Tenable Holdings Inc

Except for the risk factors disclosed below, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Part 1, Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on February 28, 2024. Our business is subject to risks and events that, if they occur, could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations and trading price of our securities. In addition to the other information set forth in this Form 10-Q, you should carefully consider the factors described in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. We may disclose additional changes to risk factors or disclose additional factors from time to time in our future filings with the SEC. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.

Our brand, reputation and ability to attract, retain and serve our customers are dependent in part upon the reliability and accuracy of our data, solutions, infrastructure and those of third parties upon which we rely. If our information technology systems or data, or those of third parties upon which we rely, are or were compromised or disrupted, or if our solutions fail to detect vulnerabilities or incorrectly detect vulnerabilities, or if they contain undetected errors or defects, we could experience adverse consequences.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store, use, transmit, disclose or otherwise process proprietary, confidential, and sensitive information, including personal data, intellectual property, and trade secrets.

We sell cybersecurity products and, as a result, may be at increased risk of being a target of cyberattacks designed to penetrate our platform or internal systems, to compromise our data, alter or modify our source code, or to otherwise impede the performance of our products. Threats to information systems and data come from a variety of sources. In addition to computer “hackers,” threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), "hacktivists," organized criminal threat actors, sophisticated nation-states and nation-state-supported actors now engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyber-attacks. Nation-state actors and nation-state-supported actors may engage in such attacks for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities, including the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and rising tensions between China and Taiwan. During times of war and other major conflicts, we, third parties upon which we may rely, and our customers may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these threats, including retaliatory cyber-attacks that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our goods and services. We, our customers, and the third parties upon which we rely are subject to a variety of evolving threats, which are prevalent, continue to rise, and increasingly difficult to detect. These threats include but are not limited to: social-engineering attacks (including through deep fakes, which may be increasingly more difficult to identify as fake, and phishing attacks); credential harvesting; malicious code (such as viruses and worms); malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions); denial-of-service attacks, credential stuffing; personnel misconduct or error; ransomware attacks; supply-chain attacks; software bugs; server malfunctions; software or hardware failures; loss of data or other information technology assets; adware; telecommunications failures; attacks enhanced or facilitated by artificial intelligence and other similar threats. In particular, ransomware attacks, including those from organized criminal threat actors, nation-states and nation-state supported actors, are becoming increasingly prevalent and severe and can lead to significant interruptions, delays, or outages in our operations, loss of data, loss of income, significant extra expenses to restore data or systems, reputational loss and the diversion of funds. To alleviate the financial, operational and reputational impact of a ransomware attack, it may be necessary to make extortion payments, but we may be unable to do so if, for example, applicable laws prohibit such payments.

Additionally, we are incorporated into the supply chain of a large number of companies worldwide and, as a result, if our solutions are compromised, a significant number or, in some instances, all of our customers and their data could be simultaneously affected. The potential liability and associated consequences we could suffer as a result of such a large-scale event could be catastrophic and result in irreparable harm.

The increased prevalence of remote work and use of remote devices has increased risks to our information technology systems and data, as more of our employees utilize network connections, computers and devices outside of our premises or network, including working at home, while in transit and in public locations. Furthermore, future or past business transactions, such as acquisitions or integrations, could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities' systems and technologies. Furthermore, we may discover security issues that were not identified during due diligence of such acquired or integrated entities, and it may be difficult to integrate other companies into our information technology environment and security program.

We rely on third-party service providers and technologies to operate critical business systems, including processing confidential and sensitive information, including, without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, data center facilities, encryption and authentication technology, employee email and other functions. We also rely on third-party service providers to provide other products, services, or otherwise, to operate our business and elements of our infrastructure, including endpoints. Our ability to monitor these third parties' information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. Additionally, software errors or vulnerabilities in these third-party technologies could result in significant disruptions to our information technology systems, leading to downtime, data loss, or compromised data integrity.

If our third-party service providers experience a security incident or other interruption or cause an extended outage or disruption to our systems, we could experience adverse consequences. It is possible that our customers and potential customers would hold us accountable for any security incident affecting our third-party service providers’ infrastructure or other interruption caused by our third-party service providers that impacts our infrastructure. We may incur significant liability from those customers and from other third parties with respect to any such incident. Because our agreements with certain third-party service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, or AWS, limit their liability for damages, we may not be able to recover a material portion of our liabilities to our customers and third parties arising from issues with such third-party service providers, such as AWS, in the event of an incident affecting the third parties’ systems. Moreover, while we may be entitled to damages from other third-party service providers if they fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us or if they cause a disruption in our infrastructure, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such reward. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity and there have been high-profile incidents of third-party service providers causing widespread disruptions in their customers' infrastructures due to errors in their SaaS offerings, such as the Windows outage caused by a flawed CrowdStrike software update that occurred in July of 2024. We cannot guarantee that third parties’ infrastructure in our supply chain or our third-party partners’ supply chains have not been compromised or that errors by our third-party service providers won’t cause disruptions in our infrastructure.

While we have implemented security and technology measures designed to protect against security incidents or other interruptions, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, disruptions, outages, and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, deliberate or unintentional human or software defects and configuration errors (including by third parties), capacity constraints, fraud or security incidents. We take steps designed to detect, mitigate and remediate vulnerabilities and defects and configuration errors in our information technology systems (such as our hardware and software, including that of third parties upon which we rely) and in our software applications, products and services. We may not, however, be able to detect and remediate all such vulnerabilities, defects or configuration errors on a timely basis. For example, we have identified certain vulnerabilities in our information systems and software applications, and we take steps designed to mitigate the risks associated with known vulnerabilities. Despite our efforts, there can be no assurance that these vulnerability, defect and configuration error mitigation measures will be completely effective. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures and patches designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities, defects or configuration errors.

Any of these or similar threats could cause a security incident or other interruption that can result in unauthorized, unlawful, or accidental acquisition, modification, destruction, loss, alteration, encryption, disclosure of, or access to our proprietary, confidential, and sensitive information or our information technology systems, or those of the third parties upon whom we rely. A security incident or other interruption could disrupt our ability (and that of third parties upon whom we rely) to provide our solutions. In some instances, we or our third-party service providers may not be able to identify the cause or cause of these security incidents or performance problems within an acceptable period of time. If our solutions are unavailable or if our customers are unable to access features of our solutions within a reasonable amount of time or at all, our business could be adversely affected. In addition, if any of the third-party providers we use were to experience or cause a significant or prolonged outage or security incident, our business could be adversely affected. We may expend significant resources or modify our business activities to try to protect against security incidents. Certain data privacy and security obligations may require us to implement and maintain specific security measures, industry-standard or reasonable security measures to protect our information technology systems and proprietary, confidential, and sensitive information, including personal data.

Data protection requirements may also require us to notify relevant stakeholders of security incidents, including affected individuals, partners, collaborators, customers, regulators, law enforcement agencies and others. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosures or failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences.

Additionally, even if we have issued or otherwise made patches or information for vulnerabilities in our software applications, products or services, our customers may be unwilling or unable to deploy such patches and use such information effectively and in a timely manner. Vulnerabilities could be exploited and result in a security incident.

If we, our customers, or a third party upon which we rely, experience or cause a security incident or other interruption, or are perceived to have experienced or caused a security incident or other interruption, we may experience adverse consequences, such as government enforcement actions (for example, investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections); additional reporting obligations and/or oversight; restrictions on processing information (including personal data); litigation (including class claims); indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; interruptions of our operations (including availability of data); financial loss (including by issuing credits to our customers); diversion of management attention; and other similar harm. Security incidents or other disruptions and attendant consequences may cause customers to stop using our solutions (including by not renewing their purchases of our solutions), deter new customers from using our solutions, and negatively impact our ability to grow and operate our business.

There can be no assurance that any limitations or exclusions of liabilities in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages if we fail to comply with data protection requirements related to information security or security incidents. We cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will be adequate or otherwise protect us from or adequately mitigate liabilities or damages with respect to claims, costs, expenses, litigation, fines, penalties, business loss, data loss, regulatory actions or other impacts arising out of security incidents.

In addition, we face unique risks as a SaaS company, particularly in light of our business model. If our solutions fail to detect vulnerabilities in our customers’ cybersecurity infrastructure, including for remote devices, or if our solutions fail to identify new and increasingly complex methods of cyberattacks, our business may suffer and our customers' businesses may be damaged, including by interrupting their networking traffic or operational technology environments. There is no guarantee that our solutions will detect all vulnerabilities or threats in our customers' systems, especially in light of the rapidly changing security landscape to which we must respond. Additionally, our solutions may falsely detect vulnerabilities or threats that do not actually exist. For example, our solutions rely on information provided by an active community of users who contribute information about new exploits, attacks and vulnerabilities. If the information from these third parties is inaccurate, the potential for false indications of vulnerabilities or threats increases. These false positives, while typical in the industry, may impair the perceived reliability of our offerings. Additionally, our business depends upon the appropriate and successful implementation of our product by our customers. If our customers fail to use our solutions according to our specifications, our customers may suffer a security incident on their own systems or other adverse consequences. Even if such an incident is unrelated to our security practices, it could result in our incurring significant economic and operational costs in investigating, remediating, and implementing additional measures to further protect our customers from their own vulnerabilities.

The reliability and continuous availability of our solutions is critical to our success. We have experienced errors or defects in the past in connection with the release of new solutions and product upgrades, and we expect that these errors or defects will be found from time to time in the future in new or enhanced solutions after commercial release. In addition, we use third parties to assist in the development of our products and these third parties could be a source of errors or defects. Some defects may cause our solutions to be vulnerable to attacks, cause them to fail to detect vulnerabilities, or temporarily interrupt customers’ networking traffic or operational technology environments, any of which may damage our customers’ business and could hurt our reputation.

As a result of any of the risks associated with our SaaS business, we may experience adverse consequences. We may also be subject to liability claims for damages related to errors or defects in our solutions.

We have incorporated and may in the future further incorporate generative and other types of artificial intelligence, or AI, processes, algorithms, and technologies into certain of our products and services. This technology is new and developing, and may generate output that is inaccurate or flawed or may not achieve market acceptance, which could result in operational, financial, regulatory, and reputational harm and other adverse consequences to our business.

We have incorporated and may in the future further incorporate AI features in certain of our products and services, including ExposureAI and Tenable AI Assistant. The use of generative AI processes at scale is relatively new, and may lead to challenges, concerns and risks that are significant or that we may not be able to predict, especially if our use of these technologies in our products and services becomes more important to our operations over time. The technologies underpinning these features are in the early stages of commercial use and exist in an emerging regulatory environment, which presents regulatory, litigation, ethical, reputational, operational and financial risks. AI in our products and services may be difficult to deploy successfully due to operational issues inherent to the nature of such technologies, including the development, maintenance and operation of deep learning datasets. Additionally, if we do not have adequate rights to utilize the data or other materials and content that our AI technologies depend on, we may face legal consequences for violating applicable laws, third-party intellectual property, privacy or other rights, or contracts to which we are a party.

Uncertainty in the legal regulatory regime relating to AI and emerging ethical issues surrounding the use of AI may require significant resources to modify and maintain business practices to comply with U.S. and non-U.S. laws, the nature of which cannot be determined at this time. Existing laws and regulations may apply to us or our suppliers, vendors, partners and customers in new ways, and new laws and regulations may be instituted. Many U.S. and international governmental bodies and regulators have proposed, or are in the process of developing, new regulations related to the use of AI and machine learning technologies. For example, the European Union authorities recently adopted a legal framework on AI regulation, the Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”), which applies beyond the European Union’s borders and establishes obligations for AI providers and those deploying AI systems. Other jurisdictions may adopt similar or potentially more restrictive laws, which may render the use of such technologies challenging. The final form of these may impose obligations related to our development, offering and use of AI technologies and expose us to increased risk of regulatory enforcement and litigation.

Our AI technology features may also generate output that is misleading, insecure, inaccurate, harmful or otherwise flawed. Our customers or others may rely on or use such misleading, insecure, harmful or otherwise flawed content to their detriment, which may harm our brand, reputation, business or customers, cause competitive harm or expose us to legal liability. For example, AI algorithms use machine learning and predictive analytics which may be insufficient or of poor quality and reflect inherent biases and could lead to flawed, biased, and inaccurate results. Deficient or inaccurate recommendations, forecasts, or analyses that generative AI applications assist in producing could lead to customer rejection or skepticism of our products, affect our reputation or brand, and negatively affect our financial results. Further, unauthorized use or misuse of AI by our employees or others may result in disclosure of confidential company and customer data, reputational harm, privacy law violations and legal liability. Our use of generative AI may also lead to novel and urgent cybersecurity risks, including related to personal data, which may adversely affect our operations and reputation.

The nature of our business requires the application of complex accounting rules and regulations and public reporting and corporate governance requirements. If there are significant changes in current principles, financial reporting standards, interpretations or public reporting and corporate governance requirements, or if our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies or reporting or governance requirements prove to be incorrect, we may experience unexpected financial reporting fluctuations or increased compliance costs and strain on our resources and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The accounting rules and regulations that we must comply with are complex and subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC, and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. In addition, many companies’ accounting disclosures are being subjected to heightened scrutiny by regulators and the public. Further, the accounting rules and regulations are continually changing in ways that could impact our financial statements.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section of this report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include the determination of the estimated economic life of perpetual licenses for revenue recognition, the estimated period of benefit for deferred commissions, useful lives of long-lived assets, the valuation of stock-based compensation, the incremental borrowing rate for operating leases, and the valuation of deferred tax assets. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our common stock.

As a public company, we are also subject to the reporting and corporate governance requirements of the Exchange Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Compliance with these rules and regulations increases our legal and financial compliance costs, makes some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increases demand on our systems and resources.

Additionally, we regularly monitor our compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and SEC and applicable listing standard requirements and review new pronouncements, drafts and interpretations thereof that are relevant to us. We might be required to change our accounting policies, alter our operational policies and implement new or enhance existing systems, or we may be required to restate our published financial statements, as a result of new standards or requirements, changes to existing standards or requirements and changes in their interpretation. Such changes to existing standards or requirements or changes in their interpretation may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position and profit, or cause an adverse deviation from our revenue and operating profit target, which may negatively impact our financial results. Additionally, we may incur substantial professional fees and expend significant management efforts, and we may need to hire additional staff with the appropriate experience and compile systems and processes necessary to adopt these new standards and disclosure or governance requirements.

For example, a number of climate disclosure regulations have been enacted, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the State of California's climate disclosure legislation, and most recently the SEC's climate-related disclosure requirements. These rules may require disclosure on climate-related risks, risk management, governance and targets, and may require the company to calculate and disclose greenhouse gas emissions data and obtain assurance reports on these disclosures. Ongoing compliance with these regulations is expected to be challenging and will heighten the compliance risks identified above. Additionally, our failure or perceived failure to comply with these disclosure requirements could lead to regulatory investigations, litigation, reputational harm, and other adverse business consequences.

In addition, in July 2023, the SEC adopted rules requiring the disclosure of information about a material cybersecurity incident on Form 8-K within four business days of determining that the incident is material, unless the US Attorney General concludes that such a disclosure would pose a substantial risk to national security or public safety. These rules also require disclosures describing the processes used to identify, assess and manage cybersecurity risks, management's role in assessing and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats and the board of directors' role in overseeing cybersecurity risks.