# The best SEC breach-disclosure trackers in 2026, honestly compared

Since the SEC's cybersecurity disclosure rules took effect, material incidents at US public companies surface as Item 1.05 Form 8-K filings on EDGAR. Every tool below works from that same free public data — they differ in whether they alert, classify, or archive it, and in what they charge. Facts come from each vendor's own public site, verified July 2026, and the free options are ranked on their merits.

**How this list is ordered.** Ordering is by how much interpretation each option adds to the raw filings, least first — the free, raw options lead the list because for many readers they are enough. BreachTrigger appears where it honestly belongs: the paid, classified-alerts tier. Every entry says who it genuinely fits.

## The category, in numbers

- The global average cost of a data breach was $4.44 million in 2025; the U.S. average reached a record $10.22 million. [(Source: IBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report)](https://newsroom.ibm.com/2025-07-30-ibm-report-13-of-organizations-reported-breaches-of-ai-models-or-applications%2C-97-of-which-reported-lacking-proper-ai-access-controls)
- In the disclosure rule's first 100 days, 11 companies filed Item 1.05 8-Ks; 8 of them — over 70% — filed within four business days of detecting the incident, averaging 5.45 business days. [(Source: Debevoise, "100 Days of Cybersecurity Incident Reporting on Form 8-K" (2024))](https://www.debevoise.com/insights/publications/2024/03/100-days-of-cybersecurity-incident-reporting)

## Quote

> “Whether a company loses a factory in a fire — or millions of files in a cybersecurity incident — it may be material to investors.”
>
> — [Gary Gensler, then-Chair, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC cybersecurity disclosure rule announcement (2023)](https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023-139)

## The list

### 1. SEC EDGAR full-text search (DIY)

**Website:** efts.sec.gov / sec.gov/edgar

**Best free primary source — the data everyone else builds on**

EDGAR is free, public, and authoritative. Full-text search can surface Item 1.05 8-K filings; RSS feeds exist per company. The cost is your time: you build the queries, poll, and read the filings. Every tool on this list, ours included, links back here.

**Pricing:** Free (US government service).

### 2. KFilings

**Website:** kfilings.com

**Best free alerting on raw EDGAR filings**

Free, unlimited SEC EDGAR email alerts with no registration — by company, ticker, or CIK, and by filing type including Item 1.05 specifically. Real-time, daily, or weekly delivery. Run as a public service by its creator. If you just need to know a filing happened, this is hard to beat at $0.

**Pricing:** Free (as of July 2026).

[Full comparison: BreachTrigger vs KFilings →](https://breachtrigger.com/compare/breachtrigger-vs-kfilings)

### 3. Board Cybersecurity

**Website:** board-cybersecurity.com

**Best research database for incidents and cyber governance**

Structured trackers of incidents, companies, governance, and regulatory actions — states 20,534 incidents across 23,612 companies, aggregating SEC disclosures, state AG notifications, and news. Built for benchmarking and board-level context rather than same-day alerting.

**Pricing:** Free account tier; paid plans not publicly priced (as of July 2026).

[Full comparison: BreachTrigger vs Board Cybersecurity →](https://breachtrigger.com/compare/breachtrigger-vs-board-cybersecurity)

### 4. BreachTrigger — OUR PRODUCT

**Website:** breachtrigger.com

**Best for classified, sector-filtered same-day alerts**

Our product — so judge this entry accordingly. BreachTrigger polls EDGAR every 30 minutes, distinguishes Item 1.05 material incidents from voluntary Item 8.01 disclosures by reading the filing text, tags sector and ticker, and links every alert to the primary filing. Compared to the free options above, what you're paying for is classification, filtering, and a curated free weekly sector digest — not access to the data, which is public.

**Pricing:** Free weekly sector digest; Instant Alerts $199/month (as of July 2026).

### 5. Visualping

**Website:** visualping.io

**Best general-purpose monitor if EDGAR is one of many pages you watch**

Watches any web page and alerts on changes via email, SMS, Slack, or Teams, with AI judging significance. Pointed at EDGAR search pages it becomes a DIY disclosure watcher; its real strength is breadth across all your monitored pages. States 2 million users.

**Pricing:** Free tier + paid plans; prices not on the homepage (as of July 2026).

[Full comparison: BreachTrigger vs Visualping →](https://breachtrigger.com/compare/breachtrigger-vs-visualping)

## FAQ

**What is an Item 1.05 8-K filing?**

Under the SEC's cybersecurity disclosure rules, a US public company must file a Form 8-K under Item 1.05 within four business days of determining a cybersecurity incident is material. Companies also sometimes disclose incidents voluntarily under Item 8.01. All of these filings are public on SEC EDGAR.

**Do I have to pay to track SEC breach disclosures?**

No. EDGAR is free, and KFilings sends free raw filing alerts including Item 1.05 (as of July 2026). Paid tools charge for interpretation: classification (material 1.05 vs voluntary 8.01), sector tagging, curation, or historical benchmarking. Pay only if that layer saves you real time.

**How fast do breach disclosures become public?**

The filing is public on EDGAR the moment it's accepted — typically before press coverage, which lags by hours to days and skips many filings. Tools that poll EDGAR directly (BreachTrigger polls every 30 minutes) or forward its alerts are as close to the source as it gets. Always verify the filing itself on sec.gov/edgar before acting.

Updated July 27, 2026