Selected · Mastercard Start Path · Security Solutions
The attackers costing you the most already look legitimate. We expose them.
Mastercard Start Path runs a competitive global selection process for security startups. CounterCraft made the cut because AI-powered deception technology closes a gap that detection tools leave open inside payment environments.
// The selection
A competitive process, judged on differentiation and scale
Start Path selection evaluates differentiation, scalability, and strategic alignment with Mastercard’s mission to make transactions safe. Few security companies make the cut each cycle.
Startups engaged by Start Path from more than 60 countries since 2014
Program pillars: cybersecurity, fraud detection, digital identity, payment resiliency
Global ecosystem of banks, merchants, and digital players opened to selected companies
// The problem
Fraud teams are asked to spot the one transaction that lies
Stolen credentials do not trip alerts. Lateral movement by someone holding valid access does not match a signature. In fintech, payments, and crypto, the attacker’s entire job is to blend into normal traffic until the money moves.
By the time conventional tools flag anything, you are doing forensics on a loss. Exchanges and custodians face the same math with worse finality: once assets leave a wallet, there is no chargeback.
// What deception changes
Give them something they cannot resist touching
CounterCraft builds deception environments inside and around your infrastructure: decoy systems, credentials, wallets, and APIs that look real and carry real-seeming value. Legitimate users never touch them. So every interaction is pure signal.
Detect what detection misses
An attacker probing a decoy payment API has revealed themselves, however clean their credentials look. No signatures, no baselines, no waiting.
Learn who is targeting you
Every move inside a deception environment is recorded. You see their tools, their objectives, and their sophistication while they believe they are making progress.
Act before the loss
Intelligence arrives while the attacker is still engaged with fake assets, giving your team time to lock down the real ones.
“Being selected for Mastercard Start Path validates what our customers already know: deception technology is an essential part of how financial enterprises protect themselves in an increasingly hostile digital economy.”
David Barroso · CEO, CounterCraft
CounterCraft protects Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and financial institutions worldwide, with Gartner-recognized deception technology in production since 2015.
// Who this is for
Protecting customer funds, PII, and API surfaces at scale
Where attackers hide inside enormous volumes of legitimate traffic
Defending irreversible transactions and high-value wallets
// Next step
See it live in 20 minutes
A short walkthrough with our team, built around financial infrastructure. You will leave knowing where this fits in your stack and what it would catch that your current tools cannot.
20 minutes · Live demo environment · No commitment