Innovator Spotlight: Upwind

The rapid adoption of cloud technology has led to an explosion in complexity and vulnerability within modern infrastructures. In 2022, 45% of businesses reported cloud-based data breaches or failed audits, highlighting the urgent need for advanced cloud security solutions (Thales Cloud Security Report). With cyberattacks accelerating to less than two minutes from intrusion to compromise, organizations are under immense pressure to secure their cloud environments in real-time (CrowdStrike Global Threat Report 2024).

Dan K. Anderson, a CISO and vCISO, emphasizes the challenge: “We’ve become great at monitoring endpoints and networks, but cloud monitoring still lags. As cloud environments grow in complexity, gaining visibility into real-time operations becomes crucial. Upwind bridges this gap by providing the constant visibility and adaptive protection needed in today’s cloud-first world.”

Upwind’s real-time, AI-driven cloud security platform offers an innovative solution, delivering comprehensive visibility and automated threat mitigation across cloud applications and infrastructure.

Upwind is a pioneering cloud security platform that leverages real-time runtime data to provide organizations with a complete view of their cloud environment. The platform goes beyond traditional static analysis by continuously monitoring the runtime behavior of cloud resources and infrastructure. This enables Upwind to create a security baseline that identifies and mitigates threats as they emerge, helping organizations stay ahead of attackers.

The Upwind Topology Map shows real-time resource communication, including network traffic and APIs, as well as risk overviews for each resource.

The platform offers a centralized solution covering critical areas such as CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management), CWPP (Cloud Workload Protection Platform), CDR (Cloud Detection and Response), API security, and vulnerability management. By integrating these capabilities, Upwind reduces alert noise by 95%, allowing security teams to focus on addressing high-priority threats while optimizing resources. Upwind’s “right-to-left” approach prioritizes insights from runtime data, which streamlines processes and strengthens collaboration between security and DevOps teams.

Upwind’s real-time detection extends beyond traditional security practices by correlating runtime insights with build-time data. This allows for precise identification of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that could be exploited, ensuring that risks are addressed proactively. The platform’s AI-driven context makes cloud security more efficient, effective, and aligned with the needs of both security and development teams.

“Securing modern cloud environments has become a challenge that spans across Dev, Sec, and Ops teams. Integrating context from runtime to build time breaks down silos, and every capability we build focuses on delivering results—not just more information. We unify insights and teams to provide robust and seamless cloud security,” said Amiram Shachar, Co-Founder and CEO of Upwind.

“Upwind’s ability to secure our multi-architecture cloud infrastructure in one comprehensive platform has saved our team countless hours of work by allowing us to centralize our security efforts. This improved workflow has reduced the amount of alerts we receive, helped us connect the dots for security findings, and streamlined our remediation efforts,” said Gadi Rapaport, Global IT Director at Yotpo.

Upwind shows a threat detection, identified in real time. Upwind leverages runtime insights and correlates them with build time context, automatically identifying the developer and pull request that introduced the change that led up to a threat.

In Summary

Upwind provides an all-in-one cloud security solution that is designed to protect complex cloud environments in real time. By leveraging AI-driven insights, reducing alert noise, and offering comprehensive visibility across cloud infrastructures, Upwind empowers organizations to detect and mitigate threats faster than ever before. Learn how Upwind can help you secure your cloud environment—visit https://upwind.io to schedule a demo.  Find them on Twitter(X): @UpwindSecurity #cloudsecurity #runtimeprotection #DevSecOps

About the Author

Dan Anderson is a winner of the Top Global CISO of the Year for 2023 and currently serves as a vCISO and On-Call Roving reporter for Cyber Defense Magazine.  BSEE, MS Computer Science, MBA Entrepreneurial focus, CISA, CRISC, CBCLA, C|EH, PCIP, and ITIL v3.  Dan’s work includes consulting premier teaching hospitals such as Stanford Medical Center, Harvard’s Boston Children’s Hospital, University of Utah Hospital, and large Integrated Delivery Networks such as Sutter Health, Catholic Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente, Veteran’s Health Administration, Intermountain Healthcare and Banner Health.  Dan has served in positions as President, CEO, CIO, CISO, CTO, and Director, is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Mark V Security, and Cyber Advisor Board member for Graphite Health.  Dan is a USA Hockey level 5 Master Coach.  Current volunteering by building the future of Cyber Security professionals through University Board work, the local hacking scene, and mentoring students, co-workers, and CISO’s.  Dan lives in Littleton, Colorado.  Find him online at linkedin.com/in/dankanderson.