About Illumio
Illumio was founded in 2013 by Andrew Rubin and P.J. Kirner, based on the recognition that traditional network security approaches have historically focused heavily on preventing attackers from getting into a network in the first place, through firewalls and other perimeter defenses, but that once an attacker does manage to breach the perimeter, whether through a phishing email, a compromised credential, or some other initial foothold, many corporate networks have historically offered relatively little internal segmentation, letting an attacker move relatively freely between different systems and servers once inside, a pattern often called "lateral movement" that has been central to many of the most damaging and costly cyberattacks and ransomware incidents.
Illumio's core technology, known as microsegmentation, creates granular security policies that control exactly which systems and applications within a network are allowed to communicate with each other, effectively creating many small, individually secured zones within a network rather than treating the internal network as one large, relatively open space once an attacker gets past perimeter defenses, so that even if an attacker compromises one system, microsegmentation policies can prevent that attacker from easily moving laterally to compromise additional systems and escalate the scope of a breach. This approach reflects a broader "zero trust" security philosophy that has gained significant traction across the cybersecurity industry, based on the principle that no device or user should be automatically trusted based simply on being inside a traditional network perimeter, and that access and communication between different systems should be explicitly verified and limited according to genuine business need rather than broad, implicit trust. Illumio's customers span large enterprises and government agencies particularly concerned about limiting the potential impact and spread of a successful breach or ransomware attack, recognizing that completely preventing all breaches is increasingly viewed as unrealistic, making damage containment an essential complementary security strategy. The company has raised very substantial venture funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and 8VC, reaching a valuation exceeding $2.75 billion.
