secure-web-gateway
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Netskope Bet the Firewall Would Move to the Cloud. Now It Has to Keep AI From Eating the Office
A decade before every board wanted an AI policy, Netskope built a cloud checkpoint for data on the move. The bet worked - but winning SASE now means fighting familiar giants, funding a private network, and making security feel faster than doing nothing.
iboss
iboss is a Boston-based cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native Zero Trust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform. Founded in 2003 by twin brothers Paul and Peter Martini, iboss consolidates network security functions - secure web gateway, ZTNA, CASB, data loss prevention and firewall - into a single SaaS service that connects users to applications from anywhere while replacing legacy VPNs, proxy appliances and VDI. The platform is used by thousands of enterprises, government agencies and school districts, and processes over 100 billion transactions daily.
Zscaler
Zscaler is a cloud-native cybersecurity company that pioneered the zero trust security model for enterprises. Its Zero Trust Exchange platform connects users, devices, and applications directly and securely over the internet - inspecting traffic in the cloud rather than backhauling it through legacy hardware appliances. Founded in 2007 and publicly traded on NASDAQ as ZS, Zscaler processes hundreds of billions of transactions daily for thousands of large organizations, and has expanded into AI-driven security operations, data protection, and digital experience monitoring.
dope.security
dope.security is a Mountain View cybersecurity startup that rebuilt the Secure Web Gateway (SWG) so it runs directly on the endpoint instead of routing traffic through a vendor's cloud datacenter. Founded in 2021 by ex-Symantec and Forcepoint product leader Kunal Agarwal, its 'fly-direct' architecture inspects web traffic on-device, claiming faster performance, fewer outages, and better privacy than legacy cloud proxies. The company has expanded from its core dope.swg product into AI-powered data protection with CASB Neural and DOPAMINE DLP, backed by roughly $20M from GV (Google Ventures) and Boldstart Ventures.
Kunal Agarwal
Kunal Agarwal is the founder and CEO of dope.security, the 'Fly Direct' Secure Web Gateway that runs security on the endpoint instead of routing all traffic through a distant cloud data center. A self-described hacker since age 8 who once talked his way out of juvenile detention after breaking into his high school's grading system, he spent roughly a decade at Symantec and Forcepoint - rising from engineer to running Symantec's IoT business and leading product at Forcepoint - before launching dope.security in 2022. The company raised a $16M Series A led by GV (Google Ventures), and Agarwal was named SC Awards 2025 Innovator of the Year.