Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • Cybersecurity

    Avanan Boosts SaaS Application Security With Cloud-Native Approach

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    December 17, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Avanan

      Cloud security services startup Avanan announced on Dec. 17 that it has raised $25 million in a Series B round of funding that will help the company expand its capabilities.

      Avanan is in the business of providing enterprises with security for cloud-based email and collaboration services. The company’s platform provides both a marketplace that enables third-party security technologies and a growing capability of its own custom-developed enhanced capabilities. The core Avanan platform makes use of the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system, which enables the system to rapidly adjust to meet different demands.

      “While originally everything we did at Avanan was everything was third-party and security app store, we found that some of the technologies weren’t adapting well to cloud environments,” Gil Friedrich, CEO of Avanan, told eWEEK. “Specifically, things like UEBA [User and Entity Behavior Analytics] and the ability to detect unsecured configurations in the cloud or compromised accounts were lacking, so we developed our own technology there.”

      Avanan, which translates from Hebrew as “cloud of clouds,” emerged from stealth in November 2015 with the promise of helping organizations be secure in the cloud. The new round of funding is the first since the company announced its $14.9 million Series A round of funding in May 2016.

      Originally, Avanan simply provided customers with the ability to choose from a variety of third-party security technologies to help secure cloud assets, according to Friedrich. Over the last year, the company has shifted to also providing bundles of complementary services. There are now bundles for phishing and malware prevention as well as data loss protection (DLP), among others, he said.

      “Within the bundle we incorporate some of our technology and some third-party technology,” Friedrich said.

      How It Works

      The Avanan bundle for phishing protection includes Avanan’s artificial intelligence (AI) capability. Friedrich explained that the AI system looks at several hundred different indicators within every email to help make a determination if any malicious activity could be occurring. Indicators include items such as past correspondence between the sender and the receiver, as well as natural language analysis on the subject and content of the email. Friedrich said that all the indicators are fed into an algorithm that was trained on Avanan’s data set.

      “Generally, with AI, what you train the machine on is what it’s going to catch,” he said. “So we trained specifically on the things Microsoft misses and specifically on the attack methods that people use in order to bypass Microsoft.”

      Avanan has its own active security research group, which works to uncover new attack techniques that are used to further improve the company’s AI engine. Friedrich said that part of the research efforts involves the creation of fake accounts that are purposefully vulnerable that easily fall prey to phishing attacks. The Avanan research team then tracks how attackers are able to exploit the victim accounts in order to uncover different attack methods.

      Cloud-Native Kubernetes

      Avanan bills itself as a cloud-native technology platform, running all of its infrastructure components on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, making extensive use of the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration engine. When Avanan sees a new attack, its analysts can push new code immediately to help protect customers, according to Friedrich.

      “There’s a whole process we have with Kubernetes, including staging and then releasing new code,” he explained. “Being able to do that just gives us a faster, quicker way to respond to emerging attacks.”

      Looking forward, Friedrich said that the new funding will enable Avanan to accelerate its growth and enhance its security technology. In particular, he expects that there will additional enhanced capabilities rolled out by his company around phishing protection.

      “Hackers are very advanced, and we constantly see new attacks around malicious links and emulating URLs,” he said. “There’s just a lot of work to be done there from an R&D perspective, and we would have done it anyway, but we’ll do it faster now.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×