Vectra vs. Darktrace
read why 91% of organizations choose vectra over darktrace
Innovation versus marketing. It’s that simple.
1. Capture data
Sensors extract relevant metadata, logs and telemetry from all network traffic in Cloud/SaaS, data center, IoT, and enterprise environments.
A uniquely efficient enterprise software architecture developed from Day 1, along with custom-developed processing engines, enable data capture and processing with unprecedented scale.
NETWORK TRAFFIC
THREAT INTELLIGENCE
ACTIVE DIRECTORY LOGS
DHCP LOGS
2. Normalize data
Traffic flows are deduplicated and a custom flow engine extracts network metadata to detect attacker behaviors.
The characteristics of every flow are recorded, including the ebb and flow, timing, traffic direction, and size of packets data. Each flow is then attributed to a host and account rather than being identified by an IP address.
IP-TO-HOST NAME ASSOCIATION
TRAFFIC DIRECTIONALITY
DEDUPLICATION
HOST ID
3. Enrich data
Vectra security researchers and data scientists build and continually tune scores of self-learning behavioral models that enrich the metadata with machine learning-derived security information.
These models fortify network data with key security attributes, including security patterns (e.g. beacons), normal patterns (e.g. learnings), precursors (e.g.weak signals), attacker behaviors, account scores, host scores, and correlated attack campaigns.
SECURITY PATTERNS (e.g. BEACONS)
NORMAL PATTERNS (LEARNING)
PRECURSORS (WEAK SIGNALS)
ATTACKER BEHAVIORS
ACCOUNT SCORES
SAVED SEARCH
HOST SCORES
CAMPAIGNS
4. Detect and Respond
Detect
Scores of custom-built attacker behavior models detect threats automatically and in real time, before they do damage.
Detected threats are automatically triaged, prioritized based on risk level, and correlated with compromised workloads, accounts and host devices.
Tier-1 automation condenses weeks or months of work into minutes and significantly reduces the security analyst workload.
Respond
Machine learning-derived attributes like host identity, account privilege and beaconing provide vital context that reveals the broader scale and scope of an attack.
Custom-engineered investigative workbench is optimized for security-enriched metadata and enables sub-second searches at scale.
This puts the most relevant information at your fingertips by augmenting detections with actionable context to eliminate the endless hunt and search for threats.
Automatically shut down accounts or hosts involved in the attack based on configurable thresholds.
Security moves fast. Security vendors must innovate to stay ahead of attackers, which means investing heavily in R&D. Vectra invests over 40% of revenue on R&D. Other innovators like Palo Alto Networks, Crowdstrike, and ZScaler all spend 25%+ of revenue on R&D year after year. By sharp contrast, Darktrace spent only 10% of revenue on R&D in 2021… UP from 6% in 2020. Instead of investing in innovation, Darktrace spends on F1 sponsorships and slick marketing campaigns.
Would you rather trust your security to a proven technology innovator, or a marketing company that skimps on R&D?
Competitive Comparison
Vectra
User Interface
Designed to Use
Vectra knows that time and people are the most important resources for every security team.
Vectra’s interface is clean, intuitive, and gives efficient workflows for what an operator does every day.
Detection Methodology
Finds and Stops Attackers
Vectra is laser-focused on detecting attacker methods, aligned with frameworks like MITRE. Our data scientists use the optimal ML technique for each, using dozens of techniques in total.
The result: Vectra’s customers report a 300% increase in detection of actual threats and 75% faster resolution time, leading to a 57% reduction in impactful security incidents.
Prioritization
Immediate and Complete
Vectra immediately analyzes and scores every account or host exhibiting signs of attacker activity, clearly prioritizing for both automated and human response.
Tuning
AI-Assisted and Transparent
Vectra uses AI to analyze all detections and recommend which behaviors to authorize for your environment. We define and manage triage rules centrally, making the changes transparent and reducing operational overhead.
Scalability
Built for Enterprise
Vectra scales for the enterprise, analyzing up to 75Gbps of network traffic from 300K hosts in a single “brain”. This traffic can be sourced from a mix of cloud, virtual, and high-scale physical sensors for maximum flexibility.
Focus
Vectra is Best-of-Breed Detection and Response
Vectra is a detection and response specialist, focused on depth of coverage for the most important attack surfaces in network, cloud, identity, and key SaaS applications.
We don’t build checkboxes, we go deep to deliver outcomes for customers that care about doing security right.
Darktrace
Designed to Demo
Spinning globes and tracers look great in a demo. But do they help an operator do their job faster and more reliably?
Those UI gimmicks serve to mask the lack of actual UX investment. Inconsistent and inefficient workflows slow users down and increase the risk of a real threat being missed.
Only Tells You What's Different
Darktrace focuses on learning the “pattern of life” and then alerting on things that are different.
This approach confuses “different” with “threat”. Skilled attackers blend in and evade such simplistic detection.
The result: lots of irrelevant noise that misses key threat signals.
Hours Late With Limited Visibility
Darktrace’s Cyber AI analyst delivers results hours after detection, taking away critical time and putting your business at risk. Further, you can’t see anything not selected for the report, eliminating your team’s ability to add judgement about what matters.
Manual and Opaque
Tuning Darktrace to manage noise requires manually creating whitelisting and “defeats” in individual models – and there are hundreds. There is no centralized place to see and manage the customizations, creating both operational overhead and risks of blind spots.
Built for Small Environments
Darktrace only scales to analyze 5Gbps of network traffic and a maximum of 50K hosts in a single analysis appliance. In practice, this is often much lower due to connection limits.
This means complex traffic engineering, a fractured view of the analysis (lots of small pieces), and lots of hardware to deploy and manage.
Checkbox Security: Darktrace Does a Little Bit of Everything
Email security, network. endpoint agents, a laundry list of SaaS apps. Detection and response. Prevention. Lots of things to try and cover, especially for a company that skimps on R&D.
Darktrace is a mile wide and an inch deep and targets organizations looking for checkbox functionality.
Why It Matters
In a Word: Speed
“With Darktrace, I have to go through lots of flashy things, not necessarily useful things before I start looking into a problem or detection. Whereas Vectra is far more accessible and readable from the start.”
- Head of IT Operations and IT Security, Telematics Company
Vectra Finds the Threats That Matter
“We evaluated Darktrace, in addition to Vectra, each in a PoC. We chose Vectra because the things that Vectra picked up were far more useful, and necessary from an enterprise point of view. Darktrace was a bit noisier.”
- Sr. Security Specialist, Mining and Metals Company
Every Minute Matters
Minutes can make the difference between stopping a threat like ransomware and having your business disrupted. Wasting hours to get the prioritized signal to your team is simply unacceptable.
Reduces Operational Overhead
Automating and centralizing tuning reduces the time spent managing rules. Transparency prevents hidden blind spots created from a patchwork of hundreds of hidden ‘any-any’ rules.
Complexity and Cost
Vectra simplifies deployment, traffic engineering, management, and hardware cost in large networks. Additionally, the ability for AI models to analyze across the organization—rather than creating a fractured view—enables better security outcomes.
Your Team Deserves the Best
You focus on hiring great people. They deserve the best tools.
Easier to use.
Fewer alerts.
Better detections.
Hear it directly in the words of a customer.
*Terms and conditions apply. Contact us for details.
Understand the value and IT impact you can achieve with Vectra Cognito from IDC
IDC shares how organizations using the Cognito platform will
- Experience 63% lower risk of a significant security event
- Become 85% more efficient in identifying actual threats
- Achieve an improved high-availability with 85% less unplanned outages
What Our Customers Say
“We weren’t convinced by Darktrace. It had a dazzling interface but didn’t operate very efficiently.”
Head of Security
Global Financial Services Firm
“I found Darktrace was a bit noisier than Vectra. Sometimes, when you deal with products like this, the noise is time and effort that you may not necessarily have. Whereas, I like the way Vectra tells you exactly the things that are happening right now in your network, then groups it based on exactly what the type is, providing you a risk score.”
Manager IT Security
Energy & Utilities Company
“We evaluated Darktrace, in addition to Vectra, each in a PoC. We chose Vectra because the things that Vectra picked up were far more useful, and necessary from an enterprise point of view. Darktrace was a bit noisier."
Senior Security Specialist
Mining & Metals Company
“We looked online at Darktrace. Our initial engagement with Darktrace wasn't good enough to provide confidence in their platform. Vectra stood out for its simplicity and the general confidence that I had with the people whom I was engaging and having conversations with at that time.”
Global Security Operations Mgr
Manufacturing Company
