Vanta Alternative: The Runtime Layer for Agents
Vanta is well regarded for accelerating compliance operations across SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI, and GDPR by streamlining integrations, evidence collection, and auditor workflows. If the goal is to pass assessments faster and maintain certifications with less effort, Vanta is a strong fit. But as your environment shifts toward non-human identities—SaaS bots, marketplace apps, service accounts, and LLM workflows—the risk you must control is what those agents do at runtime, not only whether documentation is current.
That’s where ClarioSec comes in. ClarioSec continuously discovers agents, establishes behavioral baselines, detects goal-conditioned drift, and enforces policy before risky actions execute—creating audit-grade narratives for every decision. This moves security from “prove it on paper” to “govern it in production,” aligning with modern governance bodies and regulators: Gartner AI TRiSM, ISO/IEC 42001 (AIMS), and the SEC’s Form 8-K material incident disclosure regime.
Where Vanta Excels
Vanta shines at auditor-grade evidence, control mapping, risk registers, and partner workflows. It reduces audit friction and clarifies ownership so that policy hygiene improves over time. Vanta is, by design, a compliance-first system of record. If what you need is pace and repeatability for audits, Vanta is the right tool for the job.
But compliance automation is not runtime governance. Confirming that a policy exists and a control is attested does not stop a bot from exfiltrating data through an unexpected—but technically authorized—path. That’s the “moment of action” gap ClarioSec closes.
The 2025 Gap: Agents, Drift, and Runtime Governance
In many estates, agents already outnumber humans. They hold long-lived tokens and broad scopes, chain actions across apps, and can be swayed by prompt injection or mis-specified goals. Traditional GRC tools were not built to model agent goals, plans, tools, and actions in production. By contrast, governance frameworks and regulators increasingly emphasize real-time oversight:
- Gartner AI TRiSM stresses continuous governance, monitoring, validation, and policy enforcement for AI-enabled systems—runtime controls, not just point-in-time checks. See accessible summaries from Securiti, Mindgard, and IBM.
- ISO/IEC 42001 formalizes an AI Management System requiring operational controls andcontinuous monitoring across the AI lifecycle—see AWS Security Blog and Microsoft compliance overview.
- The SEC’s 8-K rule compresses incident storytelling: public companies must disclose material cybersecurity incidents within four business days of the materiality determination—see overviews by Greenberg Traurig and Hunton Andrews Kurth.
These forces reward organizations that can prevent suspicious automated actions and explain every enforcement decision in plain language—exactly what ClarioSec is built to do.
How ClarioSec Complements (or Replaces) Vanta
- Discover — Inventory bots, OAuth apps, service accounts, and LLM workflows with owners, tokens, scopes, and relationships.
- Score (Drift-Aware) — Baselines and peer groups to spot scope expansion, privilege creep, and anomalous sequences.
- Enforce (Real Time) — Pre-execution interception of policy-violating actions; SOC-governed override with full traceability.
- Explain — Audit-grade narratives that map decisions to policy and frameworks, supporting ISO/IEC 42001 operations and SEC-grade executive reporting.
Many teams run both: Vanta to prove policy and sustain audits; ClarioSec to govern agents in production.
When to Choose ClarioSec
- Growing numbers of SaaS automations and LLM workflows touching sensitive data.
- Need for behavioral drift detection and blocking, not just alerts.
- Desire to operationalize AI TRiSM and ISO/IEC 42001 with runtime control and explainability.
- Executive focus on time-to-truth for incident narratives and 8-K readiness.
FAQ
Q: Does ClarioSec replace Vanta?
A: Usually no. Vanta streamlines audits and evidence for frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001. ClarioSec complements it with runtime enforcement for non-human agents—discovering agents, detecting behavioral drift, and blocking risky actions with audit-ready explanations.
Q: How does this map to Gartner AI TRiSM?
A: AI TRiSM emphasizes runtime governance, continuous monitoring, and policy enforcement for AI-enabled systems. ClarioSec operationalizes these ideas for SaaS and AI agents by baselining behavior, detecting drift, and enforcing policy before impact.
Q: Where does ISO/IEC 42001 fit?
A: ISO/IEC 42001 defines an AI Management System (AIMS) that requires operational governance and monitoring across the AI lifecycle. ClarioSec provides concrete runtime controls and explainability aligned to those operational expectations.
Q: Why mention the SEC 8-K rule?
A: Public companies must disclose material cybersecurity incidents on Form 8-K within four business days of the materiality determination. Explainable runtime enforcement shortens time-to-truth and supports executive decision-making.
Q: What’s the fastest way to prove value?
A: Point ClarioSec at a few high-impact SaaS apps (e.g., Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365). Establish baselines for agents, then watch for drift and scope expansion tied to sensitive actions.
Sources
• AI TRiSM overviews: Securiti, Mindgard, IBM.
• ISO/IEC 42001 (AIMS): Microsoft, AWS Blog, ISMS.online.
• SEC 8-K insights: Debevoise, Greenberg Traurig, Hunton Andrews Kurth.
Related resources
Read the Agent-Aware Security Manifesto, explore Drift-Aware Risk Scoring, or Request a Demo.