- Imperva Spinoff Incapsula helps hosters offer affordable, enterprise-class web Application protection for small and medium businesses
Imperva, the leader in data security, recently unveiled a comprehensive strategy to help cloud providers, enterprises and small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) protect sensitive data against external and internal threats and comply with regulations such as PCI, SOX and HIPAA. Additionally, Imperva spinoff ‘Incapsula’ will help web hosters give SMBs affordable web application protection. The Incapsula web application firewall service gives small businesses an easy and affordable way to manage website security and performance for any domain that they own even if it is hosted by a third party. For hosters and other service providers, Incapsula enables website security to be extended to an entire customer base. Imperva will resell this service to complement Incapsula’s own sales efforts.
“Cloud computing has created a paradigm shift in the way organizations view their data center architecture,” explained Imperva CTO Amichai Shulman. “Imperva is stepping up to the challenge of protecting cloud-based data from hackers and cloud insiders with a comprehensive data security solution.”
“Incapsula’s service helps web hosting companies provide SMBs with an easy, affordable way to defend their web applications against external hackers,” explained Gur Shatz, CEO of Incapsula. “Given the nature of today’s indiscriminate, bot-based attack methods, small businesses are subject to significant cyber attacks and require enterprise-class protection.”
Subscribing to Incapsula’s web protection service is a simple five-minute process that does not require installation of hardware or software, just a simple DNS change. Incapsula inspects all incoming traffic to any subscriber’s website, keeping hackers out while accelerating outgoing traffic. The Incapsula service is suitable for the SMB and cloud market, requiring minimal setup with service beginning in the first quarter 2011. The list price for this service is expected to start at $50 per month.
Incapsula complements Imperva SecureSphere’s cloud capabilities, such as those leveraged by web hosting company, FireHost. “SecureSphere gives FireHost a scalable web application security platform that can handle our rapid customer growth. As part of our core service, all customers are protected from web attacks using the SecureSphere Web Application Firewall. We're also excited to offer premium data security services for HIPAA and PCI compliance based on SecureSphere Database Activity Monitoring and File Activity Monitoring products,” explained Chris Drake, CEO of FireHost.
Imperva’s high-level cloud capabilities include:
Attack Protection and Access Control for the Cloud: SecureSphere Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides market -leading protection for cloud-based web applications against complex and sophisticated attacks. SecureSphere WAF enables a quick and easy route to PCI 6.6 compliance and the ability to instantly mitigate known application vulnerabilities.
Data Access Auditing for the Cloud: SecureSphere Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) and File Activity Monitoring (FAM) provide sensitive data access auditing for cloud-based databases and file-sharing systems.
SecureSphere supports all major cloud deployment models and is available by deploying physical or virtual SecureSphere appliances within a cloud data center:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers: IaaS providers offer state-of-the-art flexible and secure cloud data centers. SecureSphere enables IaaS providers to offer web attack protection and regulatory compliance readiness to their customers and generate incremental business. Imperva customers include Savvis and Firehost.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers: PaaS providers offer application development and delivery platforms that accelerate time-to-market of new applications and services. SecureSphere enables PaaS providers to give their customers web attack protection as part of the underlying platform.
- Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: SaaS providers deliver cloud-based business applications for sales, financial, HR and other functional areas. These applications host large amounts of sensitive data across many organizations. As organizations adopt cloud applications to streamline their IT operations, SaaS providers are expected to ensure data security and address regulatory compliance – as would be the case for on-premise data.
- Enterprise Private Clouds: Private clouds are a replacement or an extension of the traditional data center and must address the security of publicly facing web applications. SecureSphere Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides the industry-leading protection against Internet attacks targeting web applications and enables rapid mitigation of web application vulnerabilities
Also, Imperva last week expanded its executive team with the addition of a new Chief Financial Officer and an industry veteran General Counsel Terry Schmid.
Schmid will be responsible for overseeing all finance, accounting, HR, IT, facilities and legal functions. The company also announced the addition of Scott Darling as the new Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. As such, Darling is responsible for managing and directing all of Imperva’s legal matters.
“We’re excited to have both Terry and Scott join the management team at Imperva,” said Imperva president and CEO Shlomo Kramer. “Their experience working with growing technology companies as well as large enterprise will be an asset to Imperva as we continue to expand our global footprint and increase our marketshare.”
Schmid brings more than 20 years of financial leadership to the company, including CFO roles in both public and private companies, as well as experience preparing companies for successful public offerings. Schmid joins Imperva from Coremetrics where he was CFO. Prior to Coremetrics, he was the EVP and CFO at Enterasys Networks where he helped return Enterasys to growth and profitability after it was taken private by a private equity firm in 2006. Before Enterasys, Schmid was CFO at Turnstone Systems, a publicly traded telecommunications company. Schmid was also part of the founding team at ONI Systems, where he helped raise $125 million in venture investments and helped guide the company to a successful IPO.
Darling joins Imperva from Danger, Inc., and later as a senior attorney with Microsoft’s mobile communications business. Darling was responsible for all legal affairs at Danger, including Danger’s IPO filing and subsequent $500 million acquisition by Microsoft. Darling started his career as an associate at Gunderson Dettmer in Menlo Park, CA representing technology companies in intellectual property transactions, venture capital financings and general corporate matters.
“Imperva is led by a team of industry veterans with real insight on where the market is heading and tested technology expertise in data security,” said Schmid. “I’m excited to join such an accomplished group and look forward to working with them as we innovate new solutions and expand the company.”
Schmid holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BA in Economics from the University of San Francisco. Darling holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree from Yale University.