CipherCloud

CipherCloud
Name	CipherCloud
Type	Private
Industry	Cloud security
Founded	2010
Founders	Pravin Kothari
Headquarters	San Jose, California, United States
Key people	Pravin Kothari
Products	Cloud encryption, DLP, CASB

CipherCloud is a private cybersecurity company specializing in cloud security, data protection, and encryption services for enterprise applications. Founded in 2010, the company provides solutions intended to secure data across cloud platforms, minimize regulatory exposure, and integrate with enterprise identity and access management systems. Its offerings target sectors such as finance, healthcare, technology, and government contractors to help organizations meet compliance standards and manage cloud risk.

History

The company was founded by Pravin Kothari in 2010 during a period of rapid adoption of Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, and Google Apps across enterprises. Early growth coincided with rising interest in cloud access security brokers and the publication of guidance from regulators such as the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and agencies interpreting the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. CipherCloud attracted venture capital from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Bay Partners, and other Silicon Valley firms, and expanded operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and internationally into markets such as London and Singapore. During its development the company navigated industry shifts driven by announcements from platform providers like Microsoft regarding Office 365 and strategic movements by competitors such as Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks.

Products and Technology

CipherCloud's product suite has focused on cloud encryption, tokenization, and data loss prevention for software-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service environments. It integrated with major cloud platforms including Salesforce, Workday, Box, Dropbox, ServiceNow, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure to provide inline and API-based controls. The company developed connectors and gateways to interoperate with identity providers and federation standards such as Okta, Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, SAML 2.0, and OAuth 2.0. Technologically, offerings employed symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, key management compatible with hardware security modules from vendors like Thales Group and Entrust, and tokenization schemes influenced by standards from organizations such as NIST.

CipherCloud provided analytics and policy engines that could be configured to enforce controls across collaboration platforms like Slack and content management systems used by enterprises including Concur and Workday. Integration with security orchestration and incident response workflows linked to platforms like Splunk and ServiceNow enabled visibility for security operations centers modeled after best practices from institutions like SANS Institute.

Security and Compliance

The company positioned its technology to help customers meet compliance regimes including the General Data Protection Regulation, Sarbanes–Oxley Act, Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, HIPAA, and frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001 and PCI DSS. CipherCloud emphasized controls for data residency and encryption key ownership to address concerns raised in policy debates involving entities such as the European Commission and national privacy authorities. It also engaged with standards bodies and participated in industry dialogues alongside vendors and consultancies like Deloitte, PwC, and Accenture on cloud security governance.

Security claims referenced cryptographic primitives and key lifecycle management practices that aligned with guidance from NIST publications, and the company worked to support audit processes required by regulators such as the SEC and banking supervisors in jurisdictions influenced by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Corporate Affairs

Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company operated sales and engineering offices across the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Leadership included founder Pravin Kothari and executives with backgrounds at technology firms and enterprise software vendors. Corporate development activity involved partnerships and channel relationships with managed security service providers and system integrators such as Capgemini, Wipro, and Infosys. The company’s funding and go-to-market strategy reflected trends in venture-backed cybersecurity firms and the broader Silicon Valley ecosystem.

Reception and Impact

CipherCloud was cited in industry reports by analyst firms including Gartner, Forrester Research, and IDC as part of the evolution of cloud access security brokers and cloud data protection offerings. Security practitioners and compliance officers noted its role in advancing patterns for encryption and tokenization in production cloud deployments alongside academic research from institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and MIT that examined cloud confidentiality. The company’s approach influenced product design among cloud security vendors and contributed to procurement discussions in enterprises undergoing digital transformation initiatives led by companies like General Electric and Siemens. Some critiques from industry commentators compared gateway-based models to native platform controls promoted by providers like Microsoft and Google.

Category:Computer security companies Category:Companies based in San Jose, California