Providing insights or resources related to these topics can establish your credibility and increase the likelihood of a response.
- What are common objections from compliance officers regarding new tools?
- Common objections include concerns about integration with existing systems, the learning curve for their team, and budget constraints. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can help build trust and demonstrate your understanding of their operational challenges.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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