Finite State vs Sternum (2026)
Both sell to device manufacturers, at different points in a device's life. Finite State analyzes firmware before it ships. It unpacks binaries, judges whether a vulnerable code path can execute, and turns findings into SBOMs, VEX decisions and submission evidence. Sternum protects the device after it ships. Its EIV technology instruments firmware so that an attempt to divert the code is blocked on the device itself, with overhead the company puts at 1 to 3 percent. A cloud platform fed by an SDK on the device adds logs, forensics and an anomaly engine that trains on each device's routines. Choose Finite State to find and document vulnerable components before release; choose Sternum to block exploitation on devices in the field.
- Your SBOM should be built from shipped firmware as well as declared components.
- VEX decisions should rest on reachability analysis of the code.
- You need evidence packages for 510(k), Section 524B and EU MDR submissions.
- Devices in the field need runtime protection that works offline.
- Legacy devices on FreeRTOS, Zephyr or embedded Linux need protection too.
- Device telemetry should feed your SIEM or SOC.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Finite State and Sternum are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Finite State | Sternum |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Healthcare Cybersecurity | Healthcare Cybersecurity |
| Founded | 2017 | 2018 |
| Headquarters | Columbus, Ohio, United States | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Website | finitestate.io | sternumiot.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Finite State sells a product security platform to makers of connected devices, including medical device manufacturers, automotive, energy, industrial and government suppliers. It builds the software inventory from what actually ships: it unpacks firmware across more than 50 binary instruction set architectures, analyzes binaries and source code, imports supplier SBOMs, and uses reachability analysis over call graphs and entry points to judge whether a vulnerable code path can execute.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Sternum sells embedded security that device manufacturers build into their own products, medical devices among them. Its core technology, EIV embedded integrity verification, is patented binary instrumentation: it profiles a device's firmware, including third party libraries, and places checks on execution flow and memory so that an attempt to divert the code is blocked on the device itself, whether or not the device is connected, with overhead the company puts at 1 to 3 percent.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do Finite State and Sternum work with the EHR?
For Finite State, the platform page names GitHub Actions, GitLab CI and Jenkins for release pipelines, REST and GraphQL APIs, a CLI, IDE integrations and ticketing workflows, and the changelog records Jira ticket scope and a scan queue API. The platform imports supplier SBOMs and third party findings alongside its own analysis and draws on more than 120 intelligence sources.
EIV integrates into the build, testing and deployment process and supports named embedded platforms (FreeRTOS, Zephyr, QNX, Micrium, Mbed OS, Azure ThreadX and embedded Linux), and the Linux Foundation describes Sternum as a Zephyr partner. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do Finite State and Sternum handle patient data?
In Finite State's case, the product handles manufacturers' firmware, binaries and source code rather than patient data. The pricing page says data is encrypted at rest and in transit and hosted in the US by default.
Sternum's privacy policy covers personal data of device end users that customers submit through the service, with Sternum acting as the customer's processor and keeping that data according to the customer's instructions; it says Sternum does not review submitted data and cannot classify it as personal or sensitive. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Which settings and specialties do Finite State and Sternum cover?
Finite State serves makers of connected products: medical devices, automotive, energy and utilities, government and industrial control systems, with medical device support covering FDA 510(k) and 524B submissions, postmarket obligations, IEC 62304, EU MDR and UL 2900. It covers design through post-market, from threat modeling to SBOMs, reachability, release evidence and monitoring.
Sternum sells to manufacturers of connected devices across medical, industrial, critical infrastructure and consumer IoT, new and legacy, on RTOS and embedded Linux, and presents EIV as IDS/IPS for medical devices. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Finite State and Sternum leave to the clinician?
Finite State describes "autonomous, review-gated workflows" that produce "Reviewable evidence packages" and "Reachability explanations", and says affected and not affected decisions come with "defensible rationale that stays consistent across reruns".
With Sternum, the runtime protection page says EIV "categorically prevents all code and memory manipulation attempts and assures system integrity at all times" and "deploys verification checks across all exploitation paths to deterministically prevent all code and memory manipulation attempts"; the home page says it will "deterministically prevent all exploit attempts". From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 30, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Healthcare Cybersecurity page.
Both records were reviewed on this site in September 2026. Neither publishes a price. Sternum offers a free evaluation kit. Neither states a business associate position. Sternum says EIV prevents all code and memory manipulation attempts. The same site reports 96.5 percent prevention in an unnamed benchmark. Sternum's device telemetry goes to its own cloud platform. It publishes no hosting location, subprocessor list, security attestation or evaluation of its anomaly model. Its privacy policy lets Sternum and partners use aggregated data. Finite State says it holds SOC 2 Type 2 and hosts in the US by default. It publishes no accuracy figure for its reachability call. It gives its noise reduction as 95, 92 and 90 percent on different pages.
Ask Sternum for the benchmark behind its 96.5 percent, and ask Finite State which VEX decisions a person signs.