Deception technology platforms: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank deception technology platforms by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Deception technology platforms used to plant decoys, detect lateral movement, and surface attacker behavior earlier in the kill chain. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 18, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Acalvio leads the deception technology platforms category with a composite score of 7.5, more than double the score of its nearest rivals Rapid7, Attivo Networks, and SentinelOne, which each sit at 3.8. Every other brand in the top 10 scores zero. The gap matters because even the category leader holds 0.0% visibility, meaning no brand in this space is being surfaced proactively by Google AI Mode. The entire competitive dynamic is playing out through citations alone, not through unprompted AI mentions.
All 20 brands in this audit record 0.0% visibility, yet citation rates diverge sharply. Acalvio is cited in 25.0% of relevant AI responses, while Rapid7, Attivo Networks, and SentinelOne each reach 12.5%. Illusive, VMware, McAfee, Bitdefender, Check Point, and CounterCraft all register 0.0% citation. The category average citation rate is just 3.1%. This split shows that being named as a source in AI responses and being proactively described as a solution are two entirely separate outcomes here, and most brands achieve neither.
The top cited sources in this category are techtarget.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, gartner.com, zscaler.com, aimultiple.com, acalvio.com, and rapid7.com. Google AI Mode is the only engine recorded across all brands, suggesting the audit data anchors entirely on that engine. Acalvio and Rapid7 appear on the cited sources list directly, which likely explains their citation advantage. Gartner and TechTarget appearing as third-party sources indicates that analyst and editorial content is influencing AI responses more than most vendor sites in this category.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility fallers
-
Acalvio 12% → 0% · rank #1 → #1-12pp
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Rapid7 12% → 0% · rank #3 → #2-12pp
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CounterCraft 12% → 0% · rank #2 → #10-12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
acalvio.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Acalvio leads with a 7.5 composite score and 25.0% citation rate, double the citation rate of all three second-place brands, despite holding 0.0% visibility like every other brand. |
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| 2 |
rapid7.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Rapid7 shares a 3.8 composite score and 12.5% citation rate with ranks 3 and 4, but gained citation share even as its visibility dropped 12.5 percentage points from the prior period. |
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| 3 |
sentinelone.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Attivo Networks matches Rapid7 exactly at 3.8 composite and 12.5% citation, sharing a domain with SentinelOne, which creates ambiguity in how AI distinguishes the two entities. |
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| 4 |
sentinelone.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
SentinelOne records the same 3.8 composite and 12.5% citation as Attivo Networks, and both share the sentinelone.com domain, suggesting AI citations may conflate or overlap these two brands. |
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| 5 |
illusive.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Illusive scores 0.0 composite and 0.0% citation, placing it among six other brands at the bottom, well below the category average citation rate of 3.1%. |
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| 6 |
vmware.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
trellix.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
bitdefender.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
checkpoint.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
countercraftsec.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
canary.tools
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
fortinet.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
fidelissecurity.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
trapx.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
smokescreen.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
cymmetria.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
topia.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
crowdstrike.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
microsoft.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
akamai.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on deception technology platforms, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own deception technology platforms brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about deception technology platforms AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in deception technology platforms?
Acalvio leads with a composite score of 7.5 and a 25.0% citation rate, but holds 0.0% visibility, the same as every other brand in the category.
What is the overall AI visibility picture for deception technology platforms?
The category average visibility is 0.0% across all 20 brands, meaning Google AI Mode does not proactively surface any deception technology vendor in its responses without being prompted by a direct query that triggers a citation.
What sources does AI cite most for deception technology research?
The top cited sources are techtarget.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, gartner.com, zscaler.com, aimultiple.com, acalvio.com, and rapid7.com, with third-party editorial and analyst sites appearing alongside vendor domains.
Which brands have lost the most AI visibility recently in this category?
Acalvio, Rapid7, and CounterCraft each fell 12.5 percentage points in visibility from the prior period, with CounterCraft also dropping from rank 2 to rank 10.
Is there a meaningful gap between being cited and being visible in this category?
Yes. Acalvio is cited in 25.0% of responses but has 0.0% visibility, confirming that AI references deception technology brands as sources without proactively recommending them as solutions.
Which AI engine dominates coverage of deception technology platforms?
Google AI Mode is the only engine recorded for every brand in the audit, indicating that all citation and visibility activity in this category is currently concentrated on that single engine.