Nominations are open • Enter by February 27, 2027 • Time left: Start a nomination
Award categoryCybersecurity Product / Service
The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards recognize products that secure Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and connections. The category covers the links between AI agents and the tools and data they reach through MCP.
Nominations are open
Enter this category by February 27, 2027. Anyone can submit an entry: the company, the nominee, a colleague or an agency.
The MCP Security category covers the point where AI agents reach tools and data, as part of securing AI. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a common standard that lets AI agents and assistants connect to tools, files and business systems through MCP servers. A malicious or poorly built server can steal data or trick an agent into harmful actions. Typical entries discover the MCP servers in use, vet them before approval, control which agents may call which tools, check tool descriptions for hidden instructions, catch tool definitions that change after approval, control the credentials servers hold and log every call.
MCP Security covers the connections. Securing agents' wider behavior fits Agentic AI Security, and agent identities fit AI Agent Identity Security. Protecting APIs that are not exposed through MCP fits API Security, and other agent connection protocols, such as Agent2Agent (A2A), fit Agentic AI Security. Any MCP security product may also be nominated in Security for AI.
Each category is judged separately, so you can enter a product in every category that matches what it does, with a separate nomination for each. Tailor each nomination to that category's focus. Entering several related categories gives the product more than one chance to be recognized.
An independent jury of security practitioners, analysts and CISOs scores each nomination on leadership, innovation and impact. Each nomination competes in its category against organizations of similar size and region, so a mid-sized firm is not ranked against a global enterprise. Your entry package, any sponsorship and public votes do not affect the jury's scores.
Strong entries in this category show:
The jury awards Gold, Silver or Bronze, or a Finalist badge, and results are published on this site and announced to the 600,000+ member Cybersecurity Insiders community. Every approved nomination also enters the separate Community Choice award, decided by public votes.
A vendor can enter its own product or service, and a PR agency can enter it on a client's behalf. The nomination form has a confidential field for detail that is shared with the judges and not published, such as customer names, deployment figures or roadmap. Deadlines, pricing and entry steps are on the How it Works page.