Should I Build It Should I Build It
20 Apr 2025
Privacy Security

Cybersecurity hacking digital privacy anonymity service product ...

...knowledge learning software

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea falls into a crowded space, the "Swamp," where many cybersecurity, privacy, and anonymity solutions already exist. The sheer number of similar products (23) indicates significant competition. While the average engagement (3 comments) across these products is low, suggesting many don't gain traction, this also means you have a chance to be successful if you learn from other failures and stand out. Given the prevalence of similar solutions, it's crucial to identify a unique angle or underserved niche within cybersecurity. Simply replicating existing features will likely lead to your product being overlooked and ultimately failing to gain traction. To avoid this fate, it is critical to understand why these solutions haven't succeeded and how your approach can be different.

Recommendations

  1. Begin by thoroughly researching why existing cybersecurity and privacy solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. Dive into user reviews, forum discussions, and competitor analyses to identify pain points, unmet needs, and areas where current products fall short. Pay close attention to the "Criticism Summary" of similar products, such as complaints about overly complex features, lack of error details, or failures to meet specific security needs. Understanding these shortcomings will inform your strategy for differentiation.
  2. Instead of trying to appeal to a broad audience, focus on a specific group that is currently underserved by existing cybersecurity tools. This could be small businesses, individuals with limited technical expertise, or organizations dealing with specific types of data. By tailoring your solution to a niche market, you can create a product that truly meets their needs and is more likely to gain traction through word-of-mouth and targeted marketing.
  3. Consider developing tools or integrations that enhance the capabilities of existing cybersecurity providers rather than attempting to replace them entirely. This collaborative approach can provide a more sustainable path to market, as you can leverage established user bases and distribution channels. For example, you could create a plugin that adds advanced privacy features to a popular password manager or security suite.
  4. Given the challenges in the core cybersecurity space, explore adjacent problems that might offer more promising opportunities. This could involve focusing on data governance, compliance automation, or security awareness training. These areas are often less crowded and may offer a greater chance for innovation and differentiation. Look at adjacent problems that might be more promising.
  5. In the context of building a cybersecurity learning software, carefully consider whether to make it generalized or specialized. A common criticism from similar products is a lack of relevance or focus. Therefore, you might consider specializing your software by specific job title, industry or attack vector to provide the best learning experience.
  6. Based on the similar product "A ninja's Handbook" and the criticism around it, focus on the accuracy of the content. Make sure the timelines, definitions, and any historical references are precise. Given that you are thinking of developing cybersecurity training product or knowledge software, accuracy and up-to-date information are critical and will be your key differentiator.

Questions

  1. What specific unmet needs or pain points will your cybersecurity solution address that existing products fail to solve, and how will you validate these assumptions before investing heavily in development?
  2. How will you ensure the accuracy and relevance of your cybersecurity knowledge software, especially given the rapidly evolving threat landscape and the potential for misinformation to undermine user trust?
  3. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what specific strategies will you employ to build a community around your solution and foster ongoing user interaction and feedback?

Your are here

Your idea falls into a crowded space, the "Swamp," where many cybersecurity, privacy, and anonymity solutions already exist. The sheer number of similar products (23) indicates significant competition. While the average engagement (3 comments) across these products is low, suggesting many don't gain traction, this also means you have a chance to be successful if you learn from other failures and stand out. Given the prevalence of similar solutions, it's crucial to identify a unique angle or underserved niche within cybersecurity. Simply replicating existing features will likely lead to your product being overlooked and ultimately failing to gain traction. To avoid this fate, it is critical to understand why these solutions haven't succeeded and how your approach can be different.

Recommendations

  1. Begin by thoroughly researching why existing cybersecurity and privacy solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. Dive into user reviews, forum discussions, and competitor analyses to identify pain points, unmet needs, and areas where current products fall short. Pay close attention to the "Criticism Summary" of similar products, such as complaints about overly complex features, lack of error details, or failures to meet specific security needs. Understanding these shortcomings will inform your strategy for differentiation.
  2. Instead of trying to appeal to a broad audience, focus on a specific group that is currently underserved by existing cybersecurity tools. This could be small businesses, individuals with limited technical expertise, or organizations dealing with specific types of data. By tailoring your solution to a niche market, you can create a product that truly meets their needs and is more likely to gain traction through word-of-mouth and targeted marketing.
  3. Consider developing tools or integrations that enhance the capabilities of existing cybersecurity providers rather than attempting to replace them entirely. This collaborative approach can provide a more sustainable path to market, as you can leverage established user bases and distribution channels. For example, you could create a plugin that adds advanced privacy features to a popular password manager or security suite.
  4. Given the challenges in the core cybersecurity space, explore adjacent problems that might offer more promising opportunities. This could involve focusing on data governance, compliance automation, or security awareness training. These areas are often less crowded and may offer a greater chance for innovation and differentiation. Look at adjacent problems that might be more promising.
  5. In the context of building a cybersecurity learning software, carefully consider whether to make it generalized or specialized. A common criticism from similar products is a lack of relevance or focus. Therefore, you might consider specializing your software by specific job title, industry or attack vector to provide the best learning experience.
  6. Based on the similar product "A ninja's Handbook" and the criticism around it, focus on the accuracy of the content. Make sure the timelines, definitions, and any historical references are precise. Given that you are thinking of developing cybersecurity training product or knowledge software, accuracy and up-to-date information are critical and will be your key differentiator.

Questions

  1. What specific unmet needs or pain points will your cybersecurity solution address that existing products fail to solve, and how will you validate these assumptions before investing heavily in development?
  2. How will you ensure the accuracy and relevance of your cybersecurity knowledge software, especially given the rapidly evolving threat landscape and the potential for misinformation to undermine user trust?
  3. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what specific strategies will you employ to build a community around your solution and foster ongoing user interaction and feedback?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 23
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: 7.8%
    • Positive use signal: 11.6%
    • Negative use signal: 3.8%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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A ninja's Handbook: A book on privacy, security, and anonymity online

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This book was a project that I started after two years of constant paranoia and anxiety, trying to achieve a decent level of privacy and anonymity. From the things I learned during that time, I decided to write a book to help jump-start the privacy and anonymity journey of those who might be in the same situation.I know this book is not a complete guide on how to harden your devices and operating systems, and it wasn't meant to be. It was supposed to cover the very fundamentals of privacy, security, and anonymity rather than the highly technical stuff that might exhaust and frustrate normies.Repo: https://github.com/zolagonano/a-ninjas-handbook

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Users criticized the product for an inaccurate Watergate timeline and Deep Throat's identity, a misconception that people are indifferent to privacy, and concerns over local storage leading to higher costs and risk of evidence loss. The centralized nature of local storage was also questioned, despite a preference for local CCTV storage. Additionally, the product was seen as a condensed resource and there were doubts about the persecution claims of ninjas, with a side note on the perceived ease of business majors.

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