Top Cloud Security-as-a-Service Vendors
No doubt, the last few years have been pivotal in driving the cloud security phenomenon. And there doesn't seem to be any sign of a slowdown in 2010. Driven in part by the tough economy, cloud solutions took off over the last 16 months with an onslaught of SaaS acquisitions by some of world's largest security players. Symantec was one of the first to get the ball rolling with its acquisition of MessageLabs in October of 2008, followed by acquisitions by players such as WatchGuard, McAfee, Barracuda, M86 and Cisco. In addition to cloud-based antivirus, spam filters and Web scanning engines, security companies are now launching cloud-based DLP and authentication and log management technologies. Here are our picks for the top cloud security vendors helping to foster the SaaS phenomenon and drive it forward in 2010.

	AppRiver  AppRiver was founded in April of 2002 to provide simple, yet powerful email and web security solutions to businesses of any size. AppRiver eliminates the complex processes businesses face as they manage their messaging and web environments, while providing instant access to other award-winning security solutions, including: SecureTide™ Spam and Virus Protection, Archiving and Compliance, and CipherPost™ Email Encryption.
	Barracuda  Barracuda Networks Inc. combines premise-based gateways and software, cloud services, and sophisticated remote support to deliver comprehensive security, networking and storage solutions. Barracuda Networks’ product portfolio includes: Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall, Barracuda Web Filter, Barracuda IM Firewall, Barracuda Web Application Firewall, Barracuda SSL VPN, Barracuda Load Balancer, Barracuda Link Balancer, Barracuda Message Archiver, Barracuda Backup Service, and the BarracudaWare software portfolio.
	HP HP Application Security solutions enable your developers, quality assurance (QA) teams and security experts to successfully conduct web application security testing and remediation. This sophisticated, scalable, web application security solution helps you find and fix security vulnerabilities for web applications throughout the application software development lifecycle.
	M86  M86 Security is the largest provider of Secure Web Gateways and the largest independent provider of Web and e-mail content security in the world. Four leading technology companies have merged to become a full-service, single source provider of Web and e-mail gateway security, encryption and DLP solutions.
	McAfee  In September, McAfee completed the acquisition of Security-as-a-Service e-mail and Web security company MX Logic, giving the second largest security company a huge leg up in the Security-as-a-Service market. McAfee launched a cloud-based e-mail gateway in October following the acquisition, which expanded its cloud portfolio with e-mail and Web security offerings, e-mail archiving and e-mail continuity services, along with the addition of 40,000 new customers and 1,800 channel partners.
	Panda  Panda's products include security tools for home users and enterprises, including protection against cybercrime and kinds of malware that can damage IT systems, such as spam, hackers, spyware, dialers and undesirable web content, as well as detection of WiFi intrusions. Panda Security spots market opportunity with cloud and on November 2009, unveiled its first Cloud-Based Security Services for Home Users and SMBs[
	Symantec  In October 2008, Symantec's acquisition of MessageLabs gave the security giant a leg up over many of its competitors in the online messaging security market and a hefty boost to its existing SaaS portfolio. The acquisition and the growing popularity of SaaS-based Web security offerings also opened up some new markets for channel partners, who had hoped to expand their service offerings in the SMB and midmarket.
	SyferLock  Syferlock used a patented encription called GRIDPASS. A GridPass™ is a user selected password – a shared secret that only the user and the GridCore™ secured appliance know. Once a password is chosen, the user selects ways to hide the password when they log in. The password is never revealed by using simple substitution via the Grid interface. This substitution creates a more *secure, one time password of randomly changing numbers, and, more importantly, the actual password is never typed in.
	WatchGuard  WatchGuard builds affordable, all-in-one network and content security solutions to provide defense in depth for corporate content, networks and the businesses they power. WatchGuard's award-winning extensible threat management (XTM) network security solutions combine firewall, VPN and security services to protect networks from spam, viruses, malware and intrusions.
	Trend Micro  Trend Micro remains the pioneer of the SaaS arena and helped foster the cloud computing phenomenon with the launch of its Smart Protection Network. The company recently catapulted into the virtualization space with its new virtualized Web Gateway Security product and also released Trend Micro Deep Security 7.0 as part of its advanced server security effort intended to protect all aspects of the server, including the operating systems, network and application layers on physical as well as virtualized platforms.
	Ping Identity Ping Identity's PingConnect resolves one of the biggest problems in just about every organization -- multiple passwords. PingConnect's single sign-on service exponentially improves customers' security posture by eliminating passwords for virtually every major SaaS application, including Salesforce.com, Google Apps, Concur, SuccessFactors and Workday, among others. The company recently expanded its SaaS partner program by partnering with two SaaS providers: sales performance management company Callidus Software and sales enablement vendor Kadient.
	Qualys SaaS security risk and compliance management company Qualys offers a full range of on-demand services, with a specialty in customer adherence to a wide array of regulatory compliance mandates, such as PCI. The company serves thousands of subscribers around the world with its QualysGuard service, including 200 of the Forbes Global 2000, with real-time vulnerability management, policy compliance, PCI compliance and Web application scanning.
	Zscaler Zscaler offers its security business policy services via its Global Cloud Infrastructure, and offers one of the most comprehensive arrays of Web security, management and compliance services around, including Web filtering, social network security, virus control, antivirus, Web policy and management, DLP, and PCI and HIPAA compliance. It also touts low latency, reduced risk, lowered cost, improved resource utilization and IT administration simplification.
	Websense Websense's Security-as-a-Service, which relies on real-time threat updates from the Websense ThreatSeeker Network, is positioned as a way to eliminate distribution, deployment and ongoing upgrades of on-premise equipment. Specifically, Websense SaaS incorporates Websense Hosted Web Security and Websense Email Security, designed to protect against numerous Web and e-mail threats without any impact to network performance. Both services provide full reporting and policy management capabilities.
	StillSecure StillSecure's flagship ProtectPoint is a fully managed security service targeting SMBs and midsize companies, offering a wide range of SaaS services, including managed firewall, vulnerability scanning, managed VPN, intrusion detection, Web security and hosted e-mail security. In November, the company joined the HP ProCurve One Alliance as a partner to deliver managed security services, which allows HP ProCurve partners to earn recurring revenue without additional investments in their infrastructure.
	Proofpoint Proofpoint offers its comprehensive Enterprise service, based on the same platform powering its Messaging Security Gateway appliances and incorporates DLP, spam filtering and e-mail archiving services. Its hosted e-mail service, Proofpoint Protect, is also an easy-to-use, low-cost inbound e-mail security product designed for organizations that don't require outbound data privacy and e-mail encryption features. The company distinguishes itself with its single management and policy console powered by Proofpoint MLX technology, an advanced machine learning system.
	ScanSafe Founded in 2004, SaaS-based Web filtering company ScanSafe has recently been turning heads in the industry for its ability to detect and block malicious and inappropriate Web sites in real time. The services are powered by its multilayered Outbreak Intelligence threat detection technology, which processes more than 20 billion Web requests and blocks more than 200 million sites per month. The company was acquired by networking giant Cisco in December.
Sponsors
	Webroot Webroot has recently plunged into the SaaS arena with the release of its on-demand Web, e-mail and archiving products hosted in the cloud. The company unleashed dozens of enhancements to its business Web security service, while unveiling new security services to help businesses with e-discovery and compliance initiatives. The launch was part of a broader strategy for Webroot to build out its cloud security services.
	WhiteHat Founded in 2001 by a former Yahoo information security officer, WhiteHat aims to address the rising tidal wave of financially motivated Web-based attacks at the application level, preventing hackers from infiltrating and planting malicious code on users' Web sites. To help combat growing Web threats, WhiteHat offers resellers its WhiteHat Sentinel, a SaaS-platform assessment tool and Web site vulnerability manager designed to evaluate and verify all classes of vulnerabilities.