Aqua Security

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Israeli cloud-native application protection company
  • Dror Davidoff (CEO)[1][2]
  • Amir Jerbi (CTO)[3]
Websiteaquasec.com

Aqua Security is an Israeli cloud-native application protection company, founded in 2015.[4][5] In 2021, Aqua Security reached a $1B valuation.[6][7][8] It is home to the research team, Aqua Nautilus, focused on cybersecurity research of the cloud native ecosystem.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

History

Aqua Security was founded in Ramat Gan, Israel in 2015 by Dror Davidoff, who serves as the CEO and Amir Jerbi, CTO.[1][20][21] The company initially focused on container workload protection and added serverless and VMs in 2017 to achieve comprehensive Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) capabilities.[22]

In September 2016, the company raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Microsoft Ventures. Previous investors TLV Partners and Shlomo Kramer also participated in the round, bringing Aqua's total investment to date to $13.5 million.[23] It was followed by a $25 million series B funding in 2017.[24][25] In the spring of 2017 the company opened its Boston office.[26]

Aqua Security raised $62 million in 2019 in funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, M12 (Microsoft's venture fund), TLV Partners, and Shlomo Kramer.[24][27]

Aqua raised $30 million in a series D round closed in May 2020.[4] In March 2021 Aqua raised $135 million in series E funding, led by ION Crossover Partners at a $1 billion valuation.[6][28]

In June 2022 Aqua Security and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) released the first formal guidelines for software supply chain security. CIS Software Supply Chain Security Guide provides enterprises with foundational recommendations for securing the software supply chain against threat actors.[29]

In January 2024, the company raised $60 million, extending its Series E round of funding to $195 million.[30]

The company's global headquarters is located in Ramat Gan, Israel, with US headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and R&D Center in Hyderabad, India.[31][32]

Acquisitions

In 2019 Aqua Security acquired CloudSploit, a cloud security posture management company, which tracks and enforces practices on the security of user and service accounts on public cloud platforms such as GitHub, AWS and Microsoft Azure.[33][34] The company acquired Argon, a startup with capabilities for securing the software supply chain in December 2021.[35] The same year, Aqua acquired tfsec, an open-source security scanner for Infrastructure as Code (IaC). The acquisition brought integration of tfsec into Aqua Trivy, adding IaC security scanning capabilities. Tfsec's co-founders also joined Aqua following the acquisition.[36][37]

Open source products

Aqua Security has an open-source development team responsible for several open-source tools, including Trivy[38] and Tracee.[39] Trivy Vulnerability Scanner was acquired by Aqua open source team in 2019. Teppei Fukuda, the developer behind Trivy, joined the Aqua Security team after the acquisition. Other tools include Kube-bench, Kube-hunter, and chain-bench.[40][41]

Literature

References

  1. ^ a b Alspach, Kyle (2022-01-21). "'Mass demand' is building for cloud-native security, Aqua CEO says". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  2. ^ "Amir Jerbi, Aqua Security Software Ltd: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  3. ^ "Dror Davidoff, Aqua Security Software Ltd: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  4. ^ a b Elder, Jeff; Vedantam, Keerthi. "Developer security is booming as hack-prevention starts earlier than ever: Here are the 25 startups you need to know in this red-hot space". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  5. ^ "Aqua Security raises $60m at over $1b valuation". Globes. 2024-03-01. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  6. ^ a b Lardinois, Frederic (2021-03-10). "Aqua Security raises $135M at a $1B valuation for its cloud native security platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  7. ^ Alspach, Kyle (2022-03-17). "Cybersecurity has 53 unicorns. Here are 10 to watch". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  8. ^ Joyner, April; Bort, Julie. "Over 340 US startups became unicorns in a record-breaking 2021. Here's the full list and their investors". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  9. ^ Lyons, Jessica (16 August 2023). "PowerShell? More like PowerHell: Microsoft won't fix flaws in package gallery ripe for supply chain attacks". The Register. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  10. ^ Lyons, Jessica (4 February 2023). "HeadCrab bots pinch 1,000+ Redis servers to mine coins". The Register. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  11. ^ "Aqua Security: 97% unaware of crucial cloud native security principles". VentureBeat. 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  12. ^ Spadafora, Anthony (2020-09-14). "Most cloud cyberattacks just want to mine cryptocurrency". TechRadar. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  13. ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. (2023-08-09). "Aqua Security Uncovers Major Kubernetes Attacks". The New Stack. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  14. ^ Arghire, Ionut (June 27, 2024). "'Phantom' Source Code Secrets Haunt Major Organizations". SecurityWeek. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  15. ^ Bradley, Tony. "Aqua Security Reveals Crucial Insights On Kinsing Malware". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  16. ^ "Kinsing malware still on the rise". 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  17. ^ "Ubuntu 'command-not-found' tool can be abused to spread malware". BleepingComputer. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  18. ^ "Millions of GitHub repositories vulnerable to RepoJacking: Report". CSO Online. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  19. ^ "Memory-based attacks increase as attackers dodge cloud defenses". BetaNews. 2023-07-03. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  20. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2021-03-10). "Aqua Security protects containerized apps and infrastructure, raises $135M". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  21. ^ Janofsky, Adam (May 6, 2019). "Container Technology Brings Security Surprises". WSJ. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  22. ^ Alspach, Kyle (2021-11-23). "Why an emerging cloud security trend offers 'good news' to businesses". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  23. ^ Zakrzewski, Cat (September 27, 2016). "Aqua Security Raises $9 Million". WSJ. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  24. ^ a b Wiggers, Kyle (2019-04-03). "Aqua Security raises $62 million for containerized computing tools". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  25. ^ "The Latest App Coding Trend Is a Hacker's Dream". Bloomberg.com. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  26. ^ "Israeli tech unicorn Aqua Security raises $60M for its cloud-based cybersecurity approach — TFN". Tech Funding News. 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  27. ^ Miller, Ron (2019-04-03). "Container security startup Aqua lands $62M Series C". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  28. ^ Holmes, Aaron. "Investors sunk billions into these 14 cybersecurity startups as the pandemic and massive hacks like SolarWinds made the industry more vital than ever". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  29. ^ Keary, Tim (2022-06-22). "Aqua Security and CIS release first formal guidelines for software supply chain security". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  30. ^ Sawers, Paul (2024-01-03). "Cloud-native cybersecurity startup Aqua Security raises $60M and remains a unicorn". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  31. ^ "Aqua Security Software Ltd - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  32. ^ "Aqua Security announces $135 million series E funding, to double Hyderabad R&D centre headcount". The Times of India. 2021-03-11. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  33. ^ Alspach, Kyle (2021-11-23). "Why an emerging cloud security trend offers 'good news' to businesses". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  34. ^ "Aqua Security buys CloudSploit, expands into cloud security | TechTarget". IT Operations. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  35. ^ Alspach, Kyle (2021-12-01). "Aqua Security acquires Argon to protect the software supply chain". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  36. ^ Vizard, Mike (2021-07-12). "Aqua Security Acquires tfsec to Advance DevSecOps". DevOps.com. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  37. ^ "Aqua Security buys open-source 'infrastructure as code' scanning tool tfsec". SiliconANGLE. 2021-07-12. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  38. ^ Aqua Security Trivy, GitHub, 2024-07-18, retrieved 2024-07-18
  39. ^ Aqua Security Tracee, GitHub, 2024-07-18, retrieved 2024-07-18
  40. ^ Zorz, Mirko (2023-11-08). "Aqua Trivy open-source security scanner now finds Kubernetes security risks". Help Net Security. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  41. ^ "8 vulnerability management tools to consider in 2023 | TechTarget". Security. Retrieved 2024-07-18.