Entrust
Entrust makes ID verification, PKI, HSMs, and secure card issuance systems for governments and banks.
On the record
Checkpoint: Next Gartner Magic Quadrant placements for Access Management and Identity Verification
The call
Entrust's certified hardware and government identity work stay hard to dislodge, while its newer agentic-AI identity push is already trailing a shipped Microsoft product.
Entrust makes physical security devices like hardware security modules and ID cards, plus software that manages who can access computer systems. The physical devices and government ID work are genuinely hard to copy because they require special certifications and government approval that take years to get, and artificial intelligence cannot easily fake them. However, the faster-growing part of the business, which handles identity for AI-controlled systems, is being outrun by Microsoft, which launched its competing product in November 2025 while Entrust entered the race eight months later. The next year will show whether Entrust can catch up with its new AI Trust Accelerator tool, but if it cannot, the company becomes a steady but slow business rather than a growing one.
Why
01
AI pressure: Deepfake and synthetic-identity generation tools used against identity verification scans. Deepfakes now fool identity checks at rising rates, forcing Entrust to sell fraud tools just to defend its own IDV product. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Microsoft (Entra Agent ID, bundled into Azure and Office 365). Microsoft shipped Entra Agent ID in November 2025, eight months before Entrust's own agentic identity product, and can bundle it into existing IAM deals. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.
03
What protects it. FIPS 140-3 certified HSMs, NIST-validated post-quantum crypto, and government card/ID contracts that software rivals cannot easily get certified to replace.
What would change this call
Entrust Agentic AI Trust Accelerator wins or loses named paying enterprise clients within 12 months. shows whether Entrust's growth bet can survive against Microsoft's already-shipped rival product.
Entrust's re-entry status into the Chrome Root Store after the 2024 distrust event. shows whether trust repair with browsers/enterprises is resolved or still bleeding into sales.
Headcount and restructuring announcements beyond the Sectigo certificate-business divestiture. shows whether contraction is a clean divestiture or a sign of broader business weakness.
Entrust's re-entry status into the Chrome Root Store after the 2024 distrust event. shows whether trust repair with browsers/enterprises is resolved or still bleeding into sales.
Headcount and restructuring announcements beyond the Sectigo certificate-business divestiture. shows whether contraction is a clean divestiture or a sign of broader business weakness.
Key numbers
- FY2023 revenue: $883.5M
- 2024 revenue: about $916.7M
- Headcount down about 11% since 2023
Named risks
- Chrome/Mozilla CA distrust reputational fallout still unresolved as of 2025.
- Agentic AI Trust Accelerator launched 8 months behind Microsoft's shipped Entra Agent ID.
- CEO transition execution risk during strategic pivot, effective March 2026.
- Headcount contraction of ~11% since 2023 signaling cost pressure.
- Stuck as Gartner Challenger in Access Management for 3 consecutive years.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | losing to | Shipped Entra Agent ID Nov 2025, ~8 months before Entrust's Agentic AI Trust Accelerator (Jul 2026) |
| Thales | contesting | Named Entrust's 'main competitor' by incoming CEO Tony Ball, Jul 2025 |
| Sectigo | losing to | Acquired Entrust's entire public certificate business, Jan 2025 |
| Okta | losing to | Gartner Leader in Access Management while Entrust remained Challenger, Nov 2025 |
| DigiCert | contesting | Rival CA/certificate-lifecycle vendor competing post-Sectigo divestiture, 2025 |
Questions people ask
- Is Entrust profitable and how big is its revenue?
- Entrust does not disclose profit, but revenue has grown steadily: FY2023 audited revenue was $883.5M, and a Wikipedia infobox cites approximately $916.7M for 2024. In July 2025, Entrust said outgoing CEO Todd Wilkinson grew annual revenue to over $1B during his tenure.
- Is Entrust laying off employees?
- Third-party tracker Revelio Labs estimates Entrust's headcount fell to about 3,573 employees by December 2025, down 10.9% from 4,009 in 2023, a decline linked partly to the January 2025 sale of its public certificate business to Sectigo.
- Could AI replace Entrust's identity verification business?
- Unlikely to fully replace it: Entrust's own identity-verification product (Onfido) is already AI/ML-based, but its FIPS 140-3 and NIST CAVP-certified hardware, government relationships, and proprietary fraud datasets across 195 countries create regulatory moats generic AI models cannot easily replicate, as of 2025.
- Who owns Entrust?
- Entrust Corporation is privately held, ultimately controlled by Datacard Group, which has been owned by Germany's Quandt family investment office since 1987. Thoma Bravo previously owned predecessor Entrust Inc. from 2009 to 2013 before selling it to Datacard for about $500M.
- Who is Entrust's biggest competitor?
- Incoming CEO Tony Ball named Thales as Entrust's 'main competitor' in a July 23, 2025 interview. Entrust also competes with Microsoft and Okta in access management, where it has been rated a Gartner Challenger for three straight years through November 2025.
- Why did Entrust lose its certificate business?
- Google Chrome announced it would distrust Entrust's public TLS root certificates after Entrust mis-issued 26,000+ EV TLS certificates, with blocking taking effect November 12, 2024. Entrust then sold its entire public certificate business to Sectigo in January 2025, completing customer migration by September 2025.
Timeline
- 2026-07-14Entrust launches Agentic AI Trust Accelerator for enterprise AI-agent identity
- 2026-03-31Tony Ball becomes CEO, succeeding retiring Todd Wilkinson
- 2025-11-19Named Gartner Challenger in Access Management for 3rd straight year; IDC Leader in IDV
- 2025-11-18Microsoft ships Entra Agent ID for AI-agent identity management at Ignite
- 2025-09-10nShield 5 HSM firmware receives NIST CAVP validation for post-quantum algorithms
- 2025-09Migration of public certificate customers to Sectigo completed
- 2025-08-27Named Visionary in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Identity Verification, 2nd year
- 2025-07-21Entrust announces CEO leadership transition to Tony Ball
- 2025-01-29Entrust sells entire public certificate business to Sectigo
- 2024-11-12Chrome 131 begins blocking Entrust TLS root certificates
Revision history
21 July 2026
First assessed. Defensible for now. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Entrust
- Datacard to buy Dallas personal ID security firm (2013-12-17)
- FY23 Financial Summary
- Entrust Announces Leadership Transition (2025-07-21)
- Entrust LinkedIn
- Onfido Fraud Lab
- Entrust Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Onfido Acquisition (2024-04-04)
- Sustaining Digital Certificate Security (2024-11-11)
- Entrust Sells Public Certificate Business to Sectigo (2025-01-29)
- Entrust nShield HSMs PQC CAVP Validation (2025-09-10)
- 2025 Gartner MQ for IDV (2025-08-27)