CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

CounterCraft vs Thinkst

CounterCraft sells AI-powered deception technology that detects real attackers early by observing how they behave inside controlled environments. Thinkst sells Thinkst Canary, a marker of compromise that can be deployed on complex networks. CISO Tribune files both under Deception technology. 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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  • CounterCraft
  • Thinkst
CounterCraft vs Thinkst: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CounterCraftCounterCraft sells AI-powered deception technology that detects real attackers early by observing how they behave inside controlled environments.countercraftsec.comThinkstThinkst sells Thinkst Canary, a marker of compromise that can be deployed on complex networks.thinkst.com
What it sells
  • Deception Expert[1][2]Designs and deploys deception environments tailored to the real architecture of a customer.
  • Threat Hunter Expert[1][2]Triages attacker activity and identifies TTPs.
  • Engager[1][2]Interacts with attackers in real time and feeds them false information while gathering intelligence.
  • Thinkst Canary[1][2][3][4]A marker of compromise that can be deployed on complex networks.
  • Canarytokens[1][2][3][5]Free tokens that show defenders a breach by having attackers announce themselves.
  • OpenCanary[1][2]A daemon that runs canary services, which trigger alerts when used.
  • ThinkstScapes[1][2][3]Vendor neutral reports on key events and research findings.
  • Package Proxy[3][6]Thinkst's internal solution to the software supplychainpocalypse.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
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
  • June 5, 2026Thinkst released Package Proxy, a Cloudflare-based tool running in-line supply-chain checks for npm, pip, uv and cargo packages.[6]
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
Retail organizations are described as needing to secure points of sale, supply chains and customer data. Healthcare organizations are described as needing to protect patient records from ransomware and data breaches. Financial services are described as needing to protect payment systems like SWIFT. Oil and gas enterprises are described as having custom systems that are difficult to defend. Governments and militaries are named among the users of the platform.From its own pages, Thinkst writes about network breaches at organisations ranging from mega-corps to governments. Thinkst writes that most companies find out too late that they have been breached. Thinkst points to over-worked admins and ignored alerts at organisations that have invested in security. Thinkst offers Canarytokens free to defenders who need to discover they have been breached.
Last verified
November 6, 2026November 6, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Deception technology is the primary category of both CounterCraft and Thinkst.

Where they differ, field by field

  • CounterCraft is also filed under Threat intelligence and OT and ICS security.
  • CounterCraft lists Deception Expert, Threat Hunter Expert and Engager. Thinkst lists Thinkst Canary, Canarytokens, OpenCanary, ThinkstScapes and Package Proxy.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files CounterCraft under Deception technology, Threat intelligence, and OT and ICS security, with Deception technology as its primary category. CISO Tribune files Thinkst under Deception technology alone, which is also its primary category. CounterCraft sells Deception Expert, Threat Hunter Expert and Engager, which design decoy environments, triage attacker activity and interact with attackers in real time. Thinkst sells Thinkst Canary, Canarytokens, OpenCanary, ThinkstScapes and Package Proxy.

Both companies work in deception, but the products differ in form: CounterCraft builds a digital twin tailored to a customer's environment, while Thinkst describes Thinkst Canary as a marker of compromise for complex networks. Thinkst offers Canarytokens free, and OpenCanary is a daemon that runs canary services which trigger alerts when used. CounterCraft states that it operates entirely outside the live environment of a customer and is agentless. On sectors, CounterCraft names retail, healthcare, financial services, and oil and gas, and states that its platform is used by NATO, the US DoD, and other governments and militaries. It also describes a bank that used CounterCraft to detect red teams and unauthorized users on five attempts to access the SWIFT portal. Thinkst writes about breaches from mega-corps to governments and says its products are deployed on all 7 continents.

On recent activity, Thinkst released Package Proxy on June 5, 2026, a Cloudflare-based tool running in-line supply-chain checks for npm, pip, uv and cargo packages. Thinkst also concluded a deal to acquire 100% of UK-based DeceptIQ, and it released an MCP server token to detect agentic attackers. CounterCraft states that AI agents are now attacking organizations 24 hours a day, and says it deploys AI agents of its own that engage adversaries in real time.

What it sells: CounterCraft

What Deception Expert does[1][2]
Deception Expert designs and deploys deception environments tailored to the real architecture of a customer. Deception Expert creates realistic digital assets and host profiles to lure adversaries. An attacker meets a realistic decoy built by the Deception Expert from the actual architecture of the customer.
What Threat Hunter Expert does[1][2]
Threat Hunter Expert triages attacker activity automatically and identifies TTPs. Threat Hunter Expert produces incident reports for analysts.
What Engager does[1][2]
Engager interacts with attackers in real time to maximize attacker dwell time. Engager feeds false information to attackers while extracting intelligence.

What it sells: Thinkst

What Thinkst Canary does[1][2][3][4]
Thinkst Canary is a marker of compromise that can be deployed on complex networks. Thinkst Canary integrates with Google Security Operations SOAR, where Canary incidents can be ingested as cases and analysts can review alert and event context.
What Canarytokens does[1][2][3][5]
Canarytokens are free, and they show defenders a breach by having attackers announce themselves. The free Canarytokens service has supported AWS API keys since 2017. Decoy API keys can be placed in code repos, Lambda configurations and virtual machine disks, and an alert goes to a mailbox when attackers use the credentials.
What OpenCanary does[1][2]
OpenCanary is a daemon that runs canary services, which trigger alerts when used. OpenCanary alerts can be sent to Syslog, emails and a companion daemon named OpenCanary-correlator. Open Canary is maintained by Thinkst Canary.

Questions about CounterCraft and Thinkst

What do CounterCraft and Thinkst sell?
CounterCraft sells Deception Expert, Threat Hunter Expert and Engager. Thinkst sells Thinkst Canary, Canarytokens, OpenCanary, ThinkstScapes and Package Proxy.
Are CounterCraft and Thinkst in the same category?
Yes. Deception technology is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Who are CounterCraft and Thinkst sold to?
Retail organizations are described as needing to secure points of sale, supply chains and customer data. From its own pages, Thinkst writes about network breaches at organisations ranging from mega-corps to governments.
What have CounterCraft and Thinkst announced recently?
June 5, 2026: Thinkst released Package Proxy, a Cloudflare-based tool running in-line supply-chain checks for npm, pip, uv and cargo packages.

About CounterCraft

CounterCraft sells AI-powered deception technology that detects real attackers early by observing how they behave inside controlled environments. CounterCraft generates threat intelligence by combining AI-powered deception technology with preemptive threat detection. CounterCraft states that AI agents are now attacking organizations 24 hours a day, probing every surface and adapting to what they find. CounterCraft deploys AI agents of its own that build deception environments mirroring the real architecture of a customer and engage adversaries in real time. CounterCraft states that its AI agents extract intelligence while keeping every real asset untouched.[2]

The Deception Expert designs and deploys deception environments tailored to the real architecture of a customer. The Deception Expert creates realistic digital assets and host profiles to lure adversaries. An attacker meets a realistic decoy built by the Deception Expert from the actual architecture of the customer. CounterCraft builds a digital twin tailored to the environment of the customer, deployed automatically by AI. The deception environment of CounterCraft updates automatically.[2]

The Engager feeds false information to attackers in real time while gathering intelligence. The Engager interacts with attackers in real time to maximize attacker dwell time. The Threat Hunter Expert captures every move and TTP of an attacker and delivers it to the team of the customer as intelligence. The Threat Hunter Expert triages attacker activity automatically, identifies TTPs and produces incident reports for analysts.[2]

CounterCraft operates entirely outside the live environment of a customer and is agentless. No production systems are touched at any point in the CounterCraft deception process. CounterCraft deception lures both AI agents and human attackers away from critical assets. CounterCraft deploys deception technology directly at the network perimeter, placing realistic decoys alongside real edge devices.[2][3]

CounterCraft technology detects adversaries attempting to move laterally within a network. CounterCraft technology assesses and measures external risk exposure, identifying vulnerabilities, threats and potential risks. CounterCraft uses automated threat intelligence and deception technology to address the scarcity of skilled cybersecurity professionals. CounterCraft says threat intelligence powered by deception techniques lets organizations create deception environments that contain adversaries and collect threat intel to protect the network. CounterCraft says operational technology, SCADA, critical infrastructure and industrial control systems networks are difficult to defend.[2][4][5]

CounterCraft says its cyber-deception platform addresses challenges in retail, including data exfiltration, insider threat, e-commerce, supply chain threats and PoS security. CounterCraft states that retail organizations need to secure their points of sale, supply chains and customer data. CounterCraft states that the healthcare industry needs to protect patient records from ransomware and data breaches while meeting regulatory standards and clearing safety audits. The cyber-deception platform of CounterCraft can detect threat actors targeting organizations before they get into the network. CounterCraft states that financial services need to protect payment systems like SWIFT, understand the intentions of a phishing attack and learn from adversaries to help prevent fraud and ransomware activity.[2][6][7][8]

CounterCraft states that the oil and gas sector needs to protect its operational technology and its custom, difficult-to-integrate systems. Oil and gas enterprises have custom systems that are difficult to defend, according to CounterCraft. CounterCraft states that its platform is used by NATO, the US DoD, and other governments and militaries worldwide. CounterCraft addresses challenges across sectors, from military to state departments, including data exfiltration, insider threat, operational confidentiality and gaining intel. A bank used CounterCraft to detect red teams and unauthorized users on five different attempts to access the SWIFT portal, stopping them from reaching the production environment. CounterCraft works with global businesses.[2][4][9][10][11]

CounterCraft on the record

Sources

CounterCraft full record

  1. [1]countercraftsec.comCounterCraft · countercraftsec.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Deception-Powered Threat Intelligence | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Edge Device Security WhitepaperCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Looking to strengthen your OT security? | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]An insider threat solution that works | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Cybersecurity for Retail | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Cybersecurity for Healthcare | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Cybersecurity for Financial Services | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cybersecurity for Oil and GasCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Federal Government Cybersecurity Solution | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Global Bank Detects Lateral Movement in a SWIFT Network | CounterCraftCounterCraft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Thinkst full record

  1. [1]thinkst.comthinkst.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]ThinkstThinkst · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Thinkst Thoughts – Writing about our experiences and research findingsThinkst · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]New features aren't Solved Problems – Thinkst ThoughtsThinkst · published November 23, 2020 · Tier A
  5. [5]USENIX Security Symposium 2019 – Thinkst ThoughtsThinkst · published August 20, 2019 · Tier A
  6. [6]Introducing Package Proxy: supply-chain safety checks without client-side softwareThinkst · published June 5, 2026 · Tier A

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