Earlier this week, Fortanix announced that it had closed a sizeable Series B round of funding, which will help the company execute on its bold vision of helping solve today's cloud security and data privacy problems. To find out more about the funding news, the company, their technology and partnerships, VMblog spoke with Ambuj Kumar, the company's CEO and co-founder. Kumar also goes into detail about the major trends that he sees in cloud security for the remainder of 2019.
VMblog: Congratulations Ambuj on this week's
funding! Before we go into those
details, can you give our readers a quick overview of Fortanix?
Ambuj Kumar: I would be happy
to. Fortanix was founded to solve cloud
security and privacy challenges. We allow customers to securely
operate even the most sensitive applications without having to trust the cloud.
Fortanix provides unique deterministic security by encrypting applications and
data everywhere - at rest, in motion, and in use with our
Runtime
Encryption® technology built upon
Intel® Software Guard Extension
(SGX).
We were the first company to recognize the
power of protected enclaves to secure enterprise applications and cloud data,
and adoption has been growing rapidly ever since. In addition to many Fortune
100 customers around the globe, Fortanix is partnering with and enabling
protections in the IBM Data Shield. We have also
been working with Equinix to power its SmartKeyTM
HSM-as-a-service, and we
partnered with Alibaba Cloud
to integrate with the Alibaba Cloud platform, enabling them to introduce new
levels of security and privacy with our Self-Defending Key Management ServiceTM
in the cloud. Those are just a few of the big names I can mention.
VMblog: Now, can you tell us more about the
funding? How that all came about and
what you will use it for?
Kumar: Earlier this week,
we announced that we closed a $23 million Series B round of
funding led by Intel Capital. Our existing investors Foundation Capital and
Neotribe also participated in the round. We have been working very closely with
Intel since 2016. We were the first commercial application of their Intel SGX
technology, and they have been watching our progress and growth very closely,
while being an extremely important and supportive partner.
The new funding will be used
to expand all facets of our company, including Engineering, Sales, Marketing
and our channel, to meet the increasing global demand for our
Self-Defending
Key Management ServiceTM and Runtime
Encryption® platform. In addition, it will help fuel our rapid
acceleration internationally.
I should add that Sunil Kurkure, Director at
Intel Capital, will join the Fortanix Board of Directors. We have been working closely with Sunil and look
forward to leveraging his wealth of knowledge and support.
VMblog: Why was it important to take an investment from
Intel Capital? What does that signify?
Kumar: This investment signifies a
significant milestone for Intel and Fortanix in our continued collaboration to
allow the most sensitive applications to run securely in cloud. Intel is a
critical partner for Fortanix and it made sense to keep the investment "in the
family," and enable us to expand our great work together. Additionally, the
Intel brand carries a lot of weight and all the customers know about them. This
funding will further our joint strategy of driving the ability for enterprises
to securely move data from on-premise and offsite to the cloud, while expanding
Fortanix's reach in the market.
VMblog: You also have some other big-named partners. How have things been going with the likes of
Equinix and IBM?
Kumar: Our key management offering with Equinix
SmartKey
saw rapid acceleration in customer adoption across the spectrum of startups to
some very large enterprises. We also added new capabilities such as
tokenization and KMIP. KMIP allows customers to encrypt their VMware vSAN and
vSphere with a click of a button and meet various compliance requirements, all
with the convenience of a cloud-delivered SaaS.
With Fortanix, IBM Data Shield became the only
and first cloud provider to offer an Intel SGX-based service where Linux
applications can run truly secure and protected from even the cloud provider.
This is a marquee offering by IBM and we are very proud to work with them.
VMblog: Can you tell us how your Runtime Encryption technology
is particularly critical in protecting cloud data?
Kumar: Nowhere else is Runtime Encryption more
critical than in protecting cloud data, and Runtime Encryption is fundamentally
helping establish trust in cloud computing. This is because our technology creates a portable security
envelop that runs signed applications in completely protected states. We keep cloud
apps and data completely protected while in use from external and internal
threats, OS-level hacks and network intruders. Fortanix Runtime Encryption
technology delivers unprecedented levels of protection.
With Runtime Encryption customers know that no
matter what happens, their data remains cryptographically protected. No amount
of zero-day attacks, infrastructure compromises, and even government subpoenas
can compromise the data. Runtime Encryption uses hardware as a foundation to
provide deterministic security needed for the most sensitive cloud applications,
at the performance demanded by modern Internet-scale applications.
VMblog: What major trends do you see for 2019 around cloud security?
Kumar: The number one concern cited
by enterprises in their move to cloud continues to be security. Development of
protected enclaves is giving sensitive applications a safe place to be protected
from today's infrastructure attacks. This year, enclave-based security will become
mainstream for sensitive cloud applications as customers demand definitive
protection from infrastructure threats. Already we are seeing how Apple uses
protected regions of hardware to secure personal data on iPhones.
Also, data is recognized as critical in
driving AI functions, and AI
is moving to a state where it will impact many more things we do.
New types of privacy-aware frameworks are emerging this year to protect all
this data. For example, a healthcare business will be able to securely use AI
and ML with the most sensitive patient data, providing new insights in the
fight to cure diseases, while helping with highly personalized drug discovery.
Finally, we see trends around the line between
IOT and edge-cloud getting blurred. With IOT devices' increasing capability,
they will face stronger scrutiny from a security and privacy perspective. For
example, more states will follow the lead of
California in demanding IOT devices provide "reasonable security" and privacy.
IOT devices today have the capability to do everything from crash cars and
regulate blood-flow - and regulations on how they are secured will be needed.
VMblog: And
what can we expect to see from Fortanix in 2019 now that you have this infusion of funding?
Kumar: Well, I mentioned this
funding will fuel the growth of every facet of Fortanix, and expand our ability
to further penetrate our markets and discover new markets. We look forward to
working closely with Intel and leveraging our existing partners, and building
new partnerships to solve cloud security and privacy issues altogether! As we
move forward in the year, you will see us support even wider classes of
applications, on an even wider array of computing platforms.
VMblog: It's been great speaking with you, anything else
you would like to share in wrap up?
Kumar:
It's been my pleasure to talk to you. Fortanix
has the bold mission of solving cloud security and privacy. We now have all the
fundamental building blocks to deliver on our promise. Our mission may be
difficult, but it's not impossible. It looks impossible only because it's not
been done before.
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