CipherCloud

CipherCloud is an American computer software company that develops cloud encryption and tokenization gateways.
Technology used
CipherCloud uses format- and operations-preserving encryption and tokenization, key management, and additional security services (e.g. Data Leak Prevention, malware scanner and activity audit) to provide a platform for securing multiple cloud applications. Encryption and tokenization are performed in real time using a multi-protocol stateless gateway. CipherCloud uses AES-256 encryption.
The cloud encryption gateway sits between users and cloud applications. A single CipherCloud gateway supports multiple protocols (e.g., HTTP/HTTPS, IMAP, and SMTP) and can be load balanced to scale throughput and support geographically dispersed users. The CipherCloud gateway can be deployed by organizations as a virtual appliance or by a trusted third party encryption-as-a-service provider. CipherCloud leverages a reverse-proxy architecture, which is always in the data path, and incorporates knowledge of cloud applications for in-line processing and transformation of data on-the-fly to support common operations such as search and sort.
Standards
CipherCloud's cryptographic key management is based on the NIST SP 800-21 and includes key rotation, split custodians, and key encrypting keys. CipherCloud uses FIPS 140-2 cryptographic libraries and supports network attached Hardware Security Modules (HSM) for hardware-based key management and accelerated encryption. CipherCloud does not claim to use any homomorphic encryption.
Controversy
In April 2013, when the company noticed that someone had used a screenshot from its marketing material to criticize its practices on the StackExchange forum as using deterministic encryption, it sent a DMCA takedown notice and defamation claim to the forum, which removed the post. CipherCloud's action was viewed as an attempt to censor speech and generated more criticism. The company later apologized for the DMCA notice, In December 2012, the company received $30 million in funding from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

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