10 Companies To Watch In Cloud Security

Standing Out From The Pack

The opportunity around cloud security is immense, and lots of startups and legacy vendors are looking to take advantage. The opportunity is significant, with the market for cloud security is expected to hit $12.7 billion by 2022, up from $4.1 billion in 2017, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. Driving that growth is parallel growing trends around a rising number of mobile and IoT devices, as well as a growing acceptance and adoption of cloud services. CRN has pulled together 10 companies that are positioning themselves to grab a large piece of that pie, including those with new funding, new investments, and hot new products.

Netskope

In June, Netskope announced $100 million in Series E funding, money the cloud access security brokerage company said it would put toward product development and further investments in its channel ecosystem. The funding announcement builds on a year of strong growth for Los Altos, Calif.-based Netskope, one of the few remanding stand-alone CASB companies in the market. CEO Sanjay Beri said Netskope plans to keep it that way, with plans to become an "stand-alone, iconic security company." Beri said Netskope also plans to expand beyond just cloud security, with new offerings on the horizon for web security, a new market for the company.

Fishtech Group

The Fishtech Group, Kansas City, Mo., was founded last year by well-known security entrepreneur Gary Fish to be a solution provider focused on cybersecurity. As Fishtech built out its cloud security business, Fish said the company saw an opportunity to fill a gap left open by traditional managed service providers around managed security services specifically tailored to the cloud. This year, the company said it planned to build a Cloud Security Operations Center (CSOC), a purpose-built SOC for cloud security that will include security services around Office 365, AWS, Azure and Endpoint Security-as-a-Service. The solutions will include multiple vendor solutions, including offerings from companies that Fishtech has invested in through Fishtech Ventures.

Twistlock

Security startup Twistlock said in April that it had raised $17 million in Series B funding for its container security technology. Twistlock, whose name comes from a term for securing shipping containers in place, allows enterprises to monitor both static and runtime container application activity, establish security baselines prior to production, and protect cloud and on-premise containers. Twistlock said it will use the new round to continue its growth trajectory, including expanding its R&D teams, adding partnerships, and executing.

ProtectWise

Cloud security startup ProtectWise kicked off the year with $25 million in new venture capital funding, a Series B round the company said it would put toward expanding its footprint in both traditional network security and the cloud. ProtectWise has a network security offering that leverages the cloud for better visibility, detection and response capabilities. To do that, it uses software sensors to record network activity in the cloud, which can be "rewound" for detection or breach forensics. The Denver-based company is 100 percent channel.

Fortinet

Fortinet has been making big additions to its cloud security portfolio, including the announcement in April that it was extending its Security Fabric to the cloud, as part of its FortiOS 5.6 release. The company also launched a new cloud access security broker solution, further public cloud integrations with both AWS and Azure, and SD-WAN capabilities. Fortinet has now said it is extending its virtual FortiGate capabilities with performance to meet both private and public cloud needs. John Maddison, senior vice president of products and solutions at Fortinet, said at the time that the new enhancements are evidence that Fortinet recognizes that customers need a single set of solutions that let them secure their data as it moves into public and private clouds.

iboss

Cloud security vendor iboss, which offers a distributed gateway platform to help better secure distributed organizations and the cloud, is making big strides this year to grab a bigger share of the growing cloud security market. The company saidin May that it had shifted its headquarters from San Diego to Boston, in part to recruit from the talent pools in the region. The company said it is looking to double its headcount to 400. Iboss has raised $35 million in venture capital funding to date, with the latest round of $35 million in 2015.

Illumio

Illumio is another cloud security vendor that closed a massive funding round in recent months, announcing it had raised $125 million in Series D funding in June. Illumio has an offering that adapts to both data center and cloud environments, securing them by providing visibility and control over enterprise applications. The company, which has already seen 400 percent year-over-year growth in annualized bookings, said it plans to put the new funding toward global expansion, including a big investment in its channel organization, and R&D.

RedLock

RedLock emerged from stealth in May with 100 percent channel strategy and a cloud security offering that looks to provide visibility, monitoring, and control over public cloud infrastructure. The company also raised $12 million in Series A funding at that time. RedLock was created by CEO Varun Badhwar, a co-founder of cloud access security brokerage company CipherCloud. The company's RedLock Cloud 360 platform offers a new way for companies to see what is inside their cloud infrastructure, providing a common control point for workload discovery, continuous monitoring, and cloud forensics. Companies can use the offering to detect anomalies, do risk scoring, compliance reporting, and view and set security controls. RedLock was a finalist in this year's RSA Innovation Sandbox startup contest.

Armor

Armor provides a managed security services offering to protect data and applications in the public cloud and on-premises, which includes ongoing security monitoring by the Armor SOC and remediation capabilities. The company also provides its own secure, managed virtual private cloud. The company landed $89 million in financing in April, money it said it would put toward further expanding its channel strategy, sales and marketing, and R&D.

Forcepoint

Forcepoint reorganized its business earlier this year and and rolled out a new strategy to focus on securing intellectual property and asset protection with its security platform. One of the four key pillars of that strategy is cloud security. To further that strategy, Forcepoint announced in February the acquisition of Skyfence, a cloud access security brokerage division of Imperva. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will extend Forcepoint's strategy to protect IP and assets to the cloud, integrating Skyfence's technology with its own web security and DLP technologies.