Cloudflare Acquires Kivera to Deliver Simple, Preventive Cloud Security

Rhea-AI Summary

Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) has acquired Kivera, a cloud security, data protection, and compliance platform. This acquisition aims to enhance Cloudflare One by adding preventive controls directly into the cloud deployment process. The integration will help organizations:

1. Safeguard cloud environments across major providers
2. Enable one-click preventive security
3. Keep sensitive data within the organization
4. Reduce 'shadow' cloud infrastructure
5. Streamline cloud security compliance

This move addresses the growing concern of cloud security risks, as Gartner estimates that 99% of records compromised in cloud environments through 2027 will be due to user misconfigurations and account compromise. The acquisition follows Cloudflare's purchase of BastionZero in May 2024, further expanding its Zero Trust infrastructure access capabilities.

Positive

• Acquisition of Kivera enhances Cloudflare One's cloud security capabilities
• Addition of preventive controls to address cloud misconfigurations and security risks
• Expansion of Cloudflare's SASE and SSE service offerings
• Potential for increased market share in cloud security solutions
• Synergies with previously acquired BastionZero for comprehensive Zero Trust infrastructure access

Negative

• Potential integration challenges and costs associated with the acquisition
• Increased competition in the cloud security market may impact growth

Insights

Tech Industry Analyst

Cloudflare's acquisition of Kivera is a strategic move to enhance its cloud security offerings. This deal addresses a critical gap in cloud security by focusing on preventive measures rather than reactive ones. The integration of Kivera's technology into Cloudflare One will allow customers to proactively secure their multi-cloud environments, which is increasingly important as organizations rely on multiple cloud providers. Key benefits include safeguarding against misconfigurations, enforcing cloud tenant controls and streamlining compliance. This acquisition, combined with the earlier purchase of BastionZero, positions Cloudflare as a more comprehensive SASE and SSE provider. For investors, this move could potentially accelerate Cloudflare's revenue growth in the rapidly expanding cloud security market, enhancing its competitive position against other major players in the space.

Cybersecurity Expert

The acquisition of Kivera by Cloudflare is a significant development in the cloud security landscape. It addresses a important vulnerability in cloud environments – human error and misconfigurations – which Gartner estimates will be responsible for 99% of cloud security breaches through 2027. Kivera's preventive approach, integrated into Cloudflare One, offers a proactive solution to this problem. This is particularly valuable as organizations increasingly adopt multi-cloud strategies, which can complicate security management. The ability to enforce security policies "inline" during the cloud deployment process is a game-changer, potentially reducing the workload on security teams and minimizing the risk of data breaches. For Cloudflare, this acquisition strengthens its position in the competitive SASE and SSE markets, potentially leading to increased market share and customer retention.

Acquisition adds more proactive controls to Cloudflare One so businesses can better secure every interaction when using major cloud providers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the leading connectivity cloud company, today announced the acquisition of Kivera, a cloud security, data protection, and compliance platform. The combination of Kivera and the Cloudflare One platform will put preventive controls directly into the cloud deployment process, or ‘inline’, preventing security issues and risks before they happen to create a cloud journey that is faster, simpler, and more secure.

Gartner® estimates that, “through 2027, 99% of records compromised in cloud environments will be the result of user misconfigurations and account compromise, not the result of an issue with the cloud provider.” Traditional methods of addressing these risks—such as cloud security posture management (CSPM) systems or infrastructure as code (IaC) scanning tools—alert IT teams and developers only after something goes wrong, immediately putting these teams on defense. At the same time, the amount of data flowing between organizations and their cloud providers has ballooned, increasing the chances of data leakage, compliance issues, and, worse, opportunities for attackers.

“At Cloudflare, we want to make it easy for any organization to connect and protect everything connected to the Internet—and our global network puts us in the best position to do that for millions of users across the world. Almost every organization uses multiple clouds now to power their business, but that can translate to more risks and unintentional errors,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO, Cloudflare. “By integrating Kivera’s team and technology, we’ll be able to better help all of our customers work with any big cloud provider in the most secure, reliable manner.”

Cloudflare One is one of the fastest-growing platforms for single-vendor secure access service edge (SASE) and security service edge (SSE) services. Companies worldwide rely on Cloudflare One to ensure safe access to web, SaaS, and private apps or infrastructure, safeguard against cyber threats, and maintain robust data protection across their networks. With the integration of Kivera’s technology, Cloudflare’s SASE platform will soon bring additional, preventive cloud security all within a unified platform. Together, the companies will allow customers to:

• Safeguard all of their cloud environments: By detecting and then alerting security teams of cloud misconfigurations, the integration of Kivera’s technology creates a first line of defense for cloud deployment errors–across all of the major cloud providers.
• Enable preventive security with one click: Now organizations will be able to instantly protect themselves from cloud breaches caused by misconfigurations and human error, like accidentally allowing public access or policy inconsistencies.
• Keep sensitive data inside their organization: By easily drawing boundaries around their cloud resources and tenants, customers will be able to enforce cloud tenant controls that ensure sensitive data is not shared with external parties accidentally.
• Reduce ‘shadow’ cloud infrastructure: Every interaction between a customer and their cloud provider is enforced within preset standards, mitigating the risks of shadow IT that can lead to security vulnerabilities, compliance breaches, unmanaged costs, and data leakage.
• Streamline cloud security compliance: Customers can automatically assess and enforce compliance rules against the most common regulatory frameworks.

“For too long, the adoption of cloud computing has left security teams within organizations playing catch-up,” said Vernon Jefferson, Co-founder, Kivera. “As they do their best to ensure sensitive company data is protected and compliance obligations are met, they are bombarded by alerts that they then have to investigate. We believe there’s a better way—a way to give security teams the upper hand by eliminating room for error at the cloud configuration level. Kivera has solved this in an elegant way, and I’m excited to help bring this technology to the wider Cloudflare customer base.”

In May 2024, Cloudflare also acquired BastionZero, a Zero Trust infrastructure access company. This expanded the scope of Cloudflare One’s VPN replacement solution beyond apps and networks to infrastructure resources. Together, Kivera and BastionZero help to deliver centralized security management across hybrid IT environments, and provide a modern DevOps-friendly way to help enterprises connect and protect their hybrid infrastructure with Zero Trust best practices.

If you’re interested in early access, please click here to join the waitlist. To learn more, please check out the blog below:

• Blog: Cloudflare Acquires Kivera Expands Cloud Security Capabilities

Gartner Reference

Gartner, Outcome-Driven Metrics You Can Use to Evaluate Cloud Security Controls, By Charlie Winckless, Paul Proctor, Manuel Acosta, 09/28/2023

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) is the leading connectivity cloud company on a mission to help build a better Internet. It empowers organizations to make their employees, applications and networks faster and more secure everywhere, while reducing complexity and cost. Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud delivers the most full-featured, unified platform of cloud-native products and developer tools, so any organization can gain the control they need to work, develop, and accelerate their business.

Powered by one of the world’s largest and most interconnected networks, Cloudflare blocks billions of threats online for its customers every day. It is trusted by millions of organizations – from the largest brands to entrepreneurs and small businesses to nonprofits, humanitarian groups, and governments across the globe.

Learn more about Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud at cloudflare.com/connectivity-cloud. Learn more about the latest Internet trends and insights at https://radar.cloudflare.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “explore,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare’s expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the capabilities and effectiveness of Cloudflare One and Cloudflare’s other products technology and Kivera’s products and technology, the benefits to Cloudflare’s customers from using Cloudflare One and Cloudflare’s other products and technology and Kivera’s products and technology, the timing of when Cloudflare One and Kivera’s products and technology and or any of their related features will be fully integrated and generally available to all current and potential Cloudflare customers, Cloudflare’s plans and objectives for, and the timing of, the integration of Kivera’s products and technology into Cloudflare One, Cloudflare’s technological development, future operations, growth, initiatives, or strategies, and comments made by Cloudflare’s CEO and others. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in Cloudflare’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 1, 2024, as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on Cloudflare’s forward-looking statements.

© 2024 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008193434/en/

Media Contact



Cloudflare, Inc.

press@cloudflare.com

Source: Cloudflare, Inc.

FAQ

What is the purpose of Cloudflare's acquisition of Kivera?

Cloudflare acquired Kivera to enhance its Cloudflare One platform with preventive cloud security controls, addressing issues like misconfigurations and data protection across major cloud providers.

How will the Kivera acquisition impact Cloudflare's (NET) stock?

While the direct impact on Cloudflare's (NET) stock is not specified, the acquisition is expected to strengthen Cloudflare's position in the cloud security market, potentially leading to increased revenue and market share.

What specific capabilities will Kivera add to Cloudflare One?

Kivera will add capabilities such as cloud misconfiguration detection, preventive security measures, data boundary enforcement, shadow IT risk mitigation, and automated compliance assessment for major regulatory frameworks.

When did Cloudflare (NET) acquire BastionZero, and how does it relate to the Kivera acquisition?

Cloudflare acquired BastionZero in May 2024. Both acquisitions expand Cloudflare One's capabilities, with BastionZero focusing on Zero Trust infrastructure access and Kivera on cloud security and compliance.