GroupSense
GroupSense is a Cognyte-owned Digital Risk Protection firm that delivers dark web monitoring, threat intelligence, and ransomware readiness and negotiation services to enterprises, government agencies, and verticals including pharmaceuticals, logistics, and elections, powered by its LUMINAR platform and a multilingual human analyst team.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersArlington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What GroupSense does
GroupSense is a privately held Digital Risk Protection (DRP) services company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, founded in 2014 and operating as a subsidiary of Cognyte Software Ltd. The company provides managed threat intelligence, dark web monitoring, ransomware readiness and negotiation, executive and VIP protection, and election threat protection to enterprise organizations, government agencies, and specialized verticals such as pharmaceuticals, logistics and shipping, and political campaigns. Its core technology is the proprietary LUMINAR intelligence platform, which ingests more than 500 OSINT sources and maintains a breach database of over 14 billion records; Tracelight is a patented in-house tool for filtering deep and dark web threats. The product suite is modularized around sub-products (DarkRecon, BreachRecon, AllyRecon, VIPRecon) and human analyst services, with the Ransomware Readiness Subscription (R3S) packaging 24/7 on-call support, cryptocurrency settlements, and executive strategy sessions into a recurring offering.
GroupSense monetizes through a combination of subscription-based managed services, professional services (incident response, ransomware negotiation, tabletop exercises), and cryptocurrency settlement engagements, with quote-based pricing sold primarily via enterprise field sales. Its go-to-market is high-touch and direct, with no self-serve channel, and is augmented by distribution through its Cognyte parent. The company's differentiation rests on data scale (LUMINAR's breach corpus), tradecraft (over 1,000 maintained threat-actor personas and a multilingual analyst team speaking 7 languages), and personal brand of CEO Kurtis Minder as a recognized ransomware negotiator. The firm has been featured in major outlets including the Wall Street Journal, BBC, and CNN.
Strategic posture is one of a focused mid-stage specialist rather than a category leader: small headcount (11-50), modest cumulative funding raised through disclosed rounds (~$1.85M), and reliance on the Cognyte parent for distribution and capital. Two early acquisitions (FortSec in 2015, BitCrime in 2018) extended capability sets, and the company has continued to broaden its addressable market through new verticals (logistics, pharma, elections) and recurring productization of ransomware response via R3S.
GroupSense firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- GroupSense
- Legal name
- GroupSense, Inc.
- Website
- https://groupsense.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- GroupSense is a Cognyte-owned Digital Risk Protection firm that delivers dark web monitoring, threat intelligence, and ransomware readiness and negotiation services to enterprises, government agencies, and verticals including pharmaceuticals, logistics, and elections, powered by its LUMINAR platform and a multilingual human analyst team.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
GroupSense industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Risk Protection
- NAICS
- Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fraud Detection & Prevention (payments fraud, account takeover, scams) (FSAGAFAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Marketplace & Platform Trust & Safety (Buyer/Seller Abuse) (HDADALAI)
Keywords
Where GroupSense is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Arlington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
GroupSense business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription-based Managed Services: Recurring subscription services for ongoing digital risk protection, threat monitoring, and attack surface monitoring. Includes services like Ransomware Readiness Subscription (R3S) providing 24/7 on-call support and continuous monitoring.
- Professional Services: Incident response and ransomware negotiation services provided on an as-needed basis. Includes executive strategy sessions, tabletop exercises, and incident response plan assessments.
- Cryptocurrency Settlement Services: Ransomware settlement services involving cryptocurrency transactions for negotiating and conducting ransomware payments on behalf of clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Custom enterprise pricing based on organization size and service requirements |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
GroupSense product offering
Product offeringCore offering
GroupSense provides Digital Risk Protection and managed threat intelligence services to enterprises and government organizations, built on its proprietary LUMINAR platform that monitors the deep, dark, surface and open web for threats to brands, executives, third parties, and elections. Its commercial offerings include subscription-based DRP, the R3S Ransomware Readiness Subscription with 24/7 incident response, ransomware negotiation and cryptocurrency settlement services, election threat protection, and vertical-specific packages for pharmaceuticals and logistics/shipping.
Product overview
GroupSense is a Digital Risk Protection (DRP) services company and a Cognyte company. The core of their portfolio is the proprietary LUMINAR intelligence platform, which powers their various monitoring and reconnaissance sub-products: DarkRecon (deep/dark web monitoring), BreachRecon (third-party breach alerting), AllyRecon (business relationship risk), VIPRecon (executive/personnel monitoring), and Tracelight (patented analyst threat filtering tool). Their service offerings center on ransomware readiness and negotiation (R3S subscription), election threat protection, dark web cyber protection for logistics/shipping, and broader Digital Risk Protection Services including threat investigations, third-party risk, and social media monitoring. The architecture combines the LUMINAR platform as the underlying intelligence engine with human analyst-driven services.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- LUMINAR: GroupSense's internal intelligence platform that provides visibility across external attack surface, ingesting over 500 OSINT sources and covering major social media networks.
- R3S (Ransomware Response Readiness Solution)
- Tracelight
- DarkRecon
- BreachRecon
- AllyRecon
- VIPRecon
Products and services
- LUMINAR Proprietary intelligence platform providing expansive visibility across external attack surface, ingesting 500+ OSINT sources and maintaining a breach database of 14B+ records. Underpins GroupSense's monitoring and reconnaissance products.
- Ransomware Readiness Subscription (R3S) Subscription ransomware readiness solution providing 24/7 on-call incident support, cryptocurrency settlements, ransomware strategy and playbook development, and executive strategy sessions with CEO Kurtis Minder.
- Ransomware Negotiation Services Comprehensive package of services for assessing and responding to ransomware attacks, including negotiations with threat actors, cryptocurrency settlement assistance, and recovery support.
- Digital Risk Protection Services Curated threat intelligence service providing actionable intelligence for prioritized action across attack surface management, threat monitoring, adversary engagement, and proactive protection spanning deep, dark, and open web.
- Election Threat Protection Proactive threat intelligence service securing election integrity through an 18-month cycle covering risk profiling, disinformation monitoring, cyber and kinetic threat defense, and post-election tracking.
- Logistics & Shipping Dark Web Cyber Protection Managed threat intelligence services for logistics and shipping companies, monitoring IoT and operational technology vulnerabilities to prevent business interruption and revenue loss from cyber attacks.
- Pharmaceuticals Dark Web Cyber Protection Vertical threat intelligence offering for pharmaceutical companies, protecting intellectual property, clinical trial data, and sensitive research from cyber threats and competitive intelligence gathering.
- Intel as a Service Fully managed and tailored Threat Intelligence service that acts as an extension of client security processes, providing real-time visibility on new threats.
- Threat Investigations Research and investigations into known threats to save security teams time during cyber emergencies.
- Third Party Risk Active research and monitoring of threats from vendors and third-party companies that can affect organizational security.
- Social Media Monitoring Monitoring of social media for threats to elections, VIPs, and organizations to proactively prevent or mitigate digital risk.
Quantifiable outcome
- Get a GroupSense lead negotiator on the phone within 4 hours of a declared incident
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use GroupSense
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
GroupSense technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability6 records
Feature8 records
GroupSense partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
GroupSense competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- KELA: Dark-web intelligence vendor providing cybercrime monitoring, credential exposure alerts and threat-actor tracking — overlaps GroupSense's DarkRecon and BreachRecon feature set.
- Cybersixgill: Automated dark-web threat intelligence platform with broad source coverage — a direct technology competitor to GroupSense's LUMINAR and Tracelight capabilities for SOC and fraud teams.
- Flashpoint: Threat intelligence and data breach analytics vendor with deep and dark-web collection plus finished intelligence, comparable in capability and customer type to GroupSense's LUMINAR-driven offering.
- Coveware: Specialist ransomware incident response and negotiation firm — the closest direct competitor to GroupSense's R3S and ransomware negotiation services, with comparable cryptocurrency settlement capabilities.
- Recorded Future: Large-scale threat intelligence platform combining automated OSINT collection with dark-web monitoring and finished intelligence — directly comparable to GroupSense's LUMINAR-driven DRP offering, with a substantially larger customer base.
- IntSights (Rapid7): Threat intelligence platform focused on external attack surface and dark-web exposure, now part of Rapid7 — competes directly with GroupSense's dark web monitoring, breach alerting, and third-party risk capabilities.
- ZeroFox: Digital risk protection specialist covering brand protection, executive protection, dark-web monitoring and social-media threat detection — overlapping almost 1:1 with GroupSense's DRP, election and VIPRecon product lines.
- Digital Shadows (ReliaQuest): SearchLight service delivers digital risk protection across open, deep and dark web — a near-direct competitor to LUMINAR/DarkRecon; ReliaQuest's acquisition highlights the strategic value of this category.
- DarkOwl: Specialist in darknet data collection and searchable intelligence, comparable to GroupSense's deep/dark web monitoring stack for enterprise and government customers.
Broad incumbents
- Mandiant (Google Cloud): Large incident response and threat intelligence firm whose IR franchise competes with GroupSense's ransomware negotiation services, while its intelligence offering overlaps with LUMINAR.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
GroupSense social profiles
Digital presenceGroupSense financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
GroupSense leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
GroupSense funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
GroupSense M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A2 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about GroupSense
What does GroupSense do?
GroupSense provides Digital Risk Protection and managed threat intelligence services to enterprises and government organizations, built on its proprietary LUMINAR platform that monitors the deep, dark, surface and open web for threats to brands, executives, third parties, and elections. Its commercial offerings include subscription-based DRP, the R3S Ransomware Readiness Subscription with 24/7 incident response, ransomware negotiation and cryptocurrency settlement services, election threat protection, and vertical-specific packages for pharmaceuticals and logistics/shipping.
Is GroupSense a public or private company?
GroupSense is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was GroupSense founded?
GroupSense was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is GroupSense based?
GroupSense is headquartered in Arlington, United States, in the North America region.
How does GroupSense make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Subscription-based Managed Services are the primary driver. The others are professional Services and cryptocurrency Settlement Services.
Who are GroupSense's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are KELA, Cybersixgill, Flashpoint, Coveware, Recorded Future, IntSights (Rapid7), ZeroFox, Digital Shadows (ReliaQuest) and DarkOwl. Mandiant (Google Cloud) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does GroupSense have an API?
No public API is recorded for GroupSense.
What industry is GroupSense in?
GroupSense's product category is Digital Risk Protection. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGAFAE, Fraud Detection & Prevention (payments fraud, account takeover, scams), with a secondary code of HDADALAI, Marketplace & Platform Trust & Safety (Buyer/Seller Abuse). Its NAICS code is 561621 and its SIC code is 6199.