Compete: Attack Surface Management
Xpanse Battle Cards

Where Xpanse Wins

• Active remediation: Xpanse's Active Response module automatically removes exposed services from the internet, blocks traffic via PANW firewalls, and triggers XDR endpoint isolation. Defender EASM is discovery-only — it finds the exposure but leaves remediation to manual processes.
• Non-Azure asset coverage: Defender EASM is Azure-centric. Xpanse discovers internet-facing assets across all cloud providers, on-premises, and third-party CDNs — not just Azure-registered resources.
• Default credential testing: Xpanse tests 40+ applications for default credentials. Defender EASM doesn't perform active security testing on discovered assets.
• AI infrastructure detection: Xpanse detects MCP Servers and emerging AI infrastructure. Defender EASM has no equivalent capability.
• XSOAR automation: Xpanse alerts trigger XSOAR playbooks for full automated response cycles — owner notification, remediation, and validation re-scanning. Defender EASM integrates with Logic Apps at a much more limited capability level.

Where They're Strong

• Accessible entry pricing: Azure consumption-based pricing makes Defender EASM very accessible for organizations already on Azure. "It's included" is a powerful objection in Microsoft shops.
• Native Azure integration: For organizations running heavily on Azure, Defender EASM's native integration with Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR simplifies the management workflow.
• Lower complexity: Faster time to initial visibility than Xpanse's more enterprise-grade deployment and seeding process.

Landmines to Set

• "Defender EASM finds the exposure — then what? Walk me through what happens after discovery. How does your team get from 'we found this exposed RDP service' to 'the service is no longer accessible from the internet' automatically?"
• "What percentage of your internet-facing assets are not Azure-registered — AWS workloads, on-prem, acquired company infrastructure? How does Defender EASM handle those?"
• "Ask Microsoft how their EASM handles M&A due diligence — can it assess a target company's external exposure before deal close without any access to the target's infrastructure?"

Key Objections

Where Xpanse Wins

• PANW ecosystem integration: Xpanse integrates natively with XDR (endpoint isolation), XSOAR (automated playbooks), and NGFW (firewall rule changes). CyCognito is tool-agnostic and requires connectors for every response action.
• Active Response automation: Xpanse can automatically remove exposed services from the internet, push NGFW block rules, and trigger XDR containment. CyCognito's remediation workflow is less automated — primarily risk notification and ticket creation.
• AI infrastructure detection: Xpanse has native detection for MCP Servers and emerging AI infrastructure. CyCognito has no equivalent capability for emerging AI attack surface.
• Enterprise scale: Xpanse is built for enterprise-scale with 500B+ daily port scans. CyCognito is competitive but positioned more towards mid-market and faster time-to-value scenarios.
• XSIAM inclusion: Xpanse capabilities are available as a module within XSIAM Premium — organizations on XSIAM don't need a separate standalone license. CyCognito has no comparable platform bundling option.

Where They're Strong

• Faster time to value: CyCognito is known for fast initial deployment and discovery with minimal configuration — a "plug in and go" experience vs. Xpanse's more complex enterprise onboarding.
• Attack path analysis: CyCognito's attack path simulation and business context scoring has strong demo appeal.
• Simpler pricing: CyCognito's commercial structure is often perceived as more accessible than Xpanse's enterprise-tier pricing.

Landmines to Set

• "After CyCognito identifies an exposure, walk me through what happens next — specifically, how does remediation get triggered and validated without manual tickets and waiting for an operations team?"
• "We have Palo Alto NGFWs and XDR deployed. How does CyCognito integrate with those natively to automatically block traffic or isolate endpoints when a high-risk exposure is confirmed?"
• "Does CyCognito detect exposed AI infrastructure — MCP servers, AI development environments, model endpoints? We're concerned about shadow AI infrastructure as a new attack surface."

Where Xpanse Wins

• Active remediation loop: Xpanse closes the loop from discovery to remediation with native playbooks. Censys finds exposures and provides prioritization — remediation requires separate ticketing and manual processes.
• PANW ecosystem native integration: Xpanse natively integrates with NGFW (block rules), XDR (endpoint isolation), and XSOAR (full playbook automation). Censys requires API/connector development for each integration.
• Business context scoring: Xpanse's ML-enhanced attribution and contextual risk scoring goes beyond port/service enumeration to include business criticality and exploitability correlation. Censys is stronger on raw port discovery depth.
• XSIAM inclusion option: For organizations on or moving to XSIAM, ASM capabilities are included in XSIAM Premium — making Xpanse's TCO calculation more favorable when included in a platform deal vs. Censys as a standalone tool.

Where They're Strong

• Raw scanning depth: Censys has exceptional internet scanning infrastructure and is respected for port and service enumeration quality. Threat researchers often prefer Censys for raw discovery data.
• Lower entry price: Censys ASM is priced more accessibly (~$60K+/year) than Xpanse, making it competitive in budget-constrained accounts.
• Research community credibility: Strong brand recognition in the security research community; threat intel teams often already use Censys data.

Landmines to Set

• "How does Censys ASM integrate with your Palo Alto firewall to automatically block traffic to a newly discovered exposed service — without opening a change ticket and waiting for ops approval?"
• "What's your process from Censys finding an exposed RDP port to that port being closed and verified? How many people and how many steps are involved?"
• "If we're already running Cortex XSIAM, do you know that ASM is included in the XSIAM Premium tier? What's the cost of Censys standalone vs. the incremental cost of upgrading XSIAM Premium?"

Where Xpanse Wins

• Outside-in discovery depth: Xpanse's agentless, credential-free discovery operates from the attacker's perspective and finds assets Qualys VMDR misses (shadow IT, unmanaged cloud resources, unknown subsidiaries). Qualys is strong for known/managed assets.
• Active Response automation: Xpanse can automatically remove exposed services and trigger downstream NGFW and XDR actions. Qualys EASM primarily provides discovery and vulnerability correlation — no native automated remediation playbooks.
• PANW ecosystem integration: Native XDR, XSOAR, and NGFW integration vs. Qualys needing API/connector development for PANW products. Xpanse's XSOAR pack already includes enrichment integrations with Qualys for vulnerability correlation — Xpanse and Qualys complement each other.
• Attack surface testing: Xpanse actively tests for default credentials and exploitability. Qualys EASM focuses primarily on discovery and known CVE mapping.

Where They're Strong

• Existing Qualys footprint: Organizations already running Qualys VMDR are receptive to adding EASM to consolidate within one vendor. "We already have Qualys" is a strong stickiness factor.
• VM + ASM consolidation story: Qualys positions EASM alongside VMDR as a single platform for internal VM and external ASM — a compelling simplification narrative for VM-led accounts.

Landmines to Set

• "Qualys VMDR requires an agent or authenticated scan for vulnerability assessment — how does Qualys EASM discover assets that your IT team doesn't know about, without credentials or agents on those assets?"
• "If Qualys EASM finds an unmanaged cloud storage bucket or an exposed legacy VPN, what's the automated path from discovery to remediation — how does it actually close the exposure?"
• "Interesting note: Xpanse's XSOAR marketplace pack includes native enrichment with Qualys VMDR — you could run Xpanse for outside-in discovery and correlate those findings with Qualys vulnerability data automatically."