The company was incorporated in 2013 by founders Oren Falkowitz, Blake Darché, and Phil Syme, all of whom were formerly employed by the U.S. National Security Agency. The company announced venture capital financing led by Kleiner Perkins and including Icon ventures, Allegis Capital, Cowboy Ventures, Data Collective, First Round Capital, RedSeal Networks CEO Ray Rothrock, and Shape Security CEO Derek Smith. Area 1 Security was named a Cool Vendor by Gartner in 2016 and listed among "20 Rising Stars" of the Cloud 100 by Forbes magazine in 2017. Area 1 was recognized by the San FranciscoBusiness Times as a "Best Place to Work" in 2017. In 2018, Area 1 was a Cybersecurity Excellence Awards finalist. In 2019, Area 1 was named Google Cloud Global Technology Partner of the Year Award for Security In December of 2018 Area 1 revealed a Chinese government cyber campaign targeting intergovernmental organizations, ministries of foreign affairs, ministries of finance, trade unions, and think tanks. Over 100 hundred organizations were identified in this campaign by Area 1 Security as targets of the Chinese government’s Strategic Support Force, which ultimately led to the breach of a diplomatic communications network of the European Union. In 2019 to deter Foreign interference in the 2020 United States elections the Federal Elections Commission ruled in AO 2019-12 that Area 1 "may offer its services to federal candidates and political committees at the same “low or no cost” tier that it offers to all qualified customers without making an impermissible in-kind contribution". In January of 2020 Area 1 revealed a Russian government phishing campaign targeting Burisma Holdings and its subsidiaries.
Products
Area 1 Horizon provides a cloud-based service to prevent phishing campaigns, whether by nation-state or commercial actors, and stop cyberattacks, including BEC scam, ransomware, malware, watering holes, malvertising, and other socially engineered threats. Area 1 Horizon seeks and detects phishing attacks missed by spam filters and legacy devices. The company "maintains a network of sensors on web servers around the globe — many known to be used by state-sponsored hackers — which gives the firm a front-row seat to phishing attacks," the New York Times wrote in 2020. This approach contrasts with the strategy of training, educating, and relying on end users to recognize and report all such attacks.
Technology
Area 1 Security Horizon identifies attack indicators by specific elements of their infrastructure. Flexible enforcement platforms enable preemptive detection and disablement of targeted phishing attacks across email, web, and network, whether at the edge, or in the cloud. Area 1 Security also extends protection to customers’ partners and digital ecosystem stakeholders.
