Akamai Recognized as a Leader in 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Application Firewalls for Fourth Consecutive Year

Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences, has been recognized by Gartner as a Leader in the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Web Application Firewalls for the fourth year in a row. According to Gartner, “leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.” Gartner analysts evaluated multiple vendors based upon their ability to execute and completeness of vision.

According to Gartner, “the web application firewall market’s growth continues to be driven by cloud-delivered web application and API protection services... By 2023, more than 30% of public-facing web applications and APIs will be protected by cloud web application and API protection (WAAP) services, which combine distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, bot mitigation, API protection and web application firewalls (WAFs). This is an increase from fewer than 15% today. By 2024, most organizations implementing multi cloud strategies for web applications in production will use only cloud WAAP services.”

Development, operations, and security teams must work together to protect not only networks and business-critical applications, but increasingly complex IT infrastructure, rapidly evolving APIs, and browsers from the latest threats. Multi-cloud hybrid environments, mobile, and SaaS offerings are all examples of how modern applications - especially with the move toward microservices-based API architectures - continue to expand the attack surface. Cybercriminals, therefore, use multi-vector attacks to exploit new vulnerabilities beyond web applications and into business logic functions and JavaScript supply chains.

Akamai believes that a holistic web application and API protection (WAAP) solution includes adjacent security capabilities that cover an ever-expanding wide range of threats. This year, Akamai launched Page Integrity Manager which is designed to protect websites from JavaScript threats such as web skimming, form-jacking, and Magecart attacks. In addition to broad web application security to combat multi-vector attacks, Akamai also announced new API discovery and profiling capabilities with our most recent Platform Update.

“Our approach to web application security is fueled by delivering on four key customer advantages: unmatched visibility, high security outcomes, user empowerment, and holistic edge security,” said Raja Patel, Vice President of Security Product Management, Akamai. “We continue to expand our capabilities to protect customers from new and evolving threats, while enabling more organizations to protect their continuously changing attack surfaces.”

Continued Customer Recognition

Gartner Peer Insights documents customer experience through verified ratings and peer reviews. As of October 20, 2020, Akamai customer reviews average a score of 4.5 out of 5 based on 127 reviews for the Web Application Firewalls market and include the following:

“The Kona WAF SaaS has worked flawlessly for us for over four years… We boast zero downtime due to cyberattacks in complete contrast to our previous experience; many of our sites are attack magnets and under 24x7 attack...according to the logs.” — head of architecture, MCIT, finance industry

“Advanced API Security. It (Kona Site Defender) has protected all my applications with a single, easy-to-manage solution while maintaining a consistent and up-to-date security posture.” — analyst, services industry

“Given the increasing complexity of application infrastructures, and the sophistication of threat actors attempting to compromise protection, a strategic partnership with a proven industry-leading security provider is more important than ever,” added Patel. “We remain committed to our customers and believe that Gartner’s recognition of Akamai as a Magic Quadrant Leader in the web application firewall market once again demonstrates how our edge security experience, strong product alignment, and broad security portfolio continue to set us apart.”

A complimentary copy of the complete report, Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Web Application Firewalls, 19 October 2020, including the Magic Quadrant graphic, is available here. For additional information regarding Akamai’s WAF offerings, visit here.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Web Application Firewalls, Jeremy D'Hoinne, Adam Hils, Rajpreet Kaur, John Watts, 19 October 2020.

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