CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Archer vs Black Kite

Archer sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer. Black Kite sells an AI-native third-party cyber risk management platform. CISO Tribune files both under Third-party risk and security ratings. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Archer
  • Black Kite
Archer vs Black Kite: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ArcherArcher sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer.archerirm.comBlack KiteBlack Kite sells an AI-native third-party cyber risk management platform.blackkite.com
What it sells
  • IT & Security Risk Management[1]A module that helps organizations manage IT and security risk within the Archer platform.
  • AI Governance[1][2]A module for governing the use and risk of artificial intelligence within an organization.
  • Third-Party Governance[1]A module that manages risk related to third-party vendors and suppliers.
  • Audit Management[1]A module that supports internal audit processes and documentation.
  • Enterprise & Operational Risk[1]A module for tracking and managing enterprise-wide and operational risks.
  • Regulatory & Corporate Compliance[1]A module that helps organizations manage regulatory and corporate compliance obligations.
  • Cyber Risk Quantification[1][4][10]Translates technical cyber risk into financial terms.
  • Ransomware Threat Intelligence[4][12]Connects ransomware intelligence to vendor risk through the Ransomware Susceptibility Index.
  • Vendor Risk Monitoring[4][8]Continuous monitoring of vendor cyber risk.
  • Black Kite Extend[4][8][9]Maps fourth- and fifth-party relationships through automated supply chain mapping.
  • Vendor Risk Assessment[4][13]AI-powered vendor risk assessments.
  • Vendor Compliance Management[15]Continuous monitoring, framework assessments and reporting for vendor compliance.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesBoston, United States[2]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2016[3]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • November 2, 2026Black Kite announced a new integration with CrowdStrike that delivers third-party vendor risk intelligence into CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM.[17]
  • October 21, 2026Black Kite announced the release of Quantum Readiness, a new set of controls in the SSL/TLS Strength category of its Cyber Rating.[18]
  • September 17, 2026Black Kite released its 2026 Manufacturing & Distribution Ransomware Report.[19]
  • August 18, 2026Black Kite released a report on mid-market organizations covering ransomware, third-party risk and the AI gap.[20]
  • July 28, 2026Black Kite appointed Jim Clancy as a Strategic Advisor.[21]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 4, 2026[5]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Archer states that it delivers enterprise capabilities for companies of all sizes. Archer says its products are designed to meet the needs of GRC teams and business users, and its IT risk material describes roles from IT risk analyst to enterprise risk officer. Archer Evolv can be deployed on-premises or as SaaS.From its own pages, Black Kite sells mainly to organizations running third-party and supply chain cyber risk programs. It names GRC managers, CISOs, third-party risk teams and security operations teams as groups it serves. It says finance, healthcare, retail, government, and manufacturing organizations rely on it. It describes its approach as designed for enterprise-scale third-party ecosystems, and its supply chain material refers to global manufacturing supply chains, wholesale and retail networks, and public sector supplier portfolios.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Archer and Black Kite are both filed under Third-party risk and security ratings.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Archer's primary category is GRC and integrated risk platforms; Black Kite's is Third-party risk and security ratings.
  • Archer is also filed under AI governance. Black Kite is also filed under Cyber risk quantification.
  • Archer lists IT & Security Risk Management, AI Governance, Third-Party Governance, Audit Management, Enterprise & Operational Risk and 1 more. Black Kite lists Cyber Risk Quantification, Ransomware Threat Intelligence, Vendor Risk Monitoring, Black Kite Extend, Vendor Risk Assessment and 1 more.
  • Black Kite is headquartered in Boston, United States.
  • Black Kite was founded in 2016.

What it sells: Black Kite

What Cyber Risk Quantification does[1][4][10]
Black Kite's Cyber Risk Quantification translates technical cyber risk into financial terms. Black Kite automatically estimates probable financial impact across ransomware, data breach, and business interruption scenarios. CRQ uses standards-based frameworks like Open FAIR to calculate financial impact.
What Ransomware Threat Intelligence does[4][12]
Black Kite connects ransomware threat intelligence to a third-party risk program through the Ransomware Susceptibility Index. FocusTags are automatically applied to affected vendors when a major breach, ransomware attack, or active exploitation of a vulnerability occurs. Black Kite continuously tracks what ransomware operators and threat actors are discussing, planning, and claiming across leak sites, Telegram channels, and dark web forums.
What Vendor Risk Monitoring does[4][8]
Black Kite delivers continuous vendor risk monitoring that keeps pace with a customer's business and the complexity of its supply chain. Black Kite Intelligence tracks ransomware campaigns, credential leaks, active exploitation, and high-impact zero-days.
What Black Kite Extend does[4][8][9]
Black Kite Extend identifies fourth- and fifth-party relationships through automated supply chain mapping. Black Kite Extend covers Nth-party mapping, geopolitical monitoring, threat actor tracking, and product-level risk analysis in one package.
What Vendor Risk Assessment does[4][13]
Black Kite delivers AI-powered vendor risk assessments that provide security insights in hours, not weeks. AI-powered document parsing analyzes vendor security policies, SOC 2 reports, and trust center artifacts in minutes, not weeks. The Black Kite Bridge replaces email sprawl with centralized vendor collaboration.
What Vendor Compliance Management does[15]
Black Kite simplifies vendor compliance management with continuous cyber risk monitoring, automated framework assessments, and centralized reporting that demonstrates ongoing oversight to regulators and auditors. Black Kite integrates with existing GRC platforms, including ServiceNow and LogicGate.

Questions about Archer and Black Kite

What do Archer and Black Kite sell?
Archer sells IT & Security Risk Management, AI Governance, Third-Party Governance, Audit Management, Enterprise & Operational Risk and 1 more. Black Kite sells Cyber Risk Quantification, Ransomware Threat Intelligence, Vendor Risk Monitoring, Black Kite Extend, Vendor Risk Assessment and 1 more.
Are Archer and Black Kite in the same category?
They share Third-party risk and security ratings. Archer's primary category is GRC and integrated risk platforms and Black Kite's is Third-party risk and security ratings.
Where are Archer and Black Kite headquartered?
Black Kite is headquartered in Boston, United States.
When were Archer and Black Kite founded?
Black Kite was founded in 2016.
Who are Archer and Black Kite sold to?
Archer states that it delivers enterprise capabilities for companies of all sizes. From its own pages, Black Kite sells mainly to organizations running third-party and supply chain cyber risk programs.
What have Archer and Black Kite announced recently?
November 2, 2026: Black Kite announced a new integration with CrowdStrike that delivers third-party vendor risk intelligence into CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM.

About Archer

Archer sells a governance, risk and compliance platform that connects enterprise risk, compliance, audit, AI governance, ESG, third-party risk and resilience on shared data and one reporting layer. Archer brings risk, controls, obligations and evidence into one governed system. Archer says regulatory change moves faster than teams can interpret, assess and operationalize it. More than 1,500 organizations run on Archer, including half the Fortune 500.[2][3]

Archer Evolv adds AI-powered intelligence to an existing GRC program and connects regulatory change obligations, controls, policies and assurance evidence. Archer Evolv can be deployed standalone or alongside Archer GRC, on-premises or SaaS. Archer describes a system of record, a system of intelligence and a system of outcomes as one connected foundation that uses existing permissions and audit trail. Archer Evolv turns data from the GRC environment into governed intelligence with AI operators.[3][6]

Workplace is where Evolv operators run, and each operator handles one governed task, such as mapping a new obligation to the controls it touches. In Archer, a reviewer approves the result of an operator before it reaches the customer's controls. Archer Evolv operators run third-party reviews end to end, monitor vendors between assessments and enforce the customer's requirements. Archer Evolv operators monitor technology risks, controls and issues, enforce the customer's standards and rank what needs attention first. Archer monitors 8,000+ regulatory sources across 180 jurisdictions, from SEC and FINRA to DORA, and flags what applies to a business.[3][4]

Archer Evolv assesses each citation against a customer's jurisdictions, products and legal entities. A wizard in Archer captures a customer's jurisdictions, entities, products and themes, and assesses each incoming citation against that profile. Archer parses citations, rulebooks, statutes and a customer's own policies into discrete obligations, each linked to its type, its theme and its source citation. Archer clusters up to 10,000 obligations per assessment by meaning. Archer compares a customer's obligations against the controls it already holds, names the gaps and conflicts and proposes a resolution. Archer Evolv extracts obligations, maps them to controls and business units, routes the assessment to named owners and publishes the result into Archer.[5]

Archer turns regulations and a customer's policies into live AWS Bedrock guardrails that are enforced before the model is invoked. Guardrails are deployed as drafts and go live only after the customer approves them. Traffic is evaluated against guardrails before inference inside the customer's AWS account, and violations are blocked and logged as a governed control breach. Every deployed guardrail is tested on a cycle against the control the customer approved. Findings from each violation route into Archer issue management workflows. Prompt content, model responses, documents, embeddings, customer PII and model weights do not reach Archer, and only the violation event does.[6]

Archer's IT and security risk offering has nine interconnected use cases with workflows that move findings and controls from assessment through closure. Archer's IT risk register catalogs the organization and its IT assets and logs each IT risk against the systems it touches. Archer tests IT controls on a project schedule and pulls in results from automated systems. Archer ranks threats and vulnerabilities by what they put at risk in the business, using asset context and scan results. Archer ships current security frameworks and control catalogs with the use case, including the ISO 27000 series, COBIT 5, the NIST 800 series and PCI DSS. Archer rolls test results up to the primary control and reports compliance for each control set separately. Archer stores evidence in a versioned repository as tests run, tied to the control and the standard it serves.[7][8]

Archer gives financial institutions one connected view of obligations, controls and risk. Archer connects regulatory compliance, third-party risk, operational risk and IT security in one system. Archer helps government agencies unify FedRAMP, CMMC and FISMA obligations. Every control in Archer links back to the exact FedRAMP, CMMC or FISMA requirement it satisfies, and every AI output goes through Expert-in-the-Loop review. Archer tests controls against live evidence, flags a gap as it appears, routes it to an owner and keeps a time-stamped record. Archer translates risk into financial terms based on modeled loss exposure and stated assumptions. Archer states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and describes 25+ years as a system of record. The Archer Vulnerability Response Team coordinates the response and disclosure for all product vulnerabilities reported to Archer.[2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10]

Archer on the record

Sources

Archer full record

  1. [1]archerirm.comArcher · archerirm.com · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]About Archer – GRC & Risk Management Solutions | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Archer® | Regulatory Change ManagementArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Financial Services | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Archer Evolv Compliance for AI-Powered Enterprise ComplianceArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Archer Evolv™ AI Compliance | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]IT & Security Risk Management | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Archer Regulatory & Corporate Compliance ManagementArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Government GRC Solutions | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Vulnerability Response Policy | ArcherArcher · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Black Kite full record

  1. [1]blackkite.comBlack Kite · blackkite.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cyber risk ratings leader normshield rebrands to black kite 301205147Black Kite via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published January 11, 2021 · Tier A
  3. [3]About Black Kite | TPCRM PioneersBlack Kite · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Black Kite | Standards-Based Third-Party Cyber Risk ManagementBlack Kite · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Black Kite Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  6. [6]Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Solutions | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Cyber Risk Management Platform | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Vendor Risk Monitoring Solutions | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Supply Chain Cyber Risk Management | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) Solutions | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Financial Impact of Cyber Risk | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Ransomware Threat Intelligence for Your Vendors | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]How to Evaluate Vendors and Reduce Cyber Risk | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Vendor Risk Response & Remediation | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Vendor Compliance Management | Black KiteBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]BK Labs is Black Kite's research and innovation organizationBlack Kite · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Black Kite Announces New Integration with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEMBlack Kite · published November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Black Kite Introduces Quantum Readiness for Third-Party Cyber Risk ManagementBlack Kite · published October 21, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Black Kite’s Manufacturing & Distribution Ransomware Report 2026 Confirms Manufacturing Remains #1 TargetBlack Kite · published September 17, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Black Kite Research Reveals That Ransomware's Primary Target Is the Mid-Market, Not Enterprises as Widely AssumedBlack Kite · published August 18, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Black Kite Appoints Data Protection Veteran Jim Clancy as Strategic AdvisorBlack Kite · published July 28, 2026 · Tier A

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