Trapster vs. ShadowPlex

Trapster is an advanced deceptive security platform that empowers organizations to detect and respond to cyber threats by deploying highly convincing decoy environments within their networks. The platform’s primary component is a network-based honeypot server that launches virtual machines on your hypervisor or cloud infrastructure, supporting over 15 protocols such as HTTP, SMB, SSH, and more, to detect malicious scans and lateral movements early. Real-time alerts are sent through multiple channels including email, dashboards, webhooks, syslog, and API, ensuring timely threat awareness without requiring ongoing maintenance. Trapster also employs honeytokens—deceptive files, URLs, API keys, and database entries—that act as digital tripwires, catching attackers who attempt to access or misuse sensitive resources. The external login panel mimics genuine authentication pages, exposing stolen credentials before they can be leveraged in attacks. This proactive deception strategy allows Trapster to identify sophisticated threats that often evade traditional security systems like firewalls and intrusion detection. Its effortless auto-configuration and minimal upkeep make it an accessible solution for organizations of all sizes. By luring attackers into revealing themselves, Trapster provides security teams with critical early warnings and actionable intelligence. The platform enables faster incident response and reduces the risk of prolonged undetected breaches. Ultimately, Trapster helps organizations maintain a stronger, more resilient cybersecurity posture through innovative deception technology.

Organizations are increasingly turning to sophisticated deception-based active defense strategies because of their low-risk profile and effectiveness in reducing false positives that often plague traditional methods. Acalvio's ShadowPlex aims to set new benchmarks for countering advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware, and malware by centralizing the entire mitigation process. The system deploys decoys, such as fake hosts or honeypots, throughout the enterprise network from a singular point, ensuring they resemble authentic local resources. Moreover, the intricacy of these decoys can be dynamically modified in response to an attacker's behavior, which significantly boosts the overall effectiveness of the deception. This pioneering method of resource management empowers ShadowPlex to deliver both vast scalability and a high degree of realism in its decoys, thus serving as a formidable asset for organizations. Additionally, the platform simplifies the setup and implementation of deception tools through automation. By utilizing established playbooks alongside an AI-powered recommendation system, ShadowPlex can automatically create and strategically place deception elements where they are most needed. As a result, this approach not only strengthens security measures but also alleviates the workload for IT teams, enabling them to concentrate on more pressing priorities. Consequently, organizations that leverage ShadowPlex are better equipped to combat evolving cyber threats while optimizing their available resources.