Prolexic Technologies

About Prolexic Technologies

Prolexic Technologies, now a subsidiary of Akamai Technologies, was established in 2003 by Barrett Lyon. The company carved a niche in the cybersecurity market by offering robust solutions to protect websites, data centers, and enterprise IP applications from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Lyon's journey into DDoS mitigation began while he was in college, working for a small network security firm. Recognizing a specific need to defend against these disruptive attacks, particularly for online casinos facing extortion threats, he founded Prolexic. His early success in bringing a cybercriminal to justice helped the company gain publicity and expand its client base beyond the gambling industry.

The firm's business model centers on a cloud-based DDoS mitigation platform. This service operates by redirecting a client's internet traffic through Prolexic's global network of scrubbing centers. These centers analyze the traffic, filter out malicious data packets characteristic of a DDoS attack, and allow only legitimate traffic to reach the client's servers. This service is available in both always-on and on-demand models, providing flexibility for different security needs. Prolexic serves a wide array of industries that are at high risk for cyberattacks, including financial services, e-commerce, gaming, government agencies, and Software as a Service (SaaS) providers. Some of the world's largest banks have been cited as clients.

Prolexic's core offering is its comprehensive DDoS protection service, which defends against attacks at the network, transport, and application layers. This is managed by a 24/7 Security Operations Control Center (SOCC) that provides real-time monitoring and mitigation. A key feature is the global network of high-capacity scrubbing centers, which can absorb large and complex attacks, aiming to restore a client's critical online infrastructure within minutes. The service is designed to be carrier-agnostic and supports various integration methods. In February 2014, Akamai Technologies acquired Prolexic for approximately $370 million, integrating Prolexic's specialized DDoS mitigation capabilities into its broader suite of cloud and security services. Following the acquisition, the Prolexic platform has continued to evolve; in 2023, Akamai launched a sixth-generation platform that significantly increased its dedicated attack mitigation capacity.