shape.ag

In 2011, as data breaches became commonplace, a new threat emerged: credential stuffing. Criminals were taking billions of stolen usernames and passwords and using automated bots to try them on countless websites. This is the problem that founders Derek Smith, Sumit Agarwal, and Justin Call set out to solve. They launched Shape Security, not just to build a better firewall, but to fundamentally change the economics of cybercrime. Instead of just blocking known bad actors, their platform was designed to differentiate between real human users and sophisticated bots imitating them. Using a blend of AI, machine learning, and cloud analytics, Shape created a dynamic defense that could detect and block fraudulent login attempts and other automated attacks in real-time. The technology was so effective it became known as the world's first "botwall". The market quickly validated their approach. Major banks, airlines, and retailers, all prime targets for online fraud, adopted Shape's platform. The company mitigated over a billion fake transactions daily, protecting the digital accounts of millions. This rapid growth and critical role in application security caught the eye of F5 Networks. In December 2019, F5 announced it would acquire Shape Security for approximately $1 billion. The acquisition combined F5's dominance in application delivery with Shape's industry-leading fraud prevention, creating a comprehensive end-to-end security solution. The deal was F5's largest to date and marked a pivotal moment, validating Shape's journey from a startup to a billion-dollar pillar of cybersecurity.