When it comes to cyber defense, depth is the name of the game. One barrier isn’t nearly enough anymore. To withstand increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, network security companies rely on an arsenal of tools that detect, react and protect against cybercrime in real-time.
What Is Network Security?
Application security, behavioral analytics, data loss prevention, email security and VPN tools are just the tip of the iceberg. Along with traditional methods of protection, network security companies are also focusing their efforts on developing cloud-based products and IoT devices. By 2025, it’s estimated that there will be 27 billion connected IoT devices. With this expected growth, companies in the space are already augmenting their services to protect our privacy.
We’ve rounded up 16 network security companies using innovation to protect our data.
Network Security Companies to Know
Network Security Companies
- Duo Security
- CUJO
- AI Vectra
- AI Lookout
- Tempered Huntress
- Proofpoint
Location: Fully Remote
Duo Security is a cybersecurity company that offers two-factor authentication services for client networks of all sizes. Major universities and institutions as well as enterprise companies like Facebook and Airbnb rely on its protection for their cloud assets. The software is flexible and reliable, requiring users to simply receive a phone call or relay a text code to gain access to their materials.
Location: Fully Remote
Cybersecurity company runZero makes network discovery and asset inventory software. The program works by scanning a client’s network for any assets, like devices or users, that don’t have the appropriate credentials — sort of like an IT version of a leak test. The proactive security software can be used with internal and client networks.
Location: Louisville, Colorado
JumpCloud’s Directory-as-a-Service is a cloud-based platform that assists IT teams in securely managing identities and safely connecting employees to outside resources. The identity management portion of the platform allows administrators to manage credentials and authentications, severely limiting malicious network attacks.
Cars.com, Peloton and gofundme all trust JumpCloud’s DaaS platform to manage employee identity and access information according to its website.
Location: Fully Remote
Huntress aims to protect small-to-medium-sized businesses from cyber attacks. The company’s managed security platform houses ransomware detectors that launch an investigation if smaller files are changed after being placed on all protected endpoints. Huntress’ ThreatOps team works to confirm whether those changes are the result of a ransomware infection or malicious encryption. In addition, their dashboard enables organizations to remain aware of ongoing investigations and the status of their online security.
Location: San Francisco, California
Lookout is a cybersecurity company that creates endpoint protection for mobile devices using predictive machine learning that continually assesses the safety of networks on which mobile devices connect. Lookout secures mobile phones from data breaches by vetting sources in real-time.
In 2018, Lookout’s AI identified a fake website that mimicked and attempted to breach the Democratic National Committee’s voter database, exposing millions of people's personal information. Lookout contacted the DNC and the FBI to expose this security threat and have the website investigated. This breach was later reported as a test, but is a testament to Lookout’s detection of phishing threats regardless of the source of such exploits.
Location: Sunnyvale, California
Proofpoint is a cybersecurity company that uses machine learning and cloud-based security solutions to protect against threats, including those delivered via email, social media and mobile apps. Some of its additional tools allow businesses to protect their employees’ emails and data by using encryption and guards against data loss.
Location: San Jose, California
Vectra is a threat detection and hunting platform that identifies attacks on clouds, data centers and IoT devices in real-time. Using AI-based behavioral detection algorithms, the Vectra Threat Detection and Response Platform detects, responds to and investigates attacks. A case study on the company’s website details how Vectra detected an attempted attack on a major healthcare organization.
Location: Fully Remote
GoGuardian serves the edtech market by providing both a learning system that hosts a variety of tools and security solutions for online learning. The company’s suite of solutions allow educators to observe browsing reports, use DNS filtering as well as to implement custom accessibility and visibility settings while maintaining the learning environment.
Location: San Jose, California
Zscaler is a SaaS security platform providing secure connections for hybrid and remote businesses and their employees. The company’s Zero Trust Exchange is a cloud-based platform that uses the internet as a corporate network. The Zero Trust Exchange runs across 150 data centers around the globe, as Zsclaer strives to provide service close to users. One benefit of the platform is its ability to connect users to apps directly without network access, so threats are isolated.
Location: Santa Clara, California
Palo Alto Networks works to protect all things digital across cloud platforms, mobile devices and networks. The company’s products range from solutions for SaaS and IoT security to web and phishing security and zero trust network access. In addition to cloud and enterprise solutions, Palo Alto also offers Cortex, the company’s AI-based continuous security platform.
Location: Walnut, California
CUJO uses AI-based cyber and network security tools to help protect devices from breaches. The company’s SaaS and firmware solutions integrate with a business’s cloud to perform everything from content access control to threat detection and endpoint security. CUJO protects approximately 40 million households, according to a 2021 press release. CUJO’s AI-powered cybersecurity and network intelligence solutions are used by broadband operators such as Comcast and Charter Communications to block and inform customers about potential threats for all their connected devices in their home.
Location: Broomfield, Colorado
Webroot provides cloud endpoint protection and intelligence services for everything from home offices to enterprise businesses. The company uses machine learning-based predictive threat intelligence to identify holes in a network’s cybersecurity protocol before a malicious actor finds them. The Webroot platform then provides a detailed report showing all vulnerabilities and suggestions on how to patch them.
In 2019, Webroot was acquired by cloud-based data protection provider Carbonite, which uses Webroot’s expertise to address one of their top vulnerabilities: endpoint security for cloud-based products.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Xaptum provides real-time cybersecurity systems for IoT networks. The company’s platform allows device authentication and authorization for secure messaging between an IoT device and the cloud.
By securing their logistics networks with Xaptum, intermodal shipping companies are able to securely transfer data from their IoT devices to the cloud without worrying about a security breach.
Location: San Francisco, California
Foxpass helps enterprises boost their network security with cloud-hosted tools that oversee existing directories to protect network logins on applications and WiFi. Foxpass can protect work inside of cloud platforms like Google Apps, Okta and Office 365. Lyft, Instacart, Imgur and Boxed are just a few of the well-known brands that use Foxpass to automate and protect their networks, according to its website.
Location: New York, New York
Axonius is a network security platform that lets IT teams manage and secure all of their devices. With the help of universal device visibility, IT teams can monitor each network-connected device for performance or cyber attack issues. In 2019, Axonius was named a finalist for the RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox Contest. The leading conference on information security, RSA gives 10 of the most innovative startups a platform to present their technologies.
Location: Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania
Netronome develops domain-specific architecture that lets customers build accelerators for networking applications and edge computing. The company’s DSA network protection includes everything from intrusion detection tools to the newest firewalls and a zero-trust distributed security system.
Location: Seattle, Washington
Tempered creates Identity Defined Networking solutions for infrastructure and IoT devices in the energy, education, manufacturing, healthcare and water industries. The company’s Airwall is a zero-trust portfolio that creates private overlay networks based on encrypted tunnels and trusted identities to secure data. This overlay lets connected devices safely “talk” with one another on a secure network.
