CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cofense vs Darktrace

Cofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data. Darktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools. CISO Tribune files both under Email 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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Up to four companies side by side.

  • Cofense
  • Darktrace
Cofense vs Darktrace: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CofenseCofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data.cofense.comDarktraceDarktrace sells security for AI systems and agents, for network, cloud and OT environments, and for email and collaboration tools.darktrace.com
What it sells
  • Cofense Phishing Defense Platform[2]A phishing defense platform powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters.
  • Cofense Phishing Remediation[8]Removes confirmed phishing threats from inboxes, including every variant of a confirmed campaign.
  • Cofense Command Center[2][6][8]One place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working.
  • Cofense Phishing Training[3]Phishing training that uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs.
  • Darktrace / EMAIL[14][15]Email security that catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation and social engineering attacks.
Categories
Headquarters
Arlington, United States[1]Cambridge, United Kingdom[2]
Founded
Not stated on its pages2013[2]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesOwned by Thoma Bravo since 2024[3][12][13][17]
Named customers
Not stated on its pages
  • Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast[4]
  • HARMAN International[5]
  • City of Las Vegas[6]
  • Centre Parcs[7]
  • Banco Galicia[8]
Recent news
  • September 23, 2026Cofense added a Competency Dashboard to its Command Center that measures how ready an organization is against phishing threats, rather than only training completion.[4]
  • February 4, 2026Cofense released a threat intelligence report titled The New Era of Phishing: Threats Built in the Age of AI.[9]
  • September 24, 2026Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings.[9]
  • September 22, 2026Darktrace made its SECURE AI product generally available, giving enterprises tools to discover AI use, monitor people and agents, and act on policy risks.[10]
  • August 4, 2026Darktrace announced an integration that feeds behavioral risk signals about AI agents from its SECURE AI product into the Microsoft Agent 365 portal.[11]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 4, 2026[5]
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[13]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cofense sells mainly to security teams that run phishing defense at enterprise scale. Cofense describes its automated remediation as transparent, explainable, and safe to operationalize at enterprise scale. Cofense offers experts who can manage detection, remediation, and training end to end for teams that want to take the operational load off. Cofense positions its products as adding to existing email defenses.Not written yet
Last verified
November 2, 2026October 10, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cofense and Darktrace are both filed under Email security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cofense's primary category is Email security; Darktrace's is Network detection and response.
  • Cofense is also filed under Security awareness training and Human risk management. Darktrace is also filed under OT and ICS security.
  • Cofense lists Cofense Phishing Defense Platform, Cofense Phishing Remediation, Cofense Command Center and Cofense Phishing Training. Darktrace lists Darktrace / EMAIL.
  • Cofense is headquartered in Arlington, United States. Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Darktrace was founded in 2013.
  • Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024.
  • Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia.

What it sells: Cofense

What Cofense Phishing Defense Platform does[2]
The Cofense Phishing Defense Platform is powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters. Cofense says threat intelligence from real attacks connects remediation and training into a single defense rather than separate tools. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI classifies and processes reported threats at scale, and every decision it makes is explainable and analyst-verified.
What Cofense Phishing Remediation does[8]
Cofense says it can remove confirmed threats in seconds and automatically eliminate similar threats going forward. Cofense says it quarantines every variant of a confirmed campaign in under a minute. Cofense describes AI-powered clustering to detect polymorphic attacks before threats are confirmed.
What Cofense Command Center does[2][6][8]
Cofense Command Center is one place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working. Cofense says Phishing Remediation data in Cofense Command Center adds real-world threat and remediation context alongside training and competency insights.
What Cofense Phishing Training does[3]
Cofense Phishing Training uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs. Cofense says simulations can replicate smishing, vishing, and QR-code phishing. Cofense says employees can report threats with one click into a global intelligence network.

What it sells: Darktrace

What Darktrace / EMAIL does[14][15]
Darktrace / EMAIL learns from each organization's own activity and users, not a shared cross-customer model. Darktrace says it catches phishing, business email compromise, executive impersonation, and social engineering attacks. Behavioral detection extends across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. Each employee's risk score adapts their email controls.

Questions about Cofense and Darktrace

What do Cofense and Darktrace sell?
Cofense sells Cofense Phishing Defense Platform, Cofense Phishing Remediation, Cofense Command Center and Cofense Phishing Training. Darktrace sells Darktrace / EMAIL.
Are Cofense and Darktrace in the same category?
They share Email security. Cofense's primary category is Email security and Darktrace's is Network detection and response.
Where are Cofense and Darktrace headquartered?
Cofense is headquartered in Arlington, United States. Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
When were Cofense and Darktrace founded?
Darktrace was founded in 2013.
Who owns Cofense and Darktrace?
Darktrace is owned by Thoma Bravo, since 2024.
Which customers do Cofense and Darktrace name?
Darktrace publicly names Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, HARMAN International, City of Las Vegas, Centre Parcs and Banco Galicia.
Who are Cofense and Darktrace sold to?
From its own pages, Cofense sells mainly to security teams that run phishing defense at enterprise scale.
What have Cofense and Darktrace announced recently?
September 23, 2026: Cofense added a Competency Dashboard to its Command Center that measures how ready an organization is against phishing threats, rather than only training completion. September 24, 2026: Darktrace launched Signal Labs, a research unit that tests how AI models and agents misbehave in sandboxed environments, and published its first findings.

About Cofense

Cofense sells a phishing defense platform that identifies and removes phishing campaigns reaching employee inboxes, along with phishing training built from real attack data. Cofense says it is the only cybersecurity platform focused exclusively on stopping phishing. Cofense says it is purpose-built for phishing, the most persistent and costly cyber threat.[2][6][7]

Cofense says its expert-supervised AI, combined with real-time intelligence from 35M+ trained users, detects advanced phishing attacks other solutions miss and remediates them in minutes. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI is continuously trained and validated by human analysts.[2][7]

The problem Cofense says it addresses starts after delivery. Cofense says polymorphic campaigns slip past secure email gateways and AI-only defenses. Cofense says removing one email at a time leaves entire campaigns active in inboxes. Cofense combines purpose-built phishing AI, trained on real attacks, with expert validation for post-perimeter detection. Cofense says it augments existing email defenses, covering phishing detection and response gaps.[6][7]

The Cofense Phishing Defense Platform is powered by phishing-specific AI trained on billions of data points and signals from millions of reporters. Cofense says threat intelligence from real attacks connects remediation and training into a single defense rather than separate tools. Cofense says its phishing-specific AI classifies and processes reported threats at scale, and every decision it makes is explainable and analyst-verified. Cofense Command Center is one place to run a phishing defense program and prove it is working. Cofense says Phishing Remediation data in Cofense Command Center adds real-world threat and remediation context alongside training and competency insights.[2][8]

Cofense says Cofense Phishing Remediation goes further than detecting threats that evade perimeter defenses, and that Cofense removes threats with 99.998% accuracy. Cofense says it can remove confirmed threats in seconds and automatically eliminate similar threats going forward. Cofense says it quarantines every variant of a confirmed campaign in under a minute. Cofense describes AI-powered clustering to detect polymorphic attacks before threats are confirmed. Cofense also describes email triage and response with precision clustering, AI-driven auto classification, and click tracking to process reported threats in minutes.[2][8]

Cofense Phishing Training uses real phishing data for adaptive simulations and awareness programs. Cofense says its training turns verified attacks into real-world simulations instead of generic templates. Cofense says simulations can replicate smishing, vishing, and QR-code phishing. Cofense says employees can report threats with one click into a global intelligence network. Cofense says it turns real attacks into the simulations employees train on, then measures competency against what attackers are actually sending.[2][3]

Cofense says its experts can manage detection, remediation, and training end to end, taking the operational load off the customer's team. Cofense connects to the tools customers already use, and says intelligence and remediation extend across the existing stack.[2][3][6][8]

Cofense on the record

Sources

Cofense full record

  1. [1]ContactCofense · cofense.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Unified Phishing Defense Platform Built to Learn & Adapt | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]PhishMe Security Awareness Training (SAT) Platform | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cofense Expands AI-Driven Phishing Defense Platform to Advance Secure Behavior ManagementBusiness Wire · published September 23, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Cofense Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  6. [6]Phishing Defense Powered by AI & Human Insight | CofenseCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]About Us | Cofense Email SecurityCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Phishing Detection & Rapid Response Platform | Cofense PDRCofense · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cofense Report Reveals AI-Powered Phishing Accelerated to One Attack Every 19 SecondsCofense · published February 4, 2026 · Tier A

Darktrace full record

  1. [1]ProductsDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Darktrace named technology pioneer by world economic forumDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Darktrace announces formal completion of its acquisition by thoma bravoDarktrace · darktrace.com · published October 1, 2024 · Tier A
  4. [4]Coca cola beverages northeastDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Harman internationalDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]City of las vegasDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Center parcs darktraceDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Banco galiciaDarktrace · darktrace.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Darktrace launches signal labs to research emerging risks of enterprise ai agentsDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Darktrace extends behavioral security with general availability of darktrace secure aiDarktrace · darktrace.com · published September 22, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Darktrace among first cybersecurity companies selected to integrate risk signals into microsoft agent 365Darktrace · darktrace.com · published August 4, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Darktrace | The Essential AI Cybersecurity PlatformDarktrace · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Darktrace / HYBRID NETWORK Reviews & Product Details - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]AI Cyber Security Solutions | Harden Defenses Inside & OutDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Microsoft Azure Security & Compliance | Security ServicesDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]AI-Based Email Security Software | Email Threat ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Network Security Management | AI Network Security ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Cloud Security Solutions | AI for Cloud Cyber SecurityDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]AWS Data Loss Prevention, Security Compliance, & ProtectionDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Operational Technology (OT) Cyber Security SolutionsDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]AI Endpoint Security | Cyber Security Endpoint Protection SuiteDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Network Security Integrations | Darktrace/NetworkDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  23. [23]Integrations | Darktrace/EndpointDarktrace · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A

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