AI Indexes
IT AI Index
October 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Security operations › October 2026 Edition

Penetration testing as a service

Asked as “penetration testing service”, and as “pentest-as-a-service provider”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
45%
Clear leader
45Cobalt19BreachLock04Astra Security32others

45% of first choices, clear leader.

Since September 2026▼−1Since September 2026: 44% → 44%, −1 point. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Cobalt held the lead, −1 point on 44%, inside the 11-point floor.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01Cobalt45%2%41endorsed leader▼−1Since September 2026: 44% → 44%, −1 point. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.44% → 44%
02BreachLock19%0%35accepted challenger▲+11Since September 2026: 9% → 20%, +11 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.9% → 20%
03Synack4%10%29accepted challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 0% → 5%, +5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 5%
04Astra Security4%0%17accepted challenger▼−8Since September 2026: 13% → 5%, −8 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.13% → 5%
05UnderDefense4%0%11accepted challenger▲+3Since September 2026: 2% → 5%, +3 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 5%
06HackerOne2%14%14accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
07Bugcrowd2%17%12accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08NetSPI0%9%22accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
10Rapid70%9%11accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
09Bishop Fox0%0%10accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%

The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All twenty-one head-to-head pages: the top seven products, each against each

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Cobalt45%
02BreachLock19%
03Synack4%
04Astra Security4%
05UnderDefense4%
06HackerOne2%
07Bugcrowd2%
08NetSPI0%
09Bishop Fox0%
10Rapid70%

What they warned about

Four of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX, MiniMax M2.5 and Muse Glimmer 30B changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Synack
10%
3 of 29 labels negative · 3 of 14 models
“**Choose Synack** if you want a **crowdsourced** model and are willing to validate scope and pricing more carefully” Perplexity Sonar, paraphrase prompt
Mandiant
50%
2 of 4 labels negative · 2 of 14 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid pure enterprise giants (e.g., Mandiant, Rapid7) which can be pricier/slower” Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt
Bugcrowd
17%
2 of 12 labels negative · 2 of 14 models
“often more suited to larger enterprises or those with more complex needs” Mistral Small, paraphrase prompt
HackerOne
14%
2 of 14 labels negative · 2 of 14 models
“crowdsourced like HackerOne/Cobalt work for speed but less for deep compliance” Grok 4.1 Fast, direct prompt

What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the fourteen in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

73 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 904 links across 206 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 8 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.

vendor site · DeepStrike41 answers · 80 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Synack39 answers · 46 citations · 14 models
vendor site · UnderDefense38 answers · 43 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Stingrai31 answers · 67 citations · 11 models
27 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Beagle Security25 answers · 25 citations · 11 models
20 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Software Secured16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Bright Defense15 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G211 answers · 22 citations · 6 models
11 answers · 11 citations · 6 models
11 answers · 11 citations · 10 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best penetration testing service”, “penetration testing service”, “penetration testing services”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Cobalt cobalt.io45%114135,00027,73223,65514
BreachLock breachlock.com19%9259062,47922
Synack synack.com4%1042,400596,76474
Astra getastra.com
Astra Security 4%
4%905902060,832 company$17,489755
UnderDefense underdefense.com4%68170111,82310
HackerOne hackerone.com2%409,9001692,038,0877
Raxis2%3205
Bugcrowd bugcrowd.com2%323,6007738,5230
Vonahi vonahi.io
Vonahi Security vPenTest 2%
2%11
Software Secured softwaresecured.com2%74801,0882,2660

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 22 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (getastra.com, synack.com). The first result for “best penetration testing service” is reddit.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best penetration testing service for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which pentest-as-a-service provider would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top penetration testing services and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best penetration testing service for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a penetration testing service. What should we look at?”Negative“Which penetration testing services should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5BreachLock, Cobalt
Three alternativesPacketlabs, Raxis, Stingrai
CobaltChanged
Two alternativesBreachLock, NetSPI
Synack
Nine alternativesBeagle Security, Bishop Fox, BreachLock, Coalfire, Cobalt, NCC Group, NetSPI, SpecterOps, Trustwave
no first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniCobalt
Two alternativesCognisys, Trava Security
against: Qualys
CobaltHeld
Three alternativesHackerOne, Intigriti, Synack
no first choiceAstra Security, Vonahi Security vPenTest
Two alternativesAffordable Pentesting, CISA
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashCobalt
Three alternativesBreachLock, NetSPI, UnderDefense
against: CrowdStrike, Mandiant
CobaltHeld
Three alternativesBreachLock, Cybri, Synack
no first choice
Six alternativesBishop Fox, Cobalt, Horizon3.ai NodeZero, NetSPI, Synack, UnderDefense
Astra Security
Four alternativesBudget Security, Intruder, UnderDefense, Vonahi Security vPenTest
no first choicenothing named
Perplexity SonarBreachLock
Three alternativesCobalt, Raxis, Stingrai
CobaltChanged
Two alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock
against: Synack
no first choiceBreachLock
Three alternativesAndersen, Defendify, ScienceSoft
no first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastBreachLock
Four alternativesBright Defense, NetSPI, Packetlabs, Prescient Security
against: Cobalt, HackerOne, Mandiant, Rapid7
CobaltChanged
One alternativeBreachLock
against: Bugcrowd, Pentera, Synack
no first choiceBright Defense
Two alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock
against: OpenVAS
no first choicenothing named
Mistral SmallBreachLock, Cobalt
Three alternativesNetSPI, Stingrai, Synack
CobaltChanged
One alternativePentest-Tools.com
against: Bugcrowd, HackerOne, Synack
Astra Security
Seven alternativesBreachLock, Cobalt, Invicti, NetSPI, Rapid7, Synack, UnderDefense
Synack
Three alternativesCybri, Software Secured, Vonahi Security vPenTest
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashCobalt, Raxis
Three alternativesBreachLock, Packetlabs, UnderDefense
BreachLockChanged
Three alternativesCobalt, Edgescan, Raxis
Bishop Fox, NetSPI
Five alternativesBeagle Security, BreachLock, Cobalt, Packetlabs, Synack
Intruder
Four alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock, Software Secured, UnderDefense
no first choicenothing named
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceBreachLockChanged
Three alternativesAstra Security, Raxis, Sprocket Security
no first choiceSynack
Three alternativesAstra Security, Beagle Security, BreachLock
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashRed Siege Security
Four alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock, Lumina.io, Netragard
against: Counter Threat Unit
Cobalt, Software SecuredChanged
Three alternativesBugcrowd, Stingray.io, Synack
Cobalt
Four alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock, NetSPI, Synack
against: Horizon3.ai NodeZero, Stingrai
Cobalt
Two alternativesBugcrowd, HackerOne
against: Deloitte, PwC, Upwork
no first choice
Three alternativesAntisyphon, Cobalt, HackerOne
nothing named
Kimi K2Cobalt
Three alternativesBreachLock, Coalfire, Praetorian
CobaltHeld
Four alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock, NetSPI, Synack
Astra Security
Seven alternativesAcunetix, BreachLock, Bugcrowd, Cobalt, Invicti, NetSPI, Netragard
against: Intruder
Bug Circuit
Seven alternativesAstra Security, BreachLock, Intruder, OWASP ZAP, Stingrai, Tenable Nessus, Vonahi Security vPenTest
no first choicenothing named
GLM 4.7 FlashXCobalt, UnderDefense
Three alternativesBreachLock, NetSPI, Packetlabs
CobaltChanged
Three alternativesBreachLock, NetSPI, Synack
no first choice
Seven alternativesBishop Fox, BreachLock, Cobalt, DeepStrike, HackerOne, NetSPI, Synack
no first choiceno first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5BreachLock, UnderDefense
Two alternativesRaxis, Synack
CobaltChanged
Three alternativesBreachLock, Bugcrowd, Pentest-Tools.com
no first choiceBugcrowd, HackerOne
Four alternativesOpen Bug Bounty, Qualys, Rapid7, Verizon
no first choicenothing named
GPT-6 LunaCobalt
Two alternativesBishop Fox, NetSPI
CobaltHeld
Two alternativesHackerOne, Synack
no first choice
Five alternativesBishop Fox, Coalfire, Cobalt, HackerOne, NCC Group
against: NetSPI
CISA's free Cyber Hygiene serviceno first choicenothing named
Muse Glimmer 30BCobalt
Five alternativesAstra Security, HackerOne, Netragard, Red Siege, UnderDefense
BreachLockChanged
One alternativeCobalt
against: NetSPI
no first choicePractical Assurance
Four alternativesAstra Security, HIFENCE, Qualysec, UnderDefense
no first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 12:29yes159 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 13:06yes46 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:18yes1121 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:53yes204 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:49yes198 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:49yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:17yes1831 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 13:21yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:10yes532 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:43yes1017 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:38yes1217 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:57yes1228 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:14yes316 s
Direct recommendationMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 08:05yes1422 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:53yes189 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 13:51yes55 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:09yes921 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:02yes204 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 08:44yes218 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:05yes197 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 13:19yes2432 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 11:50yes51 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 10:48yes512 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 13:22yes1920 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:17yes19176 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:21yes2141 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 13:26yes315 s
ParaphraseMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 09:04yes2227 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 09:18yes910 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 09:44yes710 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:10yes1325 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 09:45yes195 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:48yes178 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:38yes87 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:19yes2330 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:23yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 09:06yes1050 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 12:28yes1029 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 10:24yes1991 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 13:06yes1018 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 11:41yes923 s
ComparativeMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 13:41yes1529 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:26no04 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 12:00yes45 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 07:36yes2424 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 13:02yes203 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:39yes238 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:34yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 10:41yes2437 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:45yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:39no046 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 09:46yes2027 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 12:35no0102 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:29no06 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:11yes220 s
Budget constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 12:45yes1324 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 12:53no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:28no010 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:00no015 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:04yes197 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:29yes96 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:14no08 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 12:42yes1536 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:56yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 13:01yes523 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 11:13yes1723 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 12:17yes955 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 12:19no09 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 08:01yes432 s
Scale constrainedMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 10:37yes1117 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:12no05 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:00yes511 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 10:58yes923 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:04yes195 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 12:20yes145 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:48yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 11:19yes2253 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 13:30yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:07yes1025 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 08:27yes1924 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 10:58yes970 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 09:34no09 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Lunagpt-6-luna2026-10-01 13:39yes414 s
Negative framingMuse Glimmer 30Bmeta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai2026-10-01 13:19yes1230 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Astra read as Astra Security
Horizon3.ai read as Horizon3.ai NodeZero
Horizon3.ai (NodeZero) read as Horizon3.ai NodeZero
Vonahi Security (vPenTest) read as Vonahi Security vPenTest
Unresolved, counted raw
Cognisys
Counter Threat Unit (CTU)
Iterasec
Kali Linux
Lumina.io (Tenable)
Open Bug Bounty
Pentest Express
Red Siege
Red Siege Security
ScienceSoft
Stingray.io
ThreatSpike Labs
Toptal
Trava Security
Under Defense
VulnGuard
White Knight Labs
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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