Cloudflare Shells Out $162 Million for Area 1 Security for Expanded Zero Trust

Cloudflare is acquiring Area 1 Security for $162 million in cash and stock to beef up its zero trust platform.

Area 1 Security’s cloud-native platform works with any email offering. It stops phishing attacks by preemptively discovering and eliminating them before they can inflict damage in a corporate environment.

In 2021 alone, Area 1 Security blocked more than 40 million malicious phishing campaigns spanning business email compromise (BEC), malware, ransomware and other advanced threats.

The acquisition should close early next quarter subject to customary closing conditions.

Cloudflare entered the email security market in 2021 with the launch of its Advanced Email Security Suite and additional tools to create custom email addresses, manage incoming email routing, and prevent email spoofing and phishing on outgoing emails.

The two companies will provide a holistic zero trust solution. Customers can enable the solution through Cloudflare’s global edge.

Cloudflare Becoming ‘Clear Leader’ in Zero Trust

Matthew Prince is Cloudflare‘s co-founder and CEO.

Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince

“Email is the largest cyberattack vector on the internet, which makes integrated email security critical to any true zero trust network,” he said. “That’s why today we’re welcoming Area 1 Security to help make Cloudflare’s platform the clear leader in zero trust. To us, the future of zero trust includes an integrated, one-click approach to securing all of an organization’s applications, including its most ubiquitous cloud application, email. Together, we expect we’ll be delivering the fastest, most effective and most reliable email security on the market.”

Patrick Sweeney is Area 1 Security‘s CEO and president.

“Today, email is a business’ most-used cloud application,” he said. “It’s unfortunately unprotected. We estimate that more than 90% of cybersecurity damages are the result of just one thing: phishing. By combining our leading phishing protection and threat intelligence capabilities with Cloudflare’s global network, data capabilities and zero trust platform, we truly believe that together we can help companies of any size better secure their entire network infrastructure and better protect against the most destructive cyber risks.”