Cloudflare announced today it has acquired cybersecurity vendor Area 1 Security . Cloudflare has been using Area 1’s DNS service to identify phishing infrastructure, but now the company will also provide its email security solution. This new solution will detect and block phishing emails. Area 1’s email security solution identifies and blocks malicious infrastructure. It’s not just a DNS service, though. It also identifies phishing infrastructure and identifies its victims.
Cloudflare Acquires Cybersecurity Vendor Area 1 Security
Cloudflare acquired cybersecurity vendor Area 1 Security to enhance its email offerings. While Cloudflare already offers email security as part of its Zero Trust offering, the acquisition of Area 1 Security will allow it to expand on that feature. Area 1’s DNS wizard, which scanned emails for phishing attacks last year, will now be a part of Cloudflare’s Zero Trust offering. In addition to email security, Area 1’s product is cloud-native and is vendor agnostic.
Cloudflare acquired Area 1 Security for $162 million in cash and shares. The company’s cloud-native platform will protect email systems from advanced threats like malware and ransomware. It estimates that by 2021, Area 1 will block 40 million malicious phishing attacks, which cost US businesses $1.8 billion annually. Cloudflare says it will continue to make such purchases. The company will also provide security for business email accounts.
Area 1’s Email Security Solution Blocks Phishing Attacks
Area 1 Security Horizon is a comprehensive email security solution that blocks phishing attacks. Its proprietary technology continuously crawls the Internet to uncover new phishing sites before they can activate phishing campaigns. Area 1 Security’s anti-phishing solution is fully accountable and enables administrators to gain insights on active phishing campaigns. Horizon also blocks malicious links and network command-and-control traffic.
Area 1 Security ‘s email security solution is built with the goal of blocking 40 million phishing campaigns by 2021. This innovative email security solution works behind existing email security solutions or in front of them, and it can be phased in over time to replace them. Area 1’s email security solution blocks phishing attacks, while Cloudflare’s email-security network identifies and protects malicious URLs.
Cloudflare Already Uses Area 1’s DNS Service
The DNS service is the backbone of the internet. Every time you click on a link on the internet, your device must first look up the address of the domain in question. There are two sides to the DNS network: the content side and the consumer side. Every domain has an Authoritative DNS provider. Cloudflare has been running an Authoritative DNS service since 2010.
There is a downside to Cloudflare. You’re limited to creating a certain number of DNS records. However, you can request more DNS records as needed. Another downside of Cloudflare is that it does not proxy certain records. For instance, you can’t CNAME a non-Cloudflare domain to a Cloudflare domain. You can still use traditional redirects to get the content you want.
Cloudflare Already uUes Area 1’s Email Security Solution
The email security features of Area 1 Security will be available to Cloudflare’s paid and enterprise plan users after the companies’ acquisition. Area 1 Security offers a high level of visibility, additional controls, analytics, and customization. To get a sneak peak of Area 1’s email security capabilities, Cloudflare customers can register for the company’s beta program. The beta program will provide an opportunity to test and evaluate the email security features of Area 1 Security .
Area 1 has been in the email security space for nine years, and has amassed a massive amount of threat intelligence. Area 1 uses this data to train its machine-learning models and take proactive measures against emerging threats. The acquisition comes just 13 days after Cloudflare purchased Vectrix, a company that detects inappropriate file sharing and user permission misconfigurations. In addition to Area 1, Cloudflare recently bought a startup called Zaraz to improve its website speed and privacy.