CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cranium vs IBM

Cranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic. IBM Vault is offered for securing machine and agent identities. CISO Tribune files both under AI governance. 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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  • Cranium
  • IBM
Cranium vs IBM: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CraniumCranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic.cranium.aiIBMIBM Vault is offered for securing machine and agent identities.ibm.com
What it sells
  • Discover[1][16]Gives visibility into every AI model, agent, dataset and vendor across an enterprise and builds a system of record for them.
  • Govern[1][3][4][5][8][12]Defines, implements and enforces AI policy mapped to frameworks such as the NIST AI RMF and the EU AI Act.
  • Secure[1][6][13]Stress-tests models against adversarial threats and applies runtime defenses and targeted remediation.
  • Prove[1][7]Generates real-time compliance evidence, called Cranium AI Cards, to share with customers, partners and regulators.
  • IBM Cloudant[7]A JSON document database built on CouchDB technology.
  • IBM Maximo Application Suite[9]A unified asset and facilities management solution.
Categories
Headquarters
Short Hills, United States[3]Not stated on its pages
Founded
Not stated on its pages1911[2]
Ownership and funding
Privately held[9][15]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI and ISTARI announced a strategic partnership combining Cranium AI's security and governance platform with ISTARI's cyber resilience advisory expertise.[3]
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI announced it has acquired Aiceberg, an agentic AI security and risk management company, and Aiceberg CEO Alex Schlager becomes Cranium AI's Chief Technology Officer.[15]
  • May 21, 2026Cranium AI and ISTARI, a cyber resilience advisory firm, announced a strategic partnership to offer organizations an AI security and governance solution.[8]
  • February 4, 2026Cranium AI announced it discovered an exploitation technique for hijacking agentic AI coding assistants and released free open-source IDE plugins for developers.[16]
  • September 24, 2026IBM UK announced its acquisition of Logiq Consulting, a UK cybersecurity consultancy.[16]
  • May 21, 2026IBM joined Project Glasswing, a security initiative focused on protecting critical software infrastructure.[17]
  • March 17, 2026IBM completed its acquisition of Confluent, adding event streaming to its data, integration and enterprise infrastructure portfolio.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen October 24, 2026[9]
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[18]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to buyers who run AI across many models, since it states that its platform works with any model, any framework. It has pages for industries named Financial Services, Life Sciences and Telecommunications. It also has pages by job function for Compliance & Risk, Governance & Policy, Third-Party & Vendor Risk and Data Science. The pages also say that global carriers and banks are on board.From its own pages, IBM sells to operations, maintenance and facility teams through its asset and facilities management solution. IBM also addresses energy operators with solar, wind and battery storage portfolios. IBM Bob is aimed at development teams working on complex software. IBM offers purchase options aimed at asset-intensive businesses. Maximo Application Suite is delivered as client managed software or software as a service. IBM supports developing optimization models for on-premises, cloud or hybrid environments.
Last verified
September 27, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cranium and IBM are both filed under AI governance.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cranium's primary category is AI governance; IBM's is Data security posture management.
  • Cranium is also filed under AI model and agent security. IBM is also filed under Workforce IAM and SSO and Endpoint management and application control.
  • Cranium lists Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. IBM lists IBM Cloudant and IBM Maximo Application Suite.
  • Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.
  • IBM was founded in 1911.
  • Cranium is privately held.

What it sells: IBM

What IBM Cloudant does[7]
IBM Cloudant supports flexible, schema-free JSON document storage and is built on CouchDB technology with compatible API and replication protocols. IBM Cloudant encrypts all data, with optional user-defined encryption key management through IBM Key Protect, and integrates with IBM Identity and Access Management.
What IBM Maximo Application Suite does[9]
IBM Maximo Application Suite is a unified asset and facilities management solution that brings maintenance, inspections and reliability together in one place for critical equipment and infrastructure. Maximo Application Suite comes in two packages: client managed software or software as a service. MAS is purchased through a credit-based system called AppPoints.

Questions about Cranium and IBM

What do Cranium and IBM sell?
Cranium sells Discover, Govern, Secure and Prove. IBM sells IBM Cloudant and IBM Maximo Application Suite.
Are Cranium and IBM in the same category?
They share AI governance. Cranium's primary category is AI governance and IBM's is Data security posture management.
Where are Cranium and IBM headquartered?
Cranium is headquartered in Short Hills, United States.
When were Cranium and IBM founded?
IBM was founded in 1911.
Who owns Cranium and IBM?
Cranium is privately held.
Who are Cranium and IBM sold to?
From its own pages, the company sells mainly to buyers who run AI across many models, since it states that its platform works with any model, any framework. From its own pages, IBM sells to operations, maintenance and facility teams through its asset and facilities management solution.
What have Cranium and IBM announced recently?
May 21, 2026: Cranium AI and ISTARI announced a strategic partnership combining Cranium AI's security and governance platform with ISTARI's cyber resilience advisory expertise. September 24, 2026: IBM UK announced its acquisition of Logiq Consulting, a UK cybersecurity consultancy.

About Cranium

Cranium sells Cranium ONE, one platform for end-to-end AI security and governance, which it describes as infrastructure and LLM-agnostic. Cranium organizes the platform around the AI Trust Loop, five stages that run continuously: Discover, Observe, Govern, Secure and Prove.[1][4][5][6]

Cranium says AI adoption expands what an enterprise has to defend. Its pages name three problem areas: shadow AI, autonomous agents and third-party AI. Cranium says teams adopt models and copilots faster than security can see them, and that agents plan, call tools, read memory and hand off to other agents. Cranium also says an AI supply chain runs through vendors a buyer does not control.[1]

In the Discover stage, Cranium says a buyer gains visibility into every AI model, agent, dataset and vendor across the enterprise and builds one living system of record. Cranium describes automated AI discovery and inventory, and an AI Bill of Materials for each system.[1][10]

In the Observe stage, Cranium says buyers can track, evaluate and understand complex model and agent behaviors, along with token usage and cost efficiency. Cranium describes sessions views, sequence diagrams of agent tool calls and event-level drill-downs. It cites 100+ risk signals and 250+ intent classifications. Cranium says verdicts come from deterministic classifiers, and that Trace shows the samples, labels and relevance scores behind each decision.[1][6][11]

In the Govern stage, Cranium says buyers can define, implement and enforce AI policy, mapped to NIST AI RMF, the EU AI Act and internal standards. Cranium also names ISO 42001 as a mapped framework. Cranium ComplianceAgent automates framework completion with human oversight, and continuous compliance scoring shows where each system stands.[1][12]

In the Secure stage, Cranium says buyers can stress-test models against real-world threats, surface vulnerabilities and apply targeted controls before and after deployment. Cranium Arena is its agent-based red teaming, using MITRE ATLAS, OWASP and Cranium AI threat libraries. Cranium Arena Shield turns findings into auto-generated remediations and guardrails, and re-tests to verify the fix.[1][13]

In the Prove stage, Cranium says buyers can demonstrate compliance posture on demand and share evidence with customers, partners and regulators through real-time Cranium AI Cards and Trust Hubs.[1][14]

Cranium says it fits its controls to finance, life sciences and telecom. Cranium states that it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and ISO 27001 certified, and an active member of the U.S AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), established by NIST.[1][2][5][10]

Cranium on the record

Sources

Cranium full record

  1. [1]Cranium – Secure & Govern Enterprise AICranium · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cranium ai security 2023KPMG · kpmg.com · published April 5, 2023 · Tier A
  3. [3]Cranium AI and ISTARI Forge Global Alliance to Drive Enterprise AI Security and GovernanceCranium · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]AI Security & Governance Platform – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]AI Security & Governance Solutions – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Enterprise AI Security Solutions – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AI Compliance — EU AI Act, NIST & ISO 42001 – CraniumCranium · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Cranium AI and ISTARI Forge Global Alliance to Drive Enterprise AI Security and GovernanceBusiness Wire · published May 21, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cranium Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  10. [10]For Security Teams – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI Observability & Runtime Monitoring – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]AI Governance & Policy Enforcement – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]AI Red Teaming & Attack Simulation – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]For Compliance & Risk Leaders – Cranium AICranium · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Cranium AI Acquires Aiceberg to Strengthen its End-to-End AI Security, Governance and Agentic AI PlatformCranium AI · published May 21, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Cranium AI Issues Critical Remediation for Vulnerability to Protect Leading AI Coding AssistantsBusiness Wire · published February 4, 2026 · Tier A

IBM full record

  1. [1]SecurityIBM · ibm.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]AboutIBM · ibm.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]IBMIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]IBM watsonxIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Application Vulnerability Management - IBM ConcertIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Coding Agent and Development Partner for Enterprise | IBMIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]IBM CloudantIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]IBM Cloud Free TierIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Maximo Application Suite | IBMIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Pricing Maximo Application Suite - IBM Maximo Application SuiteIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Data Center Asset Management | IBM Application SuiteIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Renewables Energy Asset Performance Management | IBM Application SuiteIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]IBM ILOG CPLEX Optimization StudioIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]IBM SPSS AmosIBM · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]IBM acquires Confluent to connect, process and govern real-time data for applications and AI agentsIBM · published March 17, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]IBM Acquires Logiq Consulting to Expand Secure Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity Capabilities in the UKIBM · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]IBM expands AI security push as cyberattacks accelerate | IBMIBM Think · published May 21, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]IBM App Connect Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & FeaturesG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

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