Trusted Knight vs cside

Both solutions protect users from client-side data theft. The key difference is their deployment architecture. Trusted Knight Protected Air routes all your traffic through a DNS proxy which comes with a high risk of breaking functionality on your site. cside operates from within your application without modifying the network path.

Mar 06, 2026 • Updated Mar 17, 2026

Simon Wijckmans Founder & CEO

Trusted Knight Protector AIR and cside both protect against client-side threats, but they work in different ways. Trusted Knight routes all your traffic through a DNS proxy, adding a third-party dependency to every request. cside deploys a lightweight script directly in the browser, giving you real-time visibility into script injections, web skimming, and post-load attacks without touching your network path.

This article examines the features of Trusted Knight. This comparison is based on publicly available information, industry information, and our own or our customers' experiences. To verify their capabilities, visit their product pages.

The risks of Trusted Knight's DNS-redirect architecture

Single point of failure

Your site's availability becomes dependent on Trusted Knight's uptime. This is a meaningful risk for financial institutions with SLA obligations.

Latency overhead

Every request to your site makes an additional network hop through the proxy. For financial institutions where session latency affects conversion and customer experience, the round-trip adds overhead.

What is the difference between Trusted Knight Protector AIR and cside?

Criteria	cside	Trusted Knight	Why It Matters	What the Consequences Are
Deployment Architecture	Lightweight script deployed on your site	DNS proxy that routes traffic through Trusted Knight infrastructure	Your architecture choice shapes operational risk, latency, and third-party uptime dependency	DNS proxies create a single point of failure and add latency to every request
Catches malicious code in the browser before it steals user data	Full support	Partial support	Client-side attacks execute in the browser, not on the network	Network-layer inspection misses browser-only threats like DOM manipulation and post-load injections
Where monitoring happens	Browser runtime environment	Network layer / session traffic inspection	Browser-level monitoring shows what users experience	Network-only monitoring cannot observe what scripts do after page delivery
Website performance impact	Full support Minimal	No support High risk	Extra network hops add latency that affects conversion rates and user experience	DNS proxies route all traffic through third-party infrastructure, adding overhead to every request
Prevents web skimming and phishing from UI manipulation	Full support	Partial support	Skimming and UI phishing happen in the DOM after the page loads	Without browser-level visibility, DOM-based attacks run undetected
Monitors Third Party Script Injections	Full support	Partial support	Third-party scripts are the primary vector for supply chain attacks	Missing script injection visibility leaves your site exposed to compromised dependencies
Device fingerprinting fraud signals	Full support	No support	Device signals help identify fraud patterns and repeat offenders	Without fingerprinting, fraud teams lack session-level intelligence for risk scoring
Post-load script behavior monitoring	Full support	No support	Many attacks activate only after page load via deferred or injected scripts	No post-load monitoring means attacks that trigger after delivery go undetected
Data encryption in transit	No support Standard TLS	Full support	Additional encryption layers can protect data on compromised endpoints	Standard TLS is sufficient for most use cases but does not protect against endpoint malware
Blocks device level malware on compromised machines	No support Not a focus	Full support	Endpoint malware can intercept data before it reaches the browser	No website-side security can consistently protect against malware already on a user's device. As the site owner, you cannot technically guarantee protection against pre-existing device-level threats

Yes / Full support Partial / Limited No

Primary security focus

cside:

cside monitors JavaScript execution and detects malicious behavior in real time. It prevents web skimming, script-based attacks, and client-side fraud while providing device fingerprinting signals for anti-fraud workflows.

Trusted Knight:

Trusted Knight protects transactions from compromised user devices by inspecting session traffic and encrypting sensitive data. It reduces fraud and secures interactions even when the endpoint is infected.

What is Trusted Knight Protector AIR:

A cloud-based security product deployed via DNS redirect and SSL setup. Trusted Knight routes all website traffic through its cloud infrastructure, inspects it for malicious JavaScript, malware, and threats, then forwards clean traffic to users. Trusted Knight encrypts data between your site and visitors and claims 100% coverage of all customer interactions. It works on any platform and requires no code changes beyond the DNS redirect.

What is cside:

A browser-level intelligence platform deployed on your application via a lightweight JavaScript tag. No DNS redirect, no traffic rerouting. When a user visits your site, cside monitors the live browser environment in real time, detecting malicious scripts and unauthorized third-party JavaScript that could steal customer data. Because cside operates within the session, it observes what happens inside the browser, including script interactions after page load.

cside also provides device fingerprinting, capturing browser and device signals across each session to enrich fraud analytics. This lets financial institutions combine browser intelligence with device identity, VPN detection, AI agent detection, and session risk data.

Comparing surfaces protected: cside vs Trusted Knight

cside:

Secures payment pages or forms that process sensitive information
Protects your customers from web skimming and UI manipulation based phishing
Ensures compliance with PCI DSS requirements 6.4.3 & 11.6.1, GDPR, CCPA, and more.

Trusted Knight:

Detects browser manipulation that could interfere with payments or logins
Protects transactions from malware on compromised user devices

cside Reviews vs Trusted Knight Reviews

cside

**4.8 ★★★★★** G2

**4.9 ★★★★★** Sourceforge

Award winning as a leader in client-side security by Sourceforge and Cyber Defense

Trusted Knight

**3.7 ★★★☆☆** Gartner Reviews

Comparison: cside vs Trusted Knight Threat Detection

Threat Type	cside	Trusted Knight	Why It Matters	What the Consequences Are
Magecart (Web Skimming)	Full support	Full support	Magecart attacks inject skimmers into payment pages to steal card data	Without detection, stolen card data leads to fraud losses and PCI violations
Keyloggers served through browser-layer injections	Full support	Partial support	Browser-injected keyloggers capture credentials and sensitive input in real time	Network-layer tools may miss keyloggers that activate after page delivery
Third-Party JavaScript Supply Chain Compromises	Full support	Partial support	Compromised third-party scripts are the most common client-side attack vector	Without script-level monitoring, supply chain attacks spread through trusted dependencies
DOM Manipulation / UI Phishing Detection	Full support	Full support	Attackers overlay fake forms or modify page elements to phish credentials	Users unknowingly submit data to attacker-controlled elements
Malicious AI agents that abuse checkout flows	Full support	No support	AI agents can automate fraud at scale across payment and signup flows	Without AI agent detection, automated abuse goes unchecked
Device level malware on user devices	No support Not a focus	Full support	Endpoint malware intercepts data before it reaches the browser	No website-side security can consistently protect against malware already on the user's device. This falls outside what any website owner can technically guarantee
VPN/Proxy Detection	Full support	No support	VPN and proxy use can indicate fraud, abuse, or geo-spoofing	Without detection, fraudsters hide behind anonymized connections
Data skimming scope	Payment Info, Forms, KYC flows	Payment Info	Skimming targets more than just card data; forms and KYC flows carry sensitive PII	Narrow scope leaves non-payment data unprotected from exfiltration

Yes / Full support Partial / Limited No

How each product works

cside

Deployed on the application. Operates inside the browser session.

Bank/merchant adds cside JS tag to their website

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Customer opens session in browser

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cside observes all scripts loading + executing

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Malicious behavior? Alert + block

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Device fingerprint captured

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Fraud analytics signal generated

No DNS changes. No traffic rerouting. Operates entirely within the session. Customer traffic goes directly to your infrastructure.

Trusted Knight Protector AIR

DNS redirect routes all traffic through Trusted Knight's cloud.

DNS redirected to Trusted Knight cloud

↓

All site traffic enters TK infrastructure

↓

Traffic inspected for malicious JS + malware

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Data encrypted at network layer

↓

Clean traffic forwarded to user

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Post-load script interactions: limited visibility

Site availability depends on Trusted Knight infrastructure uptime. All customer traffic transits through their cloud.

Who buys each product

cside buyers Security teams, fraud teams, AppSec, PCI compliance at banks and fintechs

Banks and financial institutions who need browser-level visibility into customer sessions without infrastructure changes or traffic rerouting. Fraud teams who want device fingerprinting and script intelligence combined into fraud analytics signals. Security teams responsible for PCI DSS 4.0 compliance. Fintechs and payment providers who need zero-friction deployment at scale.

Trusted Knight buyers Security teams wanting network-layer encryption and malware blocking without code changes

Organizations that want to add a security and encryption layer without modifying their application code. Businesses where the primary concern is malware on customer devices and data encryption in transit. Teams that prefer infrastructure-level controls over application-level instrumentation and are comfortable with the DNS redirect operational model.

Looking to switch from Trusted Knight?

Try cside with a fast, self-guided install on a free plan to test drive our platform. Need help assessing what's best for you? Book a demo for our team to walk you through migration and determine if cside is the right fit for you.

Looking at other options? See how cside compares to Cloudflare Page Shield, Akamai Page Integrity Manager, or browse all comparisons.

Founder & CEO Simon Wijckmans

Founder and CEO of cside. Building better security against client-side executed attacks, and making solutions more accessible to smaller businesses. Web security is not an enterprise only problem.

Developer Experience

Public Developer Documentation

cside is the only client-side security solution with publicly accessible developer documentation. You can explore our complete technical docs, API references, and integration guides without requiring a sales call or demo.

cside provides full public documentation at docs.cside.com

Trusted Knight does not offer publicly accessible developer documentation. You'll need to contact their sales team or request a demo just to understand how their product works.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Trusted Knight Protector AIR is a cloud-based security product. It works by redirecting your site's DNS so all traffic flows through Trusted Knight's infrastructure first.

From there, it inspects traffic for malicious JavaScript, malware, and other threats before sending it to users. It also encrypts data between the user and your site.

Trusted Knight sits between each request and the browser, filtering unsafe content before delivery.

cside runs directly inside your application using a lightweight JavaScript tag.

Instead of routing traffic elsewhere, it watches what actually happens in the browser session. That includes scripts, extensions, and any third-party code running after the page loads.

Because of this, it can catch things that happen after delivery, not just what gets sent over the network.

No. Browser extensions run inside the user's browser after the page has already loaded. A DNS proxy never sees that layer.

If an extension is injecting code or capturing form data, it happens outside of Trusted Knight's visibility.

There are a few tradeoffs to be aware of. Your site depends on the provider's uptime. If they go down, you may go down too. All customer traffic passes through a third party, including sensitive data. Every request takes an extra network hop, which adds latency. Rolling it back later means undoing DNS changes across your domains.

It's a significant architectural commitment.

Trusted Knight does not publicly show QSA validation for these requirements.

PCI DSS 4.0 focuses on things like keeping a script inventory, verifying script integrity, and detecting changes on payment pages. Trusted Knight focuses more on encryption and blocking threats in transit, not on managing scripts at the page level.

You can, depending on what you need. Trusted Knight protects traffic before it reaches the browser. cside monitors what happens inside the browser session. If you want both network-level protection and in-browser visibility, they can complement each other.