Cloudflare acquires cyber firm Area 1 Security for US$162mn

Cloudflare, the security, performance, and reliability company has agreed to acquire cybersecurity firm Area 1 Security for US$162mn. 

Area 1 Security has a cloud-native platform built to work alongside email programmes to stop phishing attacks. In 2021, the company blocked more than 40 million malicious phishing campaigns spanning business email compromise, malware, ransomware, and other advanced threats.

“Email is the largest cyber attack vector on the Internet, which makes integrated email security critical to any true Zero Trust network. That’s why today we’re welcoming Area 1 Security to help make Cloudflare’s platform the clear leader in Zero Trust,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare.

“To us, the future of Zero Trust includes an integrated, one-click approach to securing all of an organisation’s applications, including its most ubiquitous cloud application, email. Together, we expect we’ll be delivering the fastest, most effective, and most reliable email security on the market.”

Protecting customers from email attacks

As email continues to be an entry point for increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, businesses of all sizes need to consider how to integrate email solutions into their overall security stack and bolster it with global threat intelligence.

Chris Rodriguez, Research Director for IDC’s Network Security Products and Strategies notes, "Email is often the largest cloud application for any organisation; and also represents the largest attack vector. Instead of viewing email security as a stand alone issue, more businesses realise that it needs to be part of their holistic security strategy. The combination of Cloudflare and Area 1 Security offers customers a uniquely differentiated and comprehensive Zero Trust offering with coverage across the entire threat lifecycle."

Securing companies network infrastructure 

In 2021, Cloudflare entered the email security market with the launch of its Advanced Email Security Suite and additional tools to create custom email addresses, manage incoming email routing, and prevent email spoofing and phishing on outgoing emails. 

Area 1 Security has long taken a preemptive approach to email security to stop phishing campaigns during the earliest stages of an attack cycle. By combining Area 1 Security’s highly scalable technology and years of experience in email protection with Cloudflare’s global network, the two companies will provide a holistic Zero Trust solution that customers can enable through Cloudflare’s global edge.

“Today, email is a business’ most-used cloud application. It's unfortunately unprotected. We estimate that more than 90% of cyber security damages are the result of just one thing: phishing," said Patrick Sweeney, CEO and President of Area 1 Security. "By combining our leading phishing protection and threat intelligence capabilities with Cloudflare’s global network, data capabilities, and Zero Trust platform we truly believe that together we can help companies of any size better secure their entire network infrastructure and better protect against the most destructive cyber risks.”

Cloudflare has made eight acquisitions to date and the purchase of Area 1’s business comes only two weeks after Cloudflare announced the acquisition of Vectrix for an undisclosed amount, in an effort to bolster its Zero Trust software-as-a-service security offering.