Lastline

About Lastline

Lastline, Inc. operates as a cybersecurity firm specializing in advanced malware protection, born from deep academic research into computer security. Founded in 2011 by a trio of distinguished academics—Engin Kirda, Christopher Kruegel, and Giovanni Vigna—the company translated its founders' expertise in systems, software, and network security into tangible defense products. The founders, all respected professors and researchers from institutions like UC Santa Barbara and Northeastern University, established Lastline as a 'last line of defense' to neutralize threats that have already bypassed traditional security measures. Their academic background is a core part of the company's identity, with the team including numerous PhDs and top-published security researchers.

The company's business model revolves around providing AI-powered network security solutions to enterprises, including some of the world's largest financial institutions. Lastline's technology protects critical infrastructures such as networks, email, cloud, and web services through on-premises software or a cloud-based service. Its flagship product, Lastline Defender, integrates several key technologies: File Analysis, Network Intrusion Detection (IDS), Cloud Workload Protection, and Network Traffic Analysis (NTA). A key differentiator is its sandbox technology, which utilizes full-system emulation, referred to as Deep Content Inspection, to analyze every instruction a piece of malware executes. This approach provides deeper visibility compared to traditional sandboxes and allows for the detection of evasive, zero-day threats with a high degree of accuracy and minimal false positives. The system analyzes millions of file samples daily to protect millions of users worldwide.

After raising approximately $52.4 million in funding over several rounds, with significant investments from firms like Thomvest Ventures, Redpoint, and Dell Ventures, Lastline demonstrated significant market traction. This growth trajectory culminated in its acquisition by VMware in June 2020 for an estimated $110 million. The acquisition was a strategic move by VMware to enhance its intrinsic security vision, integrating Lastline’s network detection and response (NDR) capabilities with its own NSX network virtualization platform and the Carbon Black endpoint security suite. Following the acquisition, Lastline became part of Broadcom after Broadcom's acquisition of VMware.