CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Bay vs HiddenLayer

Bay is an AI agent security platform that gives enterprises visibility into every agent across devices, browsers and cloud workloads, and control over what those agents do in real time. HiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build. CISO Tribune files both under AI model and agent security. 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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  • Bay
  • HiddenLayer
Bay vs HiddenLayer: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
BayBay is an AI agent security platform that gives enterprises visibility into every agent across devices, browsers and cloud workloads, and control over what those agents do in real time.bay.ioHiddenLayerHiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build.hiddenlayer.com
What it sells
  • Bay[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]Bay is an AI agent security platform covering agents on devices, in browsers and in cloud workloads. Bay returns allow, ask, steer or block decisions on agent actions at runtime.
  • Lighthouse[6]Lighthouse is Bay's embedded agentic system that drafts policy from an organization's own agent activity.
  • Wave[3]Wave is the ephemeral binary Bay uses to deploy through an existing MDM or EDR.
  • Model Scanning[1][4][6]Scans third-party and proprietary machine learning models to detect hidden risks.
  • Red Teaming[1][6][10]Runs continuous testing intended to identify threats early and validate AI defenses.
  • AI Guardrails[1][11]Applies policy-based controls intended to prevent misuse, data leakage and adversarial attacks on AI systems.
  • Agentic and MCP Protection[1][4][5][6]Monitors autonomous AI agents and MCP connections and is intended to guard against rogue behavior.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesAustin, United States[2]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2022[2]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[3]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • August 12, 2026HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer.[14]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetHiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. HiddenLayer offers protection of agentic, generative, and predictive AI systems for mission assurance. HiddenLayer describes deployment through APIs, gateways, SDKs, or lightweight on-device integrations.
Last verified
November 5, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • AI model and agent security is the primary category of both Bay and HiddenLayer.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Bay is also filed under Endpoint management and application control and Workforce AI usage security. HiddenLayer is also filed under AI firewalls and guardrails.
  • Bay lists Bay, Lighthouse and Wave. HiddenLayer lists Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection.
  • HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
  • HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.
  • HiddenLayer is privately held.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Bay and HiddenLayer under AI model and agent security as their primary category. Bay sells an AI agent security platform covering agents on devices, in browsers and in cloud workloads, and it returns allow, ask, steer or block decisions on agent actions at runtime. HiddenLayer sells Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails, and Agentic and MCP Protection. CISO Tribune also files Bay under Endpoint management and application control and Workforce AI usage security, while it files HiddenLayer under AI firewalls and guardrails.

Both companies address agents and MCP servers, but from different starting points. Bay maps agents, MCP servers, extensions, models and skills on devices on its first scan. HiddenLayer scans model files and URLs for malware, CVEs, backdoors, and integrity issues before deployment. Bay deploys with one script through an existing MDM and does not require a proxy. HiddenLayer describes deployment through APIs, gateways, SDKs, or lightweight on-device integrations.

HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States, was founded in 2022, and is privately held. Bay is a Series A stage company. Bay names Micron Technology, Peloton and ClickUp among its enterprise customers. HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. On August 12, 2026, HiddenLayer announced the appointment of a Chief Revenue Officer.

What it sells: Bay

What Bay does[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Bay maps every agent, MCP server, extension, model and skill on devices on its first scan. Bay builds a contextual entity graph of the users, MCP servers, SaaS apps and access connected to each agent. Bay deploys with one script through an existing MDM and does not require a proxy. Bay keeps full transcripts of prompts, actions and MCP calls.
What Lighthouse does[6]
Lighthouse drafts policy from an organization's own agent activity. Users answer 7 questions about risk appetite, and Lighthouse recommends a setting for each question and builds the policy. Bay replays 30 days of agent history to show what a policy would do before enforcement.
What Wave does[3]
Bay is agentless and deploys through an existing MDM or EDR using Wave, an ephemeral binary. There is no persistent agent to maintain and no proxy in the path.

Questions about Bay and HiddenLayer

What do Bay and HiddenLayer sell?
Bay sells Bay, Lighthouse and Wave. HiddenLayer sells Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection.
Are Bay and HiddenLayer in the same category?
Yes. AI model and agent security is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Bay and HiddenLayer headquartered?
HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
When were Bay and HiddenLayer founded?
HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.
Who owns Bay and HiddenLayer?
HiddenLayer is privately held.
Who are Bay and HiddenLayer sold to?
HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement.
What have Bay and HiddenLayer announced recently?
August 12, 2026: HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer.

About Bay

Bay is an AI agent security platform that gives enterprises visibility into every agent across devices, browsers and cloud workloads, and control over what those agents do in real time. Bay describes AI endpoint security as protection for the AI agents, coding assistants and MCP servers running on employee devices. Bay was founded by three engineers who spent their careers in endpoint and API security. Bay is a Series A stage company.[2][3]

Teams run agents like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and GitHub Copilot in clusters, cloud workspaces and hosted sessions.[5]

Bay finds and maps agents first. On the first scan, Bay maps every agent, MCP server, extension, model and skill on devices, including ones nobody approved. Bay finds every agent, extension, CLI tool, MCP server, skill and model on employee devices. Bay builds a contextual entity graph of how everything connects: the user behind each agent, the MCP servers and SaaS apps it touches, and the access it holds. Bay scans every agent, package, extension, MCP server and skill for malicious indicators before approval. In the browser, Bay brings shadow AI into view, covering chatbots, extensions and embedded SaaS agents. In cloud environments, Bay discovers agents across virtual machines, Kubernetes, Coder workspaces and hosted sessions.[1][3][5][6][7]

Lighthouse, Bay's embedded agentic system, drafts policy from an organization's own agent activity. Users answer 7 questions about risk appetite, and Lighthouse recommends a setting for each question and builds the policy. Policies can be scoped by IdP group, device or runtime, and can set which MCP servers can read or write. Before enforcement, Bay replays 30 days of agent history to show what a policy would do before any user is affected. Bay also lets teams run any policy in simulation mode to see what it would allow, ask or block. At runtime, Bay enforces guardrails inline with the agentic action and returns allow, ask, steer or block in milliseconds. Bay can also prevent prompt injection attempts at runtime.[6]

Bay keeps records of agent activity. Bay keeps full transcripts of prompts, actions and MCP calls, traceable to the person behind each session. A metadata-only mode in Bay keeps prompts on the device when they must not leave it. Bay ties every prompt and agent action to a real identity, corporate or personal. Bay logs every policy change and agent action with who approved it and whether a person or an agent took it. Every decision in Bay is logged against the policy behind it, ready for auditors. Bay connects to an identity provider, so every policy applies to the right people and groups.[5][6][7][8]

Bay also checks configuration. Bay checks how every agent and AI tool is set up, across devices and cloud workloads, so risky settings can be fixed before an agent puts them to use. Bay spots bypass-permissions mode, sandboxes switched off and unrestricted tool access, rates how serious each one is and shows how to fix it. Bay finds the credentials, tokens and secrets that agents and MCP servers can read.[9]

Bay deploys with one script through an existing MDM and does not require a proxy to route traffic through. Bay deploys through an existing MDM or EDR using Wave, an ephemeral binary, so there is no persistent agent to maintain. Bay tells corporate AI accounts from personal ones, including in personal Chrome profiles. Bay's enterprise customers include Micron Technology, Peloton and ClickUp.[1][2][3][6][7][8]

Bay on the record

Sources

Bay full record

  1. [1]bay.ioBay · bay.io · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Security Researcher — Careers at BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]AI Endpoint Security — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]About — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Cloud Workspaces — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Platform — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Browser — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Governance & Compliance — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Security Posture — BayBay · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

HiddenLayer full record

  1. [1]HiddenLayer | Total AI SecurityHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Hiddenlayer launches the first security solution to protect ai powered products 301587864HiddenLayer via PR Newswire · prnewswire.com · published July 19, 2022 · Tier A
  3. [3]Hiddenlayer 100m series b ai securityHiddenLayer · hiddenlayer.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Application Developers | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Runtime Security | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Platform | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI Discovery | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]AI Supply Chain Security | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]AI Attack Simulation | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]CISO | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI Guardrails | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Services | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Financial Services | HiddenLayerHiddenLayer · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]HiddenLayer Appoints Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue OfficerHiddenLayer · published August 12, 2026 · Tier A

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