Wiz Unveils New Security Tool for Development Pipelines

Wiz: A Rising Star in Cloud Security

Despite being a relatively new entrant, Wiz, an 18-month-old Israeli security startup founded by Microsoft Azure veterans, is rapidly gaining recognition. The company has secured $550 million in funding, resulting in a $6 billion valuation.

Agentless Cloud Scanning

Wiz initially focused on developing an agentless tool capable of scanning diverse cloud environments. This includes virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions, according to Raaz Herzberg, Wiz’s head of product.

“Many of the tools organizations initially used in the cloud weren’t designed for cloud-native environments,” Herzberg explained. “We leveraged cloud APIs to perform a comprehensive scan, a feat previously unachieved.”

Introducing Wiz Guardrails

The company has now launched Wiz Guardrails, a new product designed to enforce a unified security policy throughout the entire software lifecycle. This extends the original product’s coverage from cloud infrastructure to the development pipeline.

Herzberg believes this release will fundamentally change how organizations approach cloud security. It allows for a consistent, thorough scan across all architectures and cloud platforms, encompassing the complete development process.

How Wiz Guardrails Works

Administrators define the desired security policy for code within the development pipeline.

The system continuously checks the code at each stage for compliance, flagging any violations for remediation before they escalate into larger issues. Monitoring continues even after the code is deployed to production.

The Founders' Background

CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport previously joined Microsoft following their acquisition of Adallom, a SaaS security company he helped build into a $2 billion business.

He launched Wiz in March 2020, a challenging time for new ventures. However, this did not hinder the company’s progress.

Rapid Growth and Funding

Wiz quickly attracted significant investment, achieving a $6 billion valuation just nine months after its initial product release.

Rappaport attributes this accelerated growth to the pandemic-driven shift to cloud adoption, a trend observed across many companies since 2020.

Investor Confidence

The founder’s proven track record played a crucial role in securing investor confidence. Investors often prioritize entrepreneurs with a history of successful startup exits.

“The combination of a substantial market opportunity and the speed of our innovation explains the investor excitement surrounding Wiz,” Rappaport stated.

Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies have been rapidly adopting the platform.