CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Hilt vs Island

Hilt sells a platform that maps data movement across cloud and endpoint infrastructure. Island sells an enterprise browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access. CISO Tribune files both under Data loss prevention. 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.

  • Hilt
  • Island
Hilt vs Island: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
HiltHilt sells a platform that maps data movement across cloud and endpoint infrastructure.hilt.aiIslandIsland sells an enterprise browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access.island.io
What it sells
  • Platform[3][4][5]Maps data movement across cloud and endpoint infrastructure.
  • Infrastructure[1][2][3][4]Collectors read activity at the kernel across Linux hosts, VMs, containers, and bare metal.
  • Endpoints[4]Kernel collectors on macOS and Windows plus a managed browser extension.
  • Auto-update agent[5]Optional agent that rolls out collector updates in the customer's cluster.
  • Enterprise Browser[2][4][5][6]A browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access.
  • Island Private Access[5]A ZTNA solution for web and desktop apps.
  • Island DEX[6]Collects analytics on application usage, performance, network and device health.
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 pagesPrivately held[5][6][16]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • September 24, 2026Island announced a $400 million Series F round led by Evolution Equity Partners, bringing its valuation to $6.4 billion.[14]
  • June 8, 2026Island and Pax8 introduced Island for SMBs on the Pax8 Marketplace, making it available to managed service provider partners and their SMB customers.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[16]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Hilt describes cases involving regulated customer records leaving onto an engineer's laptop and trading strategies leaving a firm for personal accounts. Hilt collectors cover Linux hosts, VMs, containers, and bare metal, and macOS and Windows devices. For airgapped environments, Hilt ships an offline bundle.Island addresses users who need to securely access their data and applications on any device, anywhere. Island is sold to organizations whose contractors need access to apps and resources from any device. Island is used by M&A teams for onboarding. Island sells to organizations that want employees to use approved AI tools while keeping PII, IP and financial records out of prompts and outputs.
Last verified
November 6, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Hilt and Island are both filed under Data loss prevention.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Hilt's primary category is Data loss prevention; Island's is Enterprise browsers.
  • Hilt is also filed under Insider risk management, Workforce AI usage security and Third-party risk and security ratings. Island is also filed under SASE and SSE and Zero trust network access.
  • Hilt lists Platform, Infrastructure, Endpoints and Auto-update agent. Island lists Enterprise Browser, Island Private Access and Island DEX.
  • Island is privately held.

What it sells: Hilt

What Platform does[3][4][5]
Hilt ties each move to a real person and the job that ran it, then scores it against how the data normally moves. Hilt uses a temporal GNN with proprietary ML models to score every move, and agentic investigation writes the case. Hilt deploys as a single-tenant platform inside the customer's own cloud account.
What Infrastructure does[1][2][3][4]
Hilt collectors read process, file, and network activity at the kernel across Linux hosts, VMs, containers, and bare metal. Hilt collectors roll across a fleet, one per host, with no reboot and no inline tap.
What Endpoints does[4]
Hilt device endpoints run kernel collectors on macOS and Windows, plus a managed browser extension across Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Chromium browsers. On macOS, Hilt uses a system collector and a managed browser extension to watch the last hop, resolved to the person and process behind it.
What Auto-update agent does[5]
The Hilt auto-update agent runs as a Kubernetes CronJob in the customer's cluster. The Hilt auto-update agent polls the Hilt release registry, mirrors new images into the customer's registries, rolls out the update, verifies health after rollout, and reports status to a configured webhook.

What it sells: Island

What Enterprise Browser does[2][4][5][6]
The Enterprise Browser installs locally on any device and is managed centrally through the cloud-based Island Management Console. Island automatically assesses device posture to ensure devices meet policy requirements. The Enterprise Browser defends against web-based threats, including malware, phishing attacks and session hijacking.
What Island Private Access does[5]
Island Private Access is a ZTNA solution for both web and desktop apps. Island Private Access offers a second deployment option for the Island Enterprise Browser to support access to private web applications and semi-private SaaS applications.

Questions about Hilt and Island

What do Hilt and Island sell?
Hilt sells Platform, Infrastructure, Endpoints and Auto-update agent. Island sells Enterprise Browser, Island Private Access and Island DEX.
Are Hilt and Island in the same category?
They share Data loss prevention. Hilt's primary category is Data loss prevention and Island's is Enterprise browsers.
Who owns Hilt and Island?
Island is privately held.
Who are Hilt and Island sold to?
Hilt describes cases involving regulated customer records leaving onto an engineer's laptop and trading strategies leaving a firm for personal accounts. Island addresses users who need to securely access their data and applications on any device, anywhere.
What have Hilt and Island announced recently?
September 24, 2026: Island announced a $400 million Series F round led by Evolution Equity Partners, bringing its valuation to $6.4 billion.

About Hilt

Hilt sells a platform that maps data movement across cloud and endpoint infrastructure. Hilt is Data Movement Governance for modern infrastructure. Hilt ties each move to a real person and the job that ran it, then scores it against how the data normally moves. Hilt uses a temporal GNN with proprietary ML models to score every move, and agentic investigation writes the case. Hilt says the most valuable data leaves on credentials that are supposed to have it.[1][2][3][4]

Hilt collectors are agents on customer hosts that produce metadata-level telemetry, shipped as a Linux static binary and a macOS managed agent. Hilt reads metadata only by default: who moved what, from where, to where, and how many bytes. Content-aware inspection in Hilt is a toggle the customer controls. Hilt supports both metadata-only and content inspection data collection. Hilt collectors read process, file, and network activity at the kernel across Linux hosts, VMs, containers, and bare metal. On macOS, Hilt uses a system collector and a managed browser extension to watch the last hop, resolved to the person and process behind it. Hilt device endpoints run kernel collectors on macOS and Windows, plus a managed browser extension across Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Chromium browsers. Hilt presents a move that begins on Linux and ends on macOS as one story, not three logs.[2][3][4][5]

One example rule is to alert when payroll data is uploaded outside the approved payroll job. Hilt can send findings to Slack or email, or export them to any SIEM. Hilt response options are to alert, block the upload, or isolate the host. Hilt observation runs off the data path, and enforcement is opt-in and acts at the endpoint, never inline on a server's high-throughput path.[2]

Hilt can isolate a host at the network from the control plane, quarantined while the rest of the fleet keeps running. Hilt intervention is optional and set per workload; on Linux the response is host quarantine, and on macOS Hilt can block the exfil itself. Whether Hilt alerts or quarantines the host, the customer gets a written case covering what happened, why it is unusual, the evidence, and what was done, in plain language. Hilt response is opt-in and off by default.[4]

Hilt deploys as a single-tenant platform inside the customer's own cloud account. Each customer receives a dedicated deployment in its own AWS account, GCP project, Azure subscription, or Ali Cloud account. Hilt applies a Terraform configuration to create the platform infrastructure in the account the customer nominates. The Hilt dashboard is a web application for investigation, detection rules, and administration, reached over private networking. The Hilt analytics database is a column store that holds normalized telemetry and findings. Hilt does not receive, mirror, or hold out-of-band access to customer events. The single exception is the anonymized data export, a core pipeline that transfers only anonymized statistical features after the customer's review and approval. A Hilt collector has exactly one outbound destination: the ingest endpoint, over HTTPS on TCP/443.[3]

Hilt collectors roll across a fleet, one per host, with no reboot, no inline tap, and nothing in front of the traffic. Hilt collectors run off the data path with no listening ports and one outbound rule, and cannot drop, delay, or alter a packet. Hilt operates the platform components in the customer's account, shipping releases, applying updates, and monitoring platform health. The Hilt auto-update agent runs as a Kubernetes CronJob in the customer's cluster. For airgapped environments, Hilt ships an offline bundle with the full artifact set.[4][5]

Hilt engineers do not hold standing access to the customer's environment. In the Hilt dashboard, teams constrain which hosts a user can see. Hilt records security-relevant actions to the audit log, which administrators manage.[1][2][5][6]

Hilt on the record

Sources

Hilt full record

  1. [1]hilt.aiHilt · hilt.ai · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Hilt | Data Movement Governance at the KernelHilt · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Architecture & data flow - Hilt DocumentationHilt · published October 8, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]The Hilt platform | Agentic Data Movement Governance at the kernelHilt · undated page, accessed November 11, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Security operations - Hilt DocumentationHilt · published October 8, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Access & identity - Hilt DocumentationHilt · published October 8, 2026 · Tier A

Island full record

  1. [1]island.ioIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]island.ioIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]PressIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]VDI Alternative | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Zero Trust | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Enterprise Browser | Data Protection and DLP | IslandIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]M&A Onboarding | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Island Platform | The Frontier Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]BYOD Workforce | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Third-Party Contractors | Island - The Enterprise BrowserIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Privileged Access Management | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]AI Agent Governance, AI Protection, and AI Browser | IslandIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]SaaS and Web Apps | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Island Announces $400 Million Series F, Bringing Valuation to $6.4 BillionIsland · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Island Brings the First Purpose-Built Workspace for SMBs to the Pax8 MarketplaceIsland · published June 8, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Island Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & FeaturesG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

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