The 20 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors Of The 2014 Cloud 100

Coolest Cloud Security Vendors For 2014

The growing use of Web-based services and the frequent deployment of cloud-hosted server deployments have forced traditional security vendors to offer SaaS security offerings and prompted the emergence of a new breed of security startups. Cloud-enabled security platforms provide businesses with a variety of features to reduce risks and meet compliance mandates.

Some offer protection from malware, hacking and other threats, while others specialize in authentication, file integrity monitoring and data encryption. Here are 20 that have especially caught our attention. Look for the market around cloud security platforms to be in a state of change, with the potential for mergers and acquisitions as more established vendors attempt to build out their capabilities.

Adallom

CEO: Assaf Rappaport

Cloud security gateway maker Adallom was the first out of the gate in 2013 with a service that can monitor cloud-based services and analyze user activity to detect potential threats. The firm's service can block attempts to steal or manipulate corporate data if it determines that activity is suspicious. Adallom announced in January that it completed a $15 million series B financing round.

Alert Logic

CEO: Gray Hall

Alert Logic, which sells security-as-a-service via a subscription model, offers Web application, log management and intrusion detection services for companies selling business services on Amazon Web Services. It correlates unusual behavior patterns in applications to identify potential threats. The company recently introduced log management service for Windows Azure public cloud environments.

AVG Technologies

CEO: Gary Kovacs

Antivirus giant AVG introduced a cloud-based service for malware protection, content filtering, email security and remote administration. AVG CloudCare is offered to resellers with no up-front investment and a choice of monthly or annual billing. The company recently announced the availability of an enhanced service module that integrates online backup with its Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management tool for managed service providers.

Blue Coat

CEO: Greg Clark

Blue Coat sells a secure Web gateway virtual appliance and a Web security service that comes in both a cloud-only and hybrid deployment model. The service protects against Web-based threats. The company has been building out its platform to address advanced threats. It acquired Solera Networks for its network monitoring platform and more recently Norman Shark for its sandboxing technology for malware analysis.

Bromium

CEO: Gaurav Banga

Bromium continues to turn heads with its micro-virtual machine, or microvisor, which isolates Windows tasks to prevent malware from executing on a PC. Bromium recently secured $40 million in Series C funding. The company's vSentry software integrates with Intel's vPro platform for endpoint security. It protects 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Apple OSX and virtual desktops.

Centrify Corp.

CEO: Tom Kemp

Centrify has launched a full channel program to boost adoption of its SaaS-based identity management portfolio for authentication and single sign-on. In addition to data center, Active Directory-based authentication, the company provides single sign-on for cloud services with mobile support. The company recently released software development kits to help application developers and ISVs add support for identity management in their cloud and mobile applications.

CipherCloud

CEO: Pravin Kothari

CipherCloud sells an encryption, tokenization and data loss prevention gateway for users of Salesforce.com and other cloud services. The company acquired SaaS-based application security vendor CloudUp Networks to further extend its DLP capabilities. The company introduced encryption for users of the Box file sharing service.

FireHost

CEO: Chris Drake

FireHost stands out among infrastructure-as-a-service providers by focusing on security. Its secure cloud hosting offers servers in Dallas, Phoenix, London and Amsterdam starting at $350 a month. The company has increasingly focused on securing private clouds and can provide IP reputation management. Its platform blocks most common Web-based attacks, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and cross-site request forgery.

HyTrust

CEO: John De Santis

HyTrust specializes in securing virtualized environments, focusing on access control, role-based monitoring and identifying misconfiguration issues. The firm recently acquired HighCloud Security in a move to support private, public and hybrid cloud deployments. The move should add encryption, key and policy management to its portfolio for virtualized environments.

Incapsula

CEO: Gur Shatz

Incapsula sells a cloud-based service that protects websites by inspecting and filtering out bad traffic to optimize and accelerate Web page rendering. The company sells a Web application firewall to protect against attacks from common vulnerabilities and denial-of-service attacks. It recently added two-factor authentication and load balancing for cloud-based physical or virtual servers.

JumpCloud

CEO: Rajat Bhargava

Security startup JumpCloud automates the maintenance, monitoring and security of cloud-based servers. Co-founded by former StillSecure CEO Rajat Bhargava, JumpCloud provides patch management capabilities and monitors for configuration changes that signal an attack and unauthorized file access. The SaaS-based offering is aimed at DevOps and IT pros and can be quickly installed on physical, virtual or cloud servers.

Mojave Networks

CEO: Garrett Larsson

Security startup Mojave Networks sells a cloud-based mobile security service that can support custom policies for users of all smartphone platforms. It scans apps for malware, phishing and data theft and can be configured to approve only whitelisted mobile apps for end users.

Okta

CEO: Todd McKinnon

Okta's cloud-based identity management service provides single sign-on, multifactor authentication and user provisioning for access to on-premise, cloud-based and mobile applications. The company closed a $27 million Series D funding round in September to support international expansion. It also recently added more provisioning support for mobile and on-premise applications.

PerspecSys

CEO: David Canellos

PerspecSys' AppProtex Cloud Data Control Gateway replaces data with a random token or encrypted value, making the information meaningless to anyone intercepting the data in transit or while in a cloud-based service. The service supports Salesforce.com, ServiceNow and other Web services. The company recently introduced support for Box and Dropbox file storage and sharing services.

Porticor

CEO: Gilad Parann-Nissany

Porticor provides data encryption and key management for data protection in public, private and hybrid cloud environments. The company's platform supports private or hybrid VMware-based cloud deployments and Amazon Web Services. The company says it uses a virtual appliance or agent to encrypt disks or data storage units in minutes. Data is protected using a split-key encryption method and the enterprise is the sole owner of the master key.

Skyhigh Networks

CEO: Rajiv Gupta

Skyhigh Networks combines access control and application auditing with encryption and data loss prevention capabilities for Salesforce.com cloud-based services. The security startup recently introduced cloud-based data loss prevention for users of the Box file-sharing service. The Skyhigh service can alert administrators if it detects a problem, block users or force them to use an additional authentication measure.

Trend Micro

CEO: Eva Chen

Trend Micro's SaaS-based threat prevention service for public and private cloud deployments and virtual environments also provides encryption for data protection. The company sells a separate Deep Security service, providing antivirus, intrusion prevention, firewall and integrity monitoring for users of Amazon Web Services. The company said more than 20 cloud service providers participate in its new program to validate their support of its cloud security platform.

Veracode

CEO: Bob Brennan

Application security testing vendor Veracode sells a SaaS-based application analysis tool to find and fix vulnerabilities in applications. The company's platform can test internally developed, purchased or outsourced software applications using static, dynamic and manual testing. Veracode recently expanded its enterprise application security service with the introduction of a mobile application reputation service to assess the behavior of mobile applications for data leakage.

Websense

CEO: John McCormack

Websense sells a cloud-based Web security gateway to protect businesses against advanced threats, malware, phishing and other threats. It also supports provisioning and reporting. Firms can also add email security capabilities for antispam and message quarantining. It also has a mobile security component for antimalware, application control and reporting for mobile devices. The company named former EMC veteran Shawn Pearson as its new vice president of worldwide channel sales in August.

Zscaler

CEO: Jay Chaudhry

Zscaler specializes in providing a fully SaaS-based antivirus, vulnerability management and user activity control for Web, email and mobile devices. The company recently added suspicious file analysis capabilities to its cloud-based security platform to detect advanced threats. It also rolled out Zscaler for Office 365 deployments that it says will provide protection without impacting performance.