Microsoft acquires security tech startup CloudKnox to provide identity authorization for hybrid and multi-cloud environments

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring CloudKnox, a California-based cloud security tech startup to protect enterprises’ critical cloud infrastructure from accidents and malicious insiders. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition is part of Microsoft’s effort to shore up its security business, offer unified privileged access and cloud entitlement management, and protect all users and resources consistently across multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. CloudKnox’s platform also helps companies reduce the amount of access they provide to their cloud resources.

The acquisition of CloudKnox, just like Microsoft’s recent acquisition of RiskIQ and ReFirm Labs, shows the company’s focus and execution in acquiring, integrating, and expanding the strongest defenses for its customers — from chip to cloud, Microsoft said.

CloudKnox was founded in 2015 by Balaji Parimi and Rao Cherukuri, Sunnyvale, California-based provides a single platform that manages the entire identity privilege lifecycle across any private and public cloud infrastructure.

Through an extensible single platform, CloudKnox transforms how organizations implement the principle of least privilege and empowers security teams to proactively address accidental and malicious credential misuse by continuously detecting and mitigating identity risks. CloudKnox has 58 employees according to its profile page on LinkedIn.

In a blog post, Microsoft corporate vice president Joy Chik said: “Our acquisition of CloudKnox, like our recent acquisition announcements on RiskIQ and ReFirm Labs, shows our focus and execution in acquiring, integrating and expanding the strongest defenses for our customers — from chip to cloud — backed by more than 3,500 defenders at Microsoft and the more than 8 trillion security signals we process every day. Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help empower and defend the future of hybrid work and multi-cloud environments, providing essential visibility, control and monitoring Zero Trust demands.”

We covered CloudKnox back early last year after the startup closed $12 million in a new round of funding to further accelerate the company’s product and go-to-market plans. The round, which was led by Sorenson Ventures with participation from early investors, including ClearSky Security, Dell Technologies Capital, and Foundation Capital.

The CloudKnox team from left to right: Ravi Andusimilli, VP of engineering; Balaji Parimi, CEO and founder; and Parag Bajaria, head of product. Source: CloudKnox