CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

CyCognito vs IONIX

CyCognito sells a platform for external attack surface management that identifies and validates exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets. IONIX sells an External Exposure Management platform designed to discover, validate, and remediate external exposures across the full organizational footprint. CISO Tribune files both under External attack surface management. 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.

Change the companies

Up to four companies side by side.

  • CyCognito
  • IONIX
CyCognito vs IONIX: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CyCognitoCyCognito sells a platform for external attack surface management that identifies and validates exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets.cycognito.comIONIXIONIX sells an External Exposure Management platform designed to discover, validate, and remediate external exposures across the full organizational footprint.ionix.io
What it sells
  • CyCognito PlatformA platform that automatically discovers, tests and prioritizes an organization's internet-facing assets and risks by simulating how an attacker would view the organization.
  • External Exposure Management[2]A platform designed to discover, validate, and remediate external exposures across the full organizational footprint.
  • Active Protection[2]Freezes vulnerable assets to halt exploitation before the responsible team applies a fix.
  • WAF Posture Management[3]Application security and WAF posture management with mitigation of exposures.
Categories
Headquarters
Palo Alto, United StatesNot 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
  • July 31, 2026IONIX announced it has joined the Technology Partner Program of Akamai Technologies, Inc.[4]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 3, 2026[3]
  • 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
From its own pages, CyCognito sells mainly to enterprise security teams that want to find and test their internet-facing assets. A case study covers a healthcare conglomerate running a hospital network. CyCognito says its testing covers attack surfaces with millions of assets and tens of thousands of web applications.Our reading is that the pages address teams that need evidence-backed exploitability confirmation rather than severity scores. The pages point to organizations running Validated CTEM programs. The pages point to organizations managing cyber risk in subsidiaries and in M&A deals, including before a deal closes.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 8, 2026

Where they overlap

  • External attack surface management is the primary category of both CyCognito and IONIX.

Where they differ, field by field

  • IONIX is also filed under Exposure prioritisation and CTEM and WAF and WAAP.
  • CyCognito lists CyCognito Platform. IONIX lists External Exposure Management, Active Protection and WAF Posture Management.
  • CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both CyCognito and IONIX under External attack surface management as the primary category. CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States, and sells CyCognito Platform, which discovers, tests and prioritizes internet-facing assets by simulating how an attacker would view the organization. IONIX sells External Exposure Management, a platform designed to discover, validate and remediate external exposures across the full organizational footprint. CISO Tribune also files IONIX under Exposure prioritisation and CTEM, and under WAF and WAAP.

On discovery, CyCognito says its approach requires zero input, zero seeds, zero configuration and zero onboarding. IONIX says it starts from an organizational entity map instead of a seed list, built from corporate registrations, M&A records and subsidiary filings. IONIX also says it uses nine independent discovery methods, including WHOIS records, DNS chains and TLS certificates. On testing, CyCognito says it runs more than 100,000 security tests across more than 30 exposure categories using unauthenticated black-box techniques. IONIX says it performs non-disruptive active exploitability testing and tests the full exploit chain from outside the perimeter. CyCognito describes a Remediation Planner tool for organizations and their subsidiaries. IONIX lists Active Protection, which freezes vulnerable assets before the responsible team applies a fix, and WAF Posture Management as separate offerings.

For customers, CyCognito publishes a case study on Asklepios, a healthcare conglomerate that the page describes as operating a hospital network with 50,000 employees. On July 31, 2026, IONIX announced it has joined the Technology Partner Program of Akamai Technologies, Inc.

What it sells: IONIX

What External Exposure Management does[2]
External Exposure Management is an IONIX platform designed to discover, validate, and remediate external exposures across the full organizational footprint. The platform maps subsidiaries, acquisitions, affiliated brands and digital supply chain dependencies before scanning, using corporate registrations, M&A records, and subsidiary filings. The platform tests the full exploit chain from outside the perimeter, covering network reachability, authentication state, runtime behavior, and compensating controls. The platform integrates with JIRA, ServiceNow, SIEM platforms, and CDN/WAF providers.
What Active Protection does[2]
Active Protection from IONIX freezes vulnerable assets to halt exploitation before the responsible team applies a fix. Active Protection coverage extends to DNS hijacking, dangling asset takeover, and exposed services.
What WAF Posture Management does[3]
IONIX covers application security and WAF Posture Management. IONIX integrates with CDN/WAF providers, regardless of the primary security stack.

Questions about CyCognito and IONIX

What do CyCognito and IONIX sell?
CyCognito sells CyCognito Platform. IONIX sells External Exposure Management, Active Protection and WAF Posture Management.
Are CyCognito and IONIX in the same category?
Yes. External attack surface management is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are CyCognito and IONIX headquartered?
CyCognito is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States.
Who are CyCognito and IONIX sold to?
From its own pages, CyCognito sells mainly to enterprise security teams that want to find and test their internet-facing assets. Our reading is that the pages address teams that need evidence-backed exploitability confirmation rather than severity scores.
What have CyCognito and IONIX announced recently?
July 31, 2026: IONIX announced it has joined the Technology Partner Program of Akamai Technologies, Inc.

About CyCognito

CyCognito sells a platform for external attack surface management that identifies and validates exposures across an organization's internet-facing assets.[4]

CyCognito says its platform continuously identifies and validates critical exposures so that security teams can act where it matters most.[4]

On discovery, CyCognito says it maps every asset through deep black-box discovery and keeps running reconnaissance as the attack surface changes. CyCognito states that its discovery requires zero input, zero seeds, zero configuration and zero onboarding. The company says it auto-attributes each asset to its owner, the business function it serves and the data it holds, and fingerprints the tech stack the asset runs.[4][5]

On testing, CyCognito says it runs active security tests across the entire external footprint. CyCognito states that it runs more than 100,000 security tests across more than 30 exposure categories, including OWASP application weaknesses, authentication bypass, exposed data and injection vulnerabilities. CyCognito says it uses unauthenticated black-box techniques designed not to disrupt live traffic, modify data or require downtime. The company also says it tests whether WAF, API security controls, CSPM policies and authentication surfaces are present and behaving as expected.[6]

CyCognito says it uses Target Graph to map business, security and stack context across all exposed assets, and that agents use it to orchestrate pentesting campaigns that chain attacks, deliver proof and adjust as the surface changes.[6]

On prioritization, CyCognito says its prioritization considers asset attractiveness to attackers, business context, targeted threat intelligence and results from 100,000+ tests. CyCognito says its remediation validation feature automatically checks if a remediation attempt has been successful, and that its Remediation Planner tool builds remediation plans for organizations and their subsidiaries.[5][6]

On customers, CyCognito publishes a case study on Asklepios, a healthcare conglomerate, which the page describes as operating a hospital network with 50,000 employees.[7]

CyCognito's CEO and Co-Founder is Rob Gurzeev, who the company says has led the development of offensive security solutions for both the private sector and intelligence agencies.[1][2][4][5][8]

CyCognito on the record

Sources

CyCognito full record

  1. [1]CompanyCyCognito · cycognito.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cycognito secures 100m to accelerate next evolution of attack surface managementDark Reading · darkreading.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier B
  3. [3]CyCognito Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  4. [4]Preemptive Exposure Management | ASM Leader | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Qualys vs CyCognito | Qualy AlternativesCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Continuous Security Validation | AutoPT | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Healthcare Conglomerate Asklepios Significantly Improves Risk Exposure with CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]API Security: 2026 Guide to Threats, Challenges, and Best Practices | CyCognitoCyCognito · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A

IONIX full record

  1. [1]Threat exposure managementIONIX · ionix.io · undated page, accessed November 8, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Top 5 Falcon Exposure Management Alternatives (2026)IONIX · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Preemptive Exposure Mitigation - IONIXIONIX · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]IONIX Joins Akamai Technology Partner Program to Deliver Unified Visibility and Protection Across the Enterprise External Attack SurfaceIONIX · published July 31, 2026 · Tier A

Spot a factual error? Request a correction.