The 25 Hottest Edge Security Companies: 2022 Edge Computing 100

As part of CRN’s Edge Computing 100, here are 25 security players working at the cutting-edge of the edge.

Security At The Edge

Where computers, laptops and all other mobile devices go, so goes security.
And, in recent years, that’s included the edge.

Driven by the spread of remote working caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) was all the rage two years ago as the hot new security technology that combines wide area networking (WAN), with network security functions such as secure web gateway (SWG) and firewall as a service (FWaaS).

Security on the edge is always evolving in response to ever-changing and sophisticated cyberattacks by bad threat actors.

As a result, investors are pumping ever more funds into startups dealing with edge security. Larger companies are investing in edge-related R&D projects -- or acquiring edge-related security tools via takeovers of smaller firms.

As part of CRN’s Edge Computing 100, here are 25 security players working at the cutting-edge of the edge.

They’re both big and small. They deal with technologies ranging from Wi-Fi to SASE to ‘borderless WAN’ to vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT).

The common denominator for all the products: they’re trying to protect the outer perimeter of our digital world.

Editor’s Note: Due to a production error, this slideshow originally published without Netskope and SonicWall.

Akamai Technologies

Tom Leighton

Co-Founder, CEO

Akamai has reorganized its operations to strengthen its edge technology and security business and earlier this year moved to buy cloud computing provider Linode for $900 million, allowing the company to create a cloud platform that runs applications from the cloud to the edge.

Appgate

Barry Field

CEO

Appgate recently launched a technology alliance partnership program to help customers simplify and accelerate zero trust advancement. Earlier this year, the company also started a new behavioral biometrics service for real-time online fraud prevention for all types of users.

Barracuda Networks

Hatem Naguib

President, CEO

Email security provider Barracuda Networks’ cloud-native SASE platform proved attractive to private equity giant KKR, which earlier this year acquired the company with plans to further push it into managed detection and response, extended detection and response and SASE technology.

Bitdefender

Florin Talpes

Co-Founder, CEO

Bitdefender, which in the past has expanded its cloud workload security offerings, earlier this year unveiled MDR Foundations, which the company described as a new managed security service that provides threat monitoring and response and threat hunting.

Broadcom

Hock Tan

President, CEO

Broadcom has been transitioning to the edge in a number of ways of late but recently made big headlines when it moved earlier this year to acquire software virtualization leader VMware for $61 billion. VMware is known for its enterprise expertise and edge prowess.

Check Point Software Technologies

Gil Shwed

Founder, CEO

Check Point’s CloudGuard offers unified cloud-native security across an organization’s applications, workloads and network. It also has added a new version of Check Point Harmony Mobile and has established a partnership with CCTV company Provision-ISR to provide on-device IoT security.

Cloudflare

Matthew Prince

Co-Founder, Chair, CEO

Cloudflare has a number of o­fferings targeting the edge, and industry observers are starting to notice. In late 2021, Forrester Research identified Cloudflare as one of the nine most significant providers in the emerging market for public cloud edge development platforms.

Forcepoint

Manny Rivelo

CEO

Forcepoint has been on an acquisition tear of late, last year snapping up security companies Cyberinc, Deep Secure and Bitglass, which delivers data and threat protection on any device. Forcepoint was recently included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN.

Fortinet

Ken Xie

Founder, Chairman, CEO

FortiOS—the heart of the Fortinet Security Fabric—was updated to version 7.2 earlier this year and now delivers new AI-powered FortiGuard security services. Among the new or updated features are Inline Sandbox, Inline Cloud Access Security Broker, advanced device protection and outbreak detection.

iboss

Paul Martini

Co-Founder, CEO, CTO

iboss, a zero trust edge cloud security provider that raised $145 million in funding last year, said its iboss SASE fabric provides fast and secure connectivity for all users, devices and cloud workloads. Its new Zero Trust Policy Manager allows organizations to more quickly and easily implement zero trust policies.

Imperva

Pam Murphy

CEO

Imperva recently unveiled Imperva Data Security Fabric to provide security, data governance and workflow management across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Imperva also recently said its data security platform is available on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Infoblox

Jesper Andersen

President, CEO

Infoblox is considered a market leader in DDI, which includes domain name services, dynamic host configuration protocol and internet protocol address management. The company recently rolled out an updated Network Identity Operating System for better performance across hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Kaspersky

Eugene Kaspersky

CEO

Kaspersky has been unveiling and updating security products this past year, including a new machine-readable Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language data feed for the automated detection of vulnerabilities in OT software. It also unveiled the latest version of Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response Optimum.

Menlo Security

Amir Ben-Efraim

CEO

Menlo Security recently revealed that its Menlo Cloud Security Platform is now available in AWS Marketplace and, separately, that its Menlo Security offering will be integrated with CrowdStrike Falcon XDR to provide customers with protection from highly evasive adaptive threats.

Netskope

Sanjay Beri

Founder, CEO

Netskope, a leader in security service edge and zero trust, in May bought startup Infiot, along with its “borderless WAN” offering for securing a range of remote work sites and in June acquired WootCloud, described as an innovator in applying zero trust principles to loT.

Palo Alto Networks

Nikesh Arora

Chairman, CEO

Palo Alto Networks earlier this year unveiled Nebula, the latest upgrade to its PAN-OS software, to help find and stop zero-day attacks. Nebula also introduced AIOps and the new Advanced Threat Prevention service while enhancing advanced URL-filtering, DNS security and IoT security.

Perimeter 81

Amit Bareket

Co-Founder, CEO

Perimeter 81 received a $100 million round of funding that the newly designated unicorn company can use for its cloud-based, zero trust remote cybersecurity platform. In February, the company also said it added a “radically simple” secure web gateway to its security service edge o­ffering.

Phosphorous Cybersecurity

Chris Rouland

Founder, CEO

Phosphorus Cybersecurity has established itself as one of the leaders in the IoT security market with its xTended Security of Things platform, designed with often unmonitored “things”– like endpoints and sensors–in mind.

Proofpoint

Ashan Willy

CEO

Proofpoint is a security and compliance company whose o­ erings mitigate customers’ risks across email, the cloud, social media and the web. The company has seen major ownership and leadership changes of late, with last year’s acquisition of Proofpoint by Thoma Bravo and this year’s appointment of Willy.

Radware

Roy Zisapel

President, CEO

Radware has been internationally active the past year, opening new cloud security centers in Italy, Chile, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, the company has recently introduced and enhanced a number of o­fferings, including the launch of SkyHawk Security, a spino­ff of its cloud-native Protector Business.

Skyhigh Security

Gee Rittenhouse

CEO

Earlier this year, McAfee Enterprise renamed its security service edge business. The result? Skyhigh Security, a company that’s coming to market with a security service edge solution to secure data across the web or cloud from anywhere, any application or any device.

SonicWall

Bob VanKirk

President, CEO

SonicWall’s Capture Cloud Platform is designed to integrate security, management, analytics and real-time threat intelligence, using a number of its mobile, cloud and other security products. SonicWall’s new CEO, VanKirk, has vowed to continue ramping up the company’s cloud capabilities.

Sophos

Kris Hagerman

CEO

Sophos earlier this year enhanced its Sophos Cloud Workload Protection, including new Linux host and container security capabilities. The company said the new features accelerate the detection and response of in-progress attacks and security incidents within Linux operating systems, among other things.

WatchGuard

Prakash Panjwani

CEO

WatchGuard made a number of innovative moves this past year, including the announcement of Wi-Fi in WatchGuard Cloud along with a new lineup of Wi-Fi 6-enabled access points. In addition, WatchGuard announced that Vector Capital had acquired majority ownership of the security company.

Zscaler

Jay Chaudhry

Founder, CEO

Cloud security specialist Zscaler has quickly become a leader in the security service edge market with its Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a globally distributed o­ ering that uses zero trust connectivity to secure branch, data center and public cloud communications over a non-routable WAN.