CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

HiddenLayer vs Nametag

HiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build. Nametag sells identity verification that combines cryptography, biometrics and AI to verify the real person behind high-risk account actions. 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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  • HiddenLayer
  • Nametag
HiddenLayer vs Nametag: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HiddenLayerHiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build.hiddenlayer.comNametagNametag sells identity verification that combines cryptography, biometrics and AI to verify the real person behind high-risk account actions.getnametag.com
What it sells
  • 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.
  • Recruit[2][7]Verifies a candidate's identity at application, interview, and offer stages.
  • Onboard[3][4][7][8]Verifies a new hire's identity at device provisioning and credential issuance.
  • Helpdesk[4][5][6]Lets agents verify users from a turnkey console or inside an ITSM platform.
  • Self-Service Account Recovery[4]Redirects locked-out employees to a custom-branded self-service recovery page.
  • Agentic AI[12]Verifies the human behind an AI agent action before the action executes.
  • Step-up[10]Provides step-up authentication for high-risk scenarios.
Categories
Headquarters
Austin, United States[2]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2022[2]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Privately held[3]Not stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • August 12, 2026HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer.[14]
Not stated on its pages
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
HiddenLayer 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.From its own pages, Nametag sells mainly to organisations that need to verify the identities of employees and customers and secure access to their accounts. Financial services is one industry Nametag addresses directly, with user flows and e-ID support for financial services users. Recruiters and hiring teams are served through candidate checks whose pass or fail decision is written back to the candidate record. Support agents are served through verification from a console or inside an ITSM platform. Customer support teams are addressed through solutions that protect customer accounts when customers contact support.
Last verified
November 2, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • HiddenLayer and Nametag are both filed under AI model and agent security.

Where they differ, field by field

  • HiddenLayer's primary category is AI model and agent security; Nametag's is Identity verification.
  • HiddenLayer is also filed under AI firewalls and guardrails. Nametag is also filed under Customer identity and access management and Workforce IAM and SSO.
  • HiddenLayer lists Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection. Nametag lists Recruit, Onboard, Helpdesk, Self-Service Account Recovery, Agentic AI and 1 more.
  • HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
  • HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.
  • HiddenLayer is privately held.

What it sells: Nametag

What Recruit does[2][7]
Recruit integrates natively with Workday Recruiting and Greenhouse. In Workday, verification triggers automatically as a candidate advances stages. Nametag writes a pass or fail decision back to the candidate record.
What Onboard does[3][4][7][8]
Onboard is built specifically to combat North Korean IT worker schemes and other hiring fraud, ensuring only verified hires can set up new devices or obtain directory credentials. Onboard supports 11,000+ document types, omni-channel verification across voice, chat, and email, and native iOS and Android apps.
What Helpdesk does[4][5][6]
Helpdesk integrates with ServiceNow and Zendesk, sending verification requests and showing results directly inside those existing workflows. Nametag's patented technologies match the user's live selfie to their government-issued photo ID.
What Self-Service Account Recovery does[4]
Nametag connects to identity providers, then redirects locked-out employees to a custom-branded self-service recovery page. Once verified, self-service users can reset their own passwords and MFA tokens based on customizable group-based permissioning.
What Agentic AI does[12]
When an AI agent attempts a sensitive task, Nametag confirms a specific verified person authorized it, and creates a cryptographic record of that authorization at that moment. Agentic AI is currently integrated with Okta, which enforces authentication policies requiring Nametag verification in defined AI scenarios.
What Step-up does[10]
Step-up is available as an External Authentication Method for Okta, Microsoft Entra, and Cloudflare, and can be embedded directly into ServiceNow and Zendesk support workflows. Nametag's mobile SDK lets organisations build custom, secure step-up authentication flows directly inside their own mobile app.

Questions about HiddenLayer and Nametag

What do HiddenLayer and Nametag sell?
HiddenLayer sells Model Scanning, Red Teaming, AI Guardrails and Agentic and MCP Protection. Nametag sells Recruit, Onboard, Helpdesk, Self-Service Account Recovery, Agentic AI and 1 more.
Are HiddenLayer and Nametag in the same category?
They share AI model and agent security. HiddenLayer's primary category is AI model and agent security and Nametag's is Identity verification.
Where are HiddenLayer and Nametag headquartered?
HiddenLayer is headquartered in Austin, United States.
When were HiddenLayer and Nametag founded?
HiddenLayer was founded in 2022.
Who owns HiddenLayer and Nametag?
HiddenLayer is privately held.
Who are HiddenLayer and Nametag sold to?
HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. From its own pages, Nametag sells mainly to organisations that need to verify the identities of employees and customers and secure access to their accounts.
What have HiddenLayer and Nametag announced recently?
August 12, 2026: HiddenLayer announced the appointment of Mike Gesnaldo as Chief Revenue Officer.

About HiddenLayer

HiddenLayer sells AI security that analyzes AI applications, models, and assets, identifies their risks, and protects them as teams build. HiddenLayer builds an inventory of the AI applications, models, and assets in a customer environment. HiddenLayer offers a firewall that monitors, detects, and responds in real time to adversarial threats on agentic and generative AI applications. HiddenLayer continually identifies threats and validates defenses for agentic and generative AI applications.[1]

HiddenLayer says developers are embedding AI into tools and workflows faster than security teams can track. HiddenLayer says third-party models introduce unknown code and vulnerabilities. HiddenLayer says coding agents can read sensitive files, execute shell commands, install dependencies, or expose credentials. HiddenLayer says attackers can manipulate AI systems through prompts, retrieved content, tool output, or other untrusted inputs.[1][4][5]

HiddenLayer automatically builds a living inventory of AI across an environment, including shadow AI. HiddenLayer scans cloud accounts, repos, endpoints, and pipelines to detect every model and associated agent. HiddenLayer scans AWS, Azure, GCP, VMs, containers, and APIs for AI assets. HiddenLayer automatically associates AI assets with owners, business units, sensitivity, and risk levels. HiddenLayer aligns AI assets with NIST, OWASP, and ATLAS frameworks.[6][7]

HiddenLayer analyzes models for malware, vulnerabilities, backdoors, and unknown components before they reach production. HiddenLayer scans model files and URLs for malware, CVEs, backdoors, and integrity issues before deployment. HiddenLayer analyzes architectures, layers, weights, and artifacts for tampering or anomalies. HiddenLayer tests commercial models for safety and security before integration. HiddenLayer identifies where models come from, including origin and licensing.[4][6][7][8]

HiddenLayer continuously tests AI systems against evolving attacks and uncovers weaknesses early. HiddenLayer tests for jailbreaks, injection, role confusion, and harmful response patterns. HiddenLayer probes for extraction of PHI, PII, or proprietary data. HiddenLayer simulates unauthorized actions through agent tools and APIs.[6][9][10]

HiddenLayer detects and responds to AI attacks in production. HiddenLayer monitors prompts, outputs, memory, and agent actions in real time to detect and block prompt injection, data leakage, model theft, and unsafe tool use. HiddenLayer observes and reconstructs agent interactions across tools, data, and workflows in real time. HiddenLayer detects, blocks, or redacts unsafe actions and sensitive information according to policy and platform capabilities. HiddenLayer integrates runtime detections and enforcement events with existing SIEM, SOAR, and security operations workflows. HiddenLayer extends Runtime Security into AI coding agents through lightweight, on-device integration.[5][6][10]

HiddenLayer enforces boundaries around content, toxicity, bias, and regulatory restrictions. HiddenLayer detects and prevents PII, PHI, and proprietary data exposure in generated content. HiddenLayer enforces safe, compliant, and policy aligned AI behavior across applications, models, and business units. HiddenLayer combines safety guardrails with real time threat detection and prompt injection blocking. HiddenLayer protects autonomous agents and MCP based systems from prompt injection, unsafe tool use, and harmful autonomous actions.[1][6][11]

HiddenLayer says its platform deploys across any architecture without exposing intellectual property, weights, prompts, or customer data. HiddenLayer offers deployment through APIs, gateways, SDKs, or lightweight on-device integrations. HiddenLayer offers services modeled after active adversarial campaigns targeting enterprise AI applications. HiddenLayer services evaluate every layer from AI asset discovery to data and model supply chains to runtime environments. HiddenLayer services provide detailed remediation playbooks tailored to models, infrastructure, and compliance needs. HiddenLayer services work in concert with the HiddenLayer AI Security Platform for ongoing protection. HiddenLayer services align with emerging AI governance standards, including NIST AI RMF and EU AI Act requirements.[4][6][12]

HiddenLayer describes securing AI used for fraud detection, trading, compliance, and customer engagement. HiddenLayer describes establishing governance controls aligned with FFIEC and OCC frameworks. HiddenLayer detects malware, tampered artifacts, and backdoored weights in pretrained models and libraries. HiddenLayer protects agentic, generative, and predictive AI systems for mission assurance.[1][4][6][10][13]

HiddenLayer on the record

Sources

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

Nametag full record

  1. [1]getnametag.comNametag · getnametag.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]PressNametag · getnametag.com · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Nametag - Identity Verification and Account ProtectionNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]About Us - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Security FAQ | Nametag Legal CenterNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Helpdesk Verification and Impersonation Defense - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Candidate Verification - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Secure Employee Onboarding - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Self-Service Account Recovery - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Customer Verification Solutions - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Agentic AI Security with Verified Human Signatures - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Identity Verification Solutions for Financial Services - NametagNametag · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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