Recognition comes as incident response retainers become foundational to enterprise cyber resilience programs
Dallas, TX - April 30, 2026 - LevelBlue, a global leader in managed and professional cybersecurity services, today announced it has been named a Representative Service Provider in the Gartner Market Guide for Cybersecurity Incident Response Retainer Services (CIRR).
This marks the fifth consecutive time LevelBlue has been named in the report, we believe reflecting its ongoing focus on supporting organizations across the full lifecycle of incident readiness, response, and recovery.
LevelBlue’s inclusion as a Representative Service Provider comes as we feel organizations increasingly view incident response retainers as a foundational component of cyber resilience programs.
The Gartner report states that “Cybersecurity incident response retainer (CIRR) services are widely adopted and are a core element of cyber resilience.” It further notes that “Cyber insurance policies typically require organizations to have a CIRR. This trend drives retainer adoption and influences vendor selection.”
Gartner defines CIRR services as “proactive and reactive services that provide 24/7 incident response capabilities, including investigation, containment and eradication.”
As organizations formalize incident response as part of broader resilience programs, many are expanding beyond reactive response to include readiness, coordination, and ongoing operational alignment across stakeholders.
In our opinion, LevelBlue supports this shift through its Incident Readiness and Response services, which are designed to address both pre-incident preparation and active response requirements, including:
- Proactive services such as tabletop exercises, maturity assessments, and response planning
- Reactive response services spanning investigation, containment, eradication, and recovery
- Coordination across legal, insurance, and communications stakeholders
- Support for complex environments, including operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and cyber-physical systems (CPS)
The report also discusses the growing complexity of incident response procurement, noting that “Sourcing CIRR services grows more complex as internal stakeholders (e.g., general counsel, CFO) become more involved in procurement, and as CIRR services are coordinated across cyber insurers, breach coaches, and public relations providers.”
In practice, organizations are increasingly managing incident response across technical, legal, financial, and communications functions. LevelBlue’s approach is designed to support coordination across these stakeholders, helping organizations align response efforts before, during, and after an incident.
LevelBlue supports organizations’ cyber insurance requirements through established relationships across more than 50 insurance panels, enabling coordination with carriers, breach coaches, and other stakeholders throughout the incident lifecycle.
Gartner also notes that CIRR services “help organizations prepare for and respond to cyber incidents” and “mitigates business harm, reduces costs, improves regulatory compliance, speeds recovery and reduces downtime.”
We believe LevelBlue’s Incident Readiness and Response approach is built to support this full lifecycle, combining readiness planning, response execution, and post-incident activities to help organizations strengthen resilience over time.
Learn more about LevelBlue’s Incident Readiness and Response offerings here.
Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner® does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research.
About LevelBlue
LevelBlue reduces risk and builds lasting resilience so organizations can innovate and advance their mission with confidence. As the world’s most analyst-recognized and largest pure-play managed security services provider, LevelBlue elevates client outcomes that matter: stronger defense, faster response, and sustained business continuity. LevelBlue combines AI-powered security operations, advanced threat intelligence, and elite human expertise to provide the most comprehensive portfolio of strategic advisory, managed security, offensive security, and incident response services. Learn more at LevelBlue.com.
