CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

IBM vs Knostic

IBM Vault is offered for securing machine and agent identities. Knostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork. 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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  • IBM
  • Knostic
IBM vs Knostic: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
IBMIBM Vault is offered for securing machine and agent identities.ibm.comKnosticKnostic discovers and secures agents, coding assistants, and their supply chain, from MCP to skills and Code to Cowork.knostic.ai
What it sells
  • IBM Cloudant[7]A JSON document database built on CouchDB technology.
  • IBM Maximo Application Suite[9]A unified asset and facilities management solution.
  • Kirin[4][5][6][7][11]Runs on the endpoint inside supported agents. Denies or blocks unsafe agent actions.
  • AgentMesh[4][5][6][7][11]Rates every skill, server, and extension.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesReston, United States[3]
Founded
1911[2]2023[2][7]
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesPrivately held[5]
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • 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]
  • June 12, 2026Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.[10]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[18]
  • 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, 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.From its own pages, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers. Its pages describe developers and business users who install agents, extensions, MCP servers, and skills from open ecosystems. It lists an inventory export described as a register of AI systems for compliance and risk reporting. Its stated support covers macOS and Windows.
Last verified
November 4, 2026September 27, 2026

Where they overlap

  • IBM and Knostic are both filed under AI governance.

Where they differ, field by field

  • IBM's primary category is Data security posture management; Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
  • IBM is also filed under Workforce IAM and SSO and Endpoint management and application control.
  • IBM lists IBM Cloudant and IBM Maximo Application Suite. Knostic lists Kirin and AgentMesh.
  • Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
  • IBM was founded in 1911. Knostic was founded in 2023.
  • Knostic 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.

What it sells: Knostic

What Kirin does[4][5][6][7][11]
Kirin runs on the endpoint inside supported agents and sees the tools, extensions, servers, and skills actually installed and used. Kirin denies a destructive command before it executes, tells the developer why, and logs a Prevented alert for the SOC. Kirin blocks the connection to an MCP server before it is established, after AgentMesh scans and rates the server. Kirin deploys as an extension for Cursor and VS Code.
What AgentMesh does[4][5][6][7][11]
AgentMesh rates every skill, server, and extension. AgentMesh scans MCP servers for prompt injection, malicious behaviour, and supply-chain risk. AgentMesh detects prompt injection in skills, MCP servers, and extensions before install. Every paid AgentMesh plan includes Kirin IDE security.

Questions about IBM and Knostic

What do IBM and Knostic sell?
IBM sells IBM Cloudant and IBM Maximo Application Suite. Knostic sells Kirin and AgentMesh.
Are IBM and Knostic in the same category?
They share AI governance. IBM's primary category is Data security posture management and Knostic's is AI model and agent security.
Where are IBM and Knostic headquartered?
Knostic is headquartered in Reston, United States.
When were IBM and Knostic founded?
IBM was founded in 1911. Knostic was founded in 2023.
Who owns IBM and Knostic?
Knostic is privately held.
Who are IBM and Knostic sold to?
From its own pages, IBM sells to operations, maintenance and facility teams through its asset and facilities management solution. From its own pages, the company sells mainly to developers and teams that use AI coding agents and IDEs, with plans written for individual developers, growing teams, and engineering managers.
What have IBM and Knostic announced recently?
September 24, 2026: IBM UK announced its acquisition of Logiq Consulting, a UK cybersecurity consultancy. June 12, 2026: Knostic was recognized in the Cloud Security Alliance's first Agentic AI Security Innovator Market Map.

About IBM

IBM Vault is offered for securing machine and agent identities. IBM provides governance of machine identities, secrets and access across hybrid environments. Riverty is named as a user of built-in security from IBM Vault. IBM sells watsonx Orchestrate for bringing agents under control. IBM offers management, governance, security and optimization of AI agents across their complete lifecycle, regardless of where they were built or run. Scuderia Ferrari is named as a user of watsonx Orchestrate to automate fan content. Skechers is named as a customer that modernized its cloud infrastructure with IBM Terraform.[1][3]

IBM offers automated governance for managing AI risks, simplifying regulatory compliance and creating responsible, explainable AI workflows. IBM offers an integrated, collaborative, end-to-end developer studio that features an AI developer toolkit and full AI lifecycle management for developing custom AI applications. IBM offers data management that prepares and integrates data from anywhere, in any format. IBM watsonx Code Assistant provides AI-powered playbook generation, code explanations and personalized recommendations for IT automation.[4]

IBM states that AI is increasing the speed and scale of vulnerability discovery across applications, dependencies and infrastructure. IBM states that vulnerability scoring systems like CVSS measure technical severity, not real-world exploitability, business context or operational impact. IBM Concert Protect applies AI-powered automation and contextual risk intelligence to application vulnerability management. Concert generates AI-powered insights including tailored remediation steps, attack vectors and guidance. Concert has a unified dashboard that shows vulnerabilities across applications, containers and infrastructure. Code-based auto-remediation enables fixes directly in code before production. Concert has built-in SCA capabilities that extend visibility into SBOMs, CI/CD pipelines and software packages, and scan open-source and third-party components for vulnerabilities, outdated libraries and license compliance issues.[3][5]

IBM Concert for Z is an AI-powered IT operations management hub for mainframe resilience. IBM Concert for Power automates the entire patch and update lifecycle. IBM Concert integrates with Instana to automate the collection of resilience data across Non-Functional Requirements. IBM introduces IBM Bob Premium Package for DevSecOps to bring security closer to where software is created and reviewed while keeping developers in control. IBM Bob stops risky packages as the agent writes, flags issues as developers save, runs deeper AI security scans on demand and keeps people in control throughout. IBM Bob premium packages extend Bob with capabilities tailored to specific development environments.[5][6]

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. IBM Cloudant has layered additional open-source technologies for full text search and geospatial indexing capabilities. IBM Cloud includes a service that adds authentication to mobile and web apps and protects APIs and back ends running on IBM Cloud.[7][8]

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. IBM builds the suite for operations, maintenance and facility teams. 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. IBM Maximo is used to digitize the entire data center asset lifecycle. IBM Maximo Renewables is for energy operators managing solar, wind and battery storage portfolios. KP Group is named as a customer that automates asset performance, reporting and compliance across 70+ sites with IBM Maximo Renewables. VPI is named as a customer that needed a consistent way to manage assets, maintenance, safety and compliance across four power plants.[9][10][11][12]

IBM ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio is now available as part of IBM Decision Intelligence Enterprise Edition, which brings together decision automation, optimization and intelligent decision management capabilities. CPLEX Optimizer and CP Optimizer solve mathematical programming, constraint programming and constraint-based scheduling problems. IBM supports developing optimization models for on-premises, cloud or hybrid environments. IBM SPSS Amos is structural equation modeling software that extends regression, factor and variance analysis. SPSS Amos is a standalone application available on Windows and is included in SPSS Statistics Premium.[1][3][4][6][10][13][14]

IBM on the record

Sources

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

Knostic full record

  1. [1]Knostic - The control plane for agentic AI on the endpointKnostic · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Ending llm oversharing we raised 11 million to secure enterprise aiKnostic · knostic.ai · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Rsac 2025 innovation sandbox knostic reshaping the access control paradigm for enterprise ai securitySecurity Boulevard · securityboulevard.com · published April 25, 2025 · Tier B
  4. [4]Shadow AI Discovery & Governance - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Pricing - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]AI Agent Security - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]MCP Security Posture Management - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Terms of Service - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Knostic Knostic Trust Center | Powered by SafeBaseKnostic · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Knostic Featured Across Three Categories in CSA's Agentic AI Security Innovator Market MapKnostic · published June 12, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Prompt Injection Defense - KnosticKnostic · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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