What is data security and how does Varonis approach it?

Data security problem: in most large organizations, sensitive data (personal information, financial records, intellectual property, health records) is stored across thousands of file servers, SharePoint sites, email folders, and cloud storage locations; in many organizations, sensitive files are accessible to far more employees than necessary ('everyone in the company can read the CFO's merger spreadsheet'); there is no continuous monitoring of who accesses sensitive data, making it impossible to detect when a hacker exfiltrates files or an insider steals data. Varonis's approach: Varonis continuously scans enterprise data repositories (file servers, Microsoft 365 SharePoint, Exchange, Teams, Salesforce, cloud storage) to: classify sensitive data (identifying files containing PII, credit card numbers, health records, intellectual property using pattern matching and ML); map permissions (documenting exactly who has access to each file and folder); analyze usage (tracking which files are actually accessed, by whom, and when — building behavioral baselines for each user); detect anomalies (alerting when user behavior deviates from the normal baseline — downloading thousands of files, accessing files at unusual hours, accessing files unrelated to their job function). Remediation: Varonis's Automation Engine can automatically fix overexposed data — removing excess permissions, moving sensitive files to more secure locations, and alerting data owners to review access. Ransomware detection: Varonis can detect early-stage ransomware activity (unusual patterns of file encryption, mass file deletions, sudden access of sensitive data by an account that doesn't normally access it) and alert or even automatically kill the user session before ransomware completes its encryption.

What is secrets management and why is it growing in importance for cybersecurity?

Machine identities vs. human identities: traditional identity and access management (IAM) focuses on human user accounts (employees logging into systems); modern IT environments generate a massive number of 'machine identities' — credentials used by applications and automated processes rather than humans. What are secrets: in software development, 'secrets' are sensitive configuration values that applications need to function: API keys (credentials that allow an application to call another service's API, like a payment processor or mapping service); database connection strings (containing database username and password for an application to connect to its database); TLS certificates (cryptographic credentials for HTTPS encryption); SSH keys (used for server-to-server authentication in deployment pipelines); cloud service provider credentials (AWS access keys, Azure service principal credentials). Why secrets are a security problem: developers frequently hard-code secrets directly in application source code, configuration files, or container images (this is extremely common and dangerous — secrets in code can be extracted by anyone who gains code access); secrets can be accidentally committed to public GitHub repositories; secrets don't rotate (they never expire), making them permanently valid once compromised. Secrets management solutions: CyberArk Conjur, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and Azure Key Vault provide centralized repositories for secrets that applications retrieve at runtime rather than storing in code; secrets are rotated automatically; access to secrets is logged and audited. Why this matters for CyberArk: the explosion of microservices, containers, and CI/CD pipelines has dramatically increased the number of machine identities in modern enterprises; CyberArk's Conjur secrets manager extends CyberArk's PAM expertise from human accounts to machine identities, growing the platform's addressable market.

How does the NIS2 Directive and increasing regulation drive cybersecurity spending?

Regulatory context: governments worldwide are imposing increasingly strict cybersecurity requirements on businesses, particularly for critical infrastructure (energy, water, transportation, financial services, healthcare) and companies handling sensitive personal data. Key regulations driving spending: NIS2 Directive (EU) — the Network and Information Security Directive 2 (effective October 2024) requires critical infrastructure and essential service providers across the EU to implement comprehensive cybersecurity risk management, incident reporting within 24 hours, and supply chain security requirements; organizations failing to comply face significant fines; NIS2 is much broader than its predecessor (NIS1) and applies to thousands of additional companies; this creates spending on security tools including PAM (CyberArk), data security (Varonis), and endpoint security. DORA (EU) — the Digital Operational Resilience Act for EU financial services firms; similar requirements. HIPAA, HITRUST (healthcare); PCI-DSS (payment card industry); CMMC (U.S. defense contractors) — all require specific security controls. Impact on VRNS and CYBR: NIS2's requirements for access control, privileged account management, and data protection directly drive demand for CyberArk PAM and Varonis data security; regulated organizations that haven't implemented these controls face audit findings and fines, creating urgent budget allocation; both companies emphasize regulatory compliance use cases in their sales processes — demonstrating that their products help organizations meet specific regulatory requirements provides a clear procurement justification for CISOs and compliance officers.

Last updated: August 4, 2026

brimindinvest.com / compare / vrns-vs-cybLIVE

VRNS

Varonis Systems, Inc. · Technology - Cybersecurity (Data Security and Governance)

$39.95

-4.63% this month

VERSUS

⟷

COMPARE

CYBR

CyberArk Software Ltd. · Technology - Cybersecurity (Privileged Access Management)

N/A

N/A this month

Scoreboard verdict

Across AI score, momentum, valuation, upside, operating margin

VRNS

0

CYBR

0

MIXED SETUP

Comparison scoreboard

MIXED SETUP

AI Score

VRNS 39.9

CYBR N/A

1Y Return

VRNS -28.44%

CYBR N/A

Fwd P/E

VRNS 99.77

CYBR N/A

Target Up.

VRNS +23.07%

CYBR N/A

Op. Margin

VRNS N/A

CYBR N/A

Metrics last refreshed: 8/4/2026

Quick take

VRNS vs CYBR Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside

VRNS (Varonis) and CYBR (CyberArk) are both leading cybersecurity software companies addressing different security layers — Varonis protects sensitive data itself (files, emails, databases) through data access monitoring, behavioral analytics, and data governance in Microsoft 365 and cloud environments, while CyberArk secures privileged credentials and privileged access management to prevent attackers from using stolen admin credentials to traverse networks and exfiltrate data.

VRNS vs CYBR is data-centric security platform transitioning to SaaS (Varonis's behavioral analytics for data access, cloud data protection expansion, and Microsoft 365/Salesforce coverage — business model transition depressing near-term GAAP revenue and Microsoft native security competition) versus PAM market leader with identity security platform expansion (CyberArk's dominant privileged credential vaulting, secrets management for machine identities, and workforce identity addition — Microsoft Entra competitive pressure and PAM market evolution).

Live analysis · updated 8/4/2026

VRNS and CYBR are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.

Normalized 1Y performance

VRNS

CYBR

Not enough data to chart yet.

Recent returns

VRNS

CYBR

Analyst price targets & sentiment

VRNS · 22 analysts

STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL

Buy (1.8/5.0)

Price target range

analyst low$28.00
analyst high$60.00
analyst mean$50.68
current price$39.95

+23.1% upside to analyst mean

CYBR

Price target data unavailable

N/A

Who should consider this stock?

VRNS may suit investors who:

→Want data-centric cybersecurity exposure through a behavioral analytics platform that protects sensitive enterprise data wherever it lives — on-premises file servers, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and cloud storage
→Value Varonis's approach to data overexposure remediation (identifying and remediating files that too many users can access) as a proactive security posture that reduces breach risk before incidents occur
→Accept near-term SaaS transition revenue disruption in exchange for higher-quality, predictable subscription ARR from a cloud-delivered data security platform

CYBR may suit investors who:

→Want exposure to the dominant Privileged Access Management vendor whose enterprise-grade credential vaulting is considered foundational cybersecurity infrastructure protecting the most targeted accounts in every enterprise
→Value CyberArk's identity security platform expansion (adding workforce identity, secrets management, cloud entitlements) growing the total addressable market beyond traditional on-premise PAM
→Believe managing machine identities (API keys, service accounts, DevOps secrets) represents a massive and underserved security market that CyberArk is uniquely positioned to address through Conjur and its DevSecOps capabilities

Performance & AI score

Performance & AI score
Metric	VRNS	CYBR
AI score	39.9	N/A
AI rank	#1087	N/A
Latest close	$39.95	N/A
1M return	-4.63%	N/A
6M return	+30.68%	N/A
1Y return	-28.44%	N/A

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)

How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
Period	VRNS	CYBR
1Y ago	$7.16K (-28.4%) started 2025-07-31	N/A
5Y ago	$6.55K (-34.5%) started 2021-08-02	N/A
10Y ago	$46.27K (+362.7%) started 2016-08-01	N/A

Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.

Valuation & upside potential

Valuation & upside potential
Metric	VRNS	CYBR
Market cap	$4.73B	N/A
Trailing P/E	N/A	N/A
Forward P/E	99.77	N/A
Price/Sales	6.87	15.16
EV/Revenue	6.63	N/A
Analyst target	$50.68	N/A
Target upside	+23.07%	N/A

Growth, profitability & risk

Growth, profitability & risk
Metric	VRNS	CYBR
Revenue growth	18.30%	N/A
Earnings growth	N/A	N/A
EPS growth	N/A	N/A
FCF margin	+20.15%	N/A
Operating margin	N/A	N/A
Profit margin	-20.55%	N/A
ROIC proxy	-35.97%	N/A
Return on equity	-35.97%	N/A
Dividend yield	0.00%	N/A
Beta	0.81	0.30
Debt/equity	118.87	N/A
Current ratio	1.65	N/A
Quick ratio	1.40	N/A

Drawdown & downside risk

Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.

1Y risk snapshot

VRNS max drawdown68.11%

CYBR max drawdownN/A

VRNS max wkly drop47.19%

CYBR max wkly dropN/A

5Y risk snapshot

VRNS max drawdown78.19%

CYBR max drawdownN/A

VRNS max wkly drop47.19%

CYBR max wkly dropN/A

10Y risk snapshot

VRNS max drawdown78.19%

CYBR max drawdownN/A

VRNS max wkly drop47.19%

CYBR max wkly dropN/A

Performance metrics by period

Performance metrics by period
Period	Metric	VRNS	CYBR
1Y	Growth	-28.44%	N/A
	CAGR	-28.46%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	-0.11	N/A
	Max drawdown	68.11%	N/A
	Max daily drop	48.67%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	47.19%	N/A
5Y	Growth	-34.50%	N/A
	CAGR	-8.12%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	0.05	N/A
	Max drawdown	78.19%	N/A
	Max daily drop	48.67%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	47.19%	N/A
10Y	Growth	+362.74%	N/A
	CAGR	+16.56%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	0.48	N/A
	Max drawdown	78.19%	N/A
	Max daily drop	48.67%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	47.19%	N/A

Business comparison

Business comparison
Category	VRNS	CYBR
Company	Varonis Systems, Inc.	CyberArk Software Ltd.
Sector	Technology - Cybersecurity (Data Security and Governance)	Technology - Cybersecurity (Privileged Access Management)
Industry	N/A	N/A
Core business	Varonis is a cybersecurity company focused on protecting enterprise data — files, emails, unstructured data stored in Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, cloud storage, and on-premises file servers. Varonis's platform (Data Security Platform) continuously monitors who has access to data, who is actually using it, and whether that behavior appears normal or suspicious; Varonis identifies overexposed data (sensitive files that too many users can access), detects anomalous data access patterns (a user downloading 10,000 files at 2 AM), and helps organizations remediate data access risk. Varonis has undergone a transition from an on-premise perpetual license model to a cloud-based SaaS subscription model, which has depressed near-term revenue during the transition while improving long-term revenue quality.	CyberArk is the global leader in Privileged Access Management (PAM) — the cybersecurity discipline of securing, monitoring, and managing privileged accounts (administrator accounts, service accounts, root accounts, and other high-privilege credentials) that represent the most valuable targets for attackers. CyberArk's Identity Security Platform includes: PAM (securing shared privileged accounts in password vaults, controlling administrative access, monitoring privileged sessions); Endpoint Privilege Manager (removing local admin rights from endpoints); Secrets Manager (managing API keys and application credentials); Workforce Identity (workforce SSO and MFA from its Idaptive acquisition); and Cloud Entitlements Manager (managing cloud access permissions). CyberArk is Israeli-founded and headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.
Investor focus	Investors track Varonis's SaaS Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, the speed of on-premise to SaaS transition, and Varonis's ability to expand into cloud data protection as customers migrate data to Microsoft 365, AWS, and Google Cloud.	Investors track CyberArk's Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, subscription mix shift from perpetual licenses to SaaS, and the expansion of CyberArk's identity security platform beyond traditional PAM into workforce identity and cloud permissions.

VRNS strengths

→Data-centric security addresses the root cause of data breaches — most significant data breaches involve attackers accessing files and databases containing sensitive data; Varonis focuses on protecting the data itself rather than just the perimeter; as data spreads to cloud environments, Varonis's data-centric approach becomes more important
→Behavioral analytics provides threat detection that signature-based security misses — Varonis's DatAlert module analyzes how users normally access data and alerts when behavior deviates; this behavioral baseline approach catches insider threats, compromised credentials, and ransomware early in the kill chain
→Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and cloud data protection expansion grows the addressable market — Varonis's expansion from on-premise file servers to Microsoft 365 SharePoint, Exchange, Teams, and Salesforce data protection addresses data security in the platforms where most enterprise data now lives

CYBR strengths

→PAM market dominance reflects that privileged account security is the most critical cybersecurity control — attackers in virtually every significant breach compromise privileged credentials; CyberArk's privileged vault is the most trusted solution for securing these credentials; CIBOs, security architects, and analysts consistently recommend CyberArk as the foundational PAM platform
→Every privileged account is a potential attack vector — as enterprises add more systems (cloud, SaaS applications, DevOps pipelines, IoT), the number of privileged accounts and machine identities grows; CyberArk's addressable market expands as enterprises digitize
→Secrets management and machine identity expansion grows the CyberArk platform beyond human accounts — modern applications (microservices, DevOps pipelines, CI/CD) generate enormous numbers of machine identities (API keys, service accounts, certificates); CyberArk's Conjur secrets manager addresses this growing security challenge in a complementary way to traditional human PAM

Risks to watch — VRNS

→On-premise to SaaS transition creates near-term revenue disruption — Varonis's business model transition depresses recognized revenue in the short term (SaaS revenue is recognized ratably over subscription term vs. large upfront perpetual license); investors must evaluate ARR growth rather than GAAP revenue during the transition
→Competition from Microsoft Purview, Defender, and native cloud security — Microsoft provides native data governance and security tools in Microsoft 365; as these Microsoft-native capabilities improve, some customers may question the need for a separate Varonis deployment
→Data security is a crowded market with many competitors — Securiti, BigID, Imperva, and others compete in data security; larger security platform vendors (Palo Alto, CrowdStrike) are expanding into data security

Risks to watch — CYBR

→Microsoft Entra and Azure AD integration reduces need for some traditional PAM functions — Microsoft's identity platform (Azure Active Directory / Entra) natively handles modern identity; some PAM functions for cloud environments are partially addressed by native Microsoft and AWS identity tools
→Competition from Microsoft Entra, SailPoint, BeyondTrust, and Delinea in various identity and PAM segments — CyberArk faces competition across different PAM and identity use cases
→Price sensitivity among SMB customers limits CyberArk's market penetration below the large enterprise segment — CyberArk's enterprise-focused pricing and complexity may limit mid-market penetration

Frequently asked questions

Privileged accounts: in every IT environment, certain accounts have elevated permissions that normal user accounts don't have; examples: Windows Domain Administrator (can access all systems, reset all passwords); Unix root account (complete control over Linux/Unix systems); database administrator (can access and export all database contents); network device admin (can reconfigure firewalls, switches, routers); cloud IAM admin (can create, modify, or delete all cloud resources); service accounts (applications use these to access databases, APIs, and other services). Why attackers covet privileged credentials: attackers who compromise a regular user's account gain access only to what that user can see; attackers who compromise a privileged account (domain admin, cloud admin) can access everything; lateral movement — moving from one compromised system to many — requires privileged credentials; major breaches (SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, Uber) all involved compromised privileged credentials that gave attackers extensive access. PAM security controls: CyberArk's PAM vault stores privileged credentials in an encrypted repository (passwords are never stored directly in applications or scripts — they are checked out from the vault); privileged session monitoring records all administrative sessions (screen recording, keystroke logging) for compliance and forensics; just-in-time access provides privileged credentials only when needed, for the duration needed, then returns them to the vault; CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager removes local admin rights from standard endpoints (preventing attackers from leveraging local admin to establish persistence).

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