Canonical segment URLs exist only for observed category/shape pairs.
Machine Relations Index
Observed shapes7 Published7 Collecting0 ReleaseNovember 2, 2026
Cybersecurity · Machine Relations Index category
Which sources AI engines cite for Cybersecurity questions
Vendor-owned sources earn 44.6% of classified citations in Cybersecurity answers (2,791 of 6,263), as of November 2, 2026.
In the November 2026 release of the Machine Relations Index, these are the sources AI answer engines cited most often for each of the 7 Cybersecurity question shapes, each ranked on that shape's own observed runs. This category has 7 observed question-shape segments in the current public release. Each segment keeps its own observed-run denominator and dates; this page does not average rates across shapes. Observed runs are answer runs, not questions: every segment repeats a small set of distinct questions across engines and dates, so a run count is not a count of independent questions.
Top sources by question shape
The sources engines cite most, shape by shape
A rate is the share of the shape's observed answer runs that cited the source; rank is the source's place on that shape's full leaderboard.Best tools
Example pattern: best cybersecurity tools. 238 observed runs across 13 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 307 | Huntress.com | Vendor-owned source | 43.70% | 104 of 238 |
| #2 of 307 | Expert Insights | Editorial publication | 26.05% | 62 of 238 |
| #3 of 307 | Cyber Security News | Editorial publication | 24.37% | 58 of 238 |
| #4 of 307 | G2 | Market and company database | 22.69% | 54 of 238 |
| #5 of 307 | Kaseya.com | Other observed source | 20.59% | 49 of 238 |
How buyers choose
Example pattern: how to choose cybersecurity tools. 277 observed runs across 12 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 434 | Microsoft.com | Vendor-owned source | 18.05% | 50 of 277 |
| #2 of 434 | Expel.com | Other observed source | 11.19% | 31 of 277 |
| #3 of 434 | Kaseya.com | Other observed source | 10.83% | 30 of 277 |
| #4 of 434 | Jumpcloud.com | Other observed source | 9.75% | 27 of 277 |
| #5 of 434 | Soc2auditors.org | Other observed source | 9.75% | 27 of 277 |
Is it worth it
Example pattern: is cybersecurity software worth it. 278 observed runs across 12 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 323 | Paloaltonetworks.com | Vendor-owned source | 22.66% | 63 of 278 |
| #2 of 323 | Cyware.com | Other observed source | 18.71% | 52 of 278 |
| #3 of 323 | Microsoft.com | Vendor-owned source | 14.39% | 40 of 278 |
| #4 of 323 | Swimlane.com | Other observed source | 12.23% | 34 of 278 |
| #5 of 323 | TechTarget | Editorial publication | 12.23% | 34 of 278 |
News-driven citations
Example pattern: recent cybersecurity news. 599 observed runs across 54 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 1,338 | Paloaltonetworks.com | Vendor-owned source | 13.52% | 81 of 599 |
| #2 of 1,338 | Sentinelone.com | Vendor-owned source | 12.52% | 75 of 599 |
| #3 of 1,338 | Microsoft.com | Vendor-owned source | 9.52% | 57 of 599 |
| #4 of 1,338 | Gartner.com | Analyst and consulting research | 9.35% | 56 of 599 |
| #5 of 1,338 | Crowdstrike.com | Vendor-owned source | 8.51% | 51 of 599 |
Problem-first research
Example pattern: how to solve cybersecurity problems. 264 observed runs across 12 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 414 | Github.com | Community and social platform | 18.18% | 48 of 264 |
| #2 of 414 | Nhimg.org | Other observed source | 13.26% | 35 of 264 |
| #3 of 414 | Microsoft.com | Vendor-owned source | 10.98% | 29 of 264 |
| #4 of 414 | Medium | Community and social platform | 8.33% | 22 of 264 |
| #5 of 414 | Huntress.com | Vendor-owned source | 7.95% | 21 of 264 |
Top lists
Example pattern: top cybersecurity platforms. 267 observed runs across 12 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 397 | Hoxhunt.com | Other observed source | 23.60% | 63 of 267 |
| #2 of 397 | Adaptivesecurity.com | Other observed source | 22.47% | 60 of 267 |
| #3 of 397 | Expert Insights | Editorial publication | 21.72% | 58 of 267 |
| #4 of 397 | Usecure.io | Other observed source | 18.73% | 50 of 267 |
| #5 of 397 | Knowbe4.com | Other observed source | 15.73% | 42 of 267 |
Comparisons
Example pattern: cybersecurity platform A vs B. 212 observed runs across 12 dates.
| Rank | Source | Source role | Citation rate | Cited runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 of 272 | Vectra.ai | Vendor-owned source | 25.47% | 54 of 212 |
| #2 of 272 | Exabeam.com | Other observed source | 21.23% | 45 of 212 |
| #3 of 272 | Sentinelone.com | Vendor-owned source | 21.23% | 45 of 212 |
| #4 of 272 | Cynet.com | Vendor-owned source | 16.98% | 36 of 212 |
| #5 of 272 | Crowdstrike.com | Vendor-owned source | 15.09% | 32 of 212 |
Published segments met the release evidence floor.
Collecting segments expose sample progress, not mature leaderboards.
Methodology v2.1.
Question shapes
Separate denominators by segment
| Question shape | State | Observed runs | Distinct questions | Run dates | Distinct cited domains | Canonical segment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best tools | Published | 238 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 13 | 307 | Open leaderboard |
| How buyers choose | Published | 277 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 12 | 434 | Open leaderboard |
| Is it worth it | Published | 278 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 12 | 323 | Open leaderboard |
| News-driven citations | Published | 599 | 33 | 54 | 1,338 | Open leaderboard |
| Problem-first research | Published | 264 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 12 | 414 | Open leaderboard |
| Top lists | Published | 267 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 12 | 397 | Open leaderboard |
| Comparisons | Published | 212 | 7 (5 paraphrase groups) | 12 | 272 | Open leaderboard |
By answer engine
Whole-window rates on each engine
Each link ranks sources with a published Cybersecurity segment by that source's citation rate on one engine across the whole window. It is not a rate inside Cybersecurity alone. A collecting engine has no published ranking for this category.Cite this
Citation
Machine Relations Index (MRI), Machine Relations Research — machinerelations.ai. Cybersecurity, observed Machine Relations Index category, 2026-05-10 to 2026-11-02. Release mri_score_v2.1+2026-11-02+f9aaeca0db15. https://machinerelations.ai/index/categories/cybersecurity. CC BY 4.0.APA
Parrott, J. (2026). Cybersecurity in the Machine Relations Index (Version mri_score_v2.1+2026-11-02+f9aaeca0db15) [Data set]. Machine Relations Research. https://machinerelations.ai/index/categories/cybersecurity https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23652423BibTeX
@misc{parrott2026mricybersecurity,
author = {Parrott, Jaxon},
title = {Cybersecurity in the Machine Relations Index},
year = {2026},
version = {mri\_score\_v2.1+2026-11-02+f9aaeca0db15},
publisher = {Machine Relations Research},
url = {https://machinerelations.ai/index/categories/cybersecurity},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23652423},
license = {CC-BY-4.0},
note = {Machine Relations Index (MRI), Machine Relations Research — machinerelations.ai}
}Release and boundary
No pooled category score
Published November 2, 2026. The observation window runs May 10, 2026 to November 2, 2026. Methodology v2.1.
Use the data
curl -fsSL "https://machinerelations.ai/data/machine-relations-index.json" -o machine-relations-index.json
curl -fsSL "https://machinerelations.ai/data/mri-release-manifest.json" -o mri-release-manifest.json
curl -fsSL "https://huggingface.co/datasets/machine-relations/machine-relations-index/resolve/main/domains.csv" -o domains.csv
curl -fsSL -L "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23652423" -o mri-zenodo.htmlimport json
from urllib.request import urlopen
index_url = "https://machinerelations.ai/data/machine-relations-index.json"
with urlopen(index_url) as response:
index = json.load(response)
print(index["generated"], index["total_domains"])This page is a directory of observed segments. A domain's overall citation rate is not a category rate, and MRI does not publish an averaged category score in this slice.
Cybersecurity buyers on AuthorityTech’s publication intelligence is a downstream practitioner projection of these segments. It is not source evidence, citation provenance, or an identity link for the neutral dataset.