Haroon Meer, founder of Thinkst, returned to the podcast to talk about Canary and Canarytokens—honeypots and tripwires you sprinkle inside your network and forget about until an attacker touches one. Thinkst is a bootstrapped company of about 50 people, and they've quietly grown to over $22.5 million in annual recurring revenue with zero outbound sales and no price hikes in a decade.
Tokens That Attract Attackers
One of their most clever tokens is an AWS API key that attackers simply cannot resist trying. Drop it in a code repository or a configuration file, and when an intruder attempts to use it, you get an alert. Similarly, they've created a real credit card token backed by an actual bank partnership—so if someone tries to use that card, you know immediately.
Breadcrumbs: A New Feature
They recently launched Breadcrumbs, a feature that leads intruders straight to your canaries. By placing convincing breadcrumbs that point to fake sensitive data, you can guide attackers into your honeypots, making detection more reliable.
Live Demo: Hardware Canary as a Synology NAS
During the episode, Haroon demonstrated how a hardware Canary can be configured to appear as a Synology NAS in one click. This makes it incredibly easy to deploy a convincing decoy that blends into any corporate network.
Business Model That Works
Thinkst's approach is refreshingly simple: they build great products and let them speak for themselves. No sales teams, no discounting, just a product that works. Their success shows that in security, trust and reliability matter more than aggressive marketing.
Why Canarytokens Matter
In an era of sophisticated attacks, early detection is everything. Canarytokens provide low-noise, high-confidence alerts. They don't generate false positives because they're only triggered when something interacts with them—and that interaction is almost certainly malicious.
If you're looking for an easy, effective way to add a layer of detection to your network, Canarytokens are worth a look. They're simple to deploy, cost-effective, and they just work.