Purewire

Purewire, Inc. operated as a security-as-a-service (SaaS) firm, carving out a niche in the web security gateway market before its strategic acquisition. Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007 by a team of seasoned security experts—Paul Judge, Mike Van Bruinisse, and Mark Caldwell—the company established itself as a notable player in protecting corporate clients from a spectrum of online threats.

The founding team brought significant experience to the venture. Paul Judge, who served as Chief Technology Officer, had a background as CTO at CipherTrust and later founded other successful security companies like Pindrop Security. CEO Mike Van Bruinisse and his partners leveraged their deep industry knowledge to address the growing security challenges faced by enterprises. The company's trajectory was swift, securing a total of $4.75 million in funding over several rounds, including investments from Intersouth Partners, Imlay Investments, and the Advanced Technology Development Center.

Purewire's core business centered on a SaaS-based secure web gateway. This service acted as a proxy, sitting between a company's users and the internet to monitor and control web activity. The platform was designed to protect both large and small enterprises from malware, phishing, identity theft, and other malicious online activities. By inspecting web traffic in real-time, the gateway could enforce security and compliance policies, analyzing both user behavior and website responses to identify threats. This model was particularly crucial for securing employees when they were working remotely or off the corporate network, as they could log in through the secure gateway to have their sessions protected. The service was delivered via a global network of IP service points and network operations centers.

After just over two years of operation, Purewire was acquired by Barracuda Networks in October 2009 for an undisclosed amount in a cash and stock transaction. For Barracuda, a leader in content security appliances, the acquisition was a strategic move to bolster its cloud-based offerings and enter the SaaS market, which was a significant product gap at the time. The deal allowed Barracuda to deliver its security solutions across appliance, SaaS, and hybrid models. Following the acquisition, Purewire's leadership team was integrated into Barracuda, with Mike Van Bruinisse becoming Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Paul Judge taking on the role of VP of Cloud Services and Chief Research Officer, also leading the newly formed Barracuda Labs.

Keywords: SaaS web security, secure web gateway, cloud security, web filtering, content security, threat protection, malware prevention, phishing protection, network security, enterprise security, Paul Judge, Mike Van Bruinisse, Barracuda Networks acquisition, Intersouth Partners, cybersecurity, remote access security, compliance management, threat analysis, identity theft prevention