In the latest Frost Radar for Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), 2024 analyst researcher Anh Tien Vu highlights how CSPM solutions are critical to securing infrastructure in a time of increasing complexity and mounting threats. The Radar report, which uses a methodology and objective ratings system to analyze a dozen vendors, recognized Wiz as a category frontrunner based on several factors, including vision and company performance / growth rate.
Let’s look at some of the key takeaways from the report, both in terms of why Wiz ranks so highly and implications for the CSPM market at large.
Vision + Growth
Wiz stands as the fastest grower in the CSPM landscape, characterized by a vision that Frost sees as distinct from other vendors:
Wiz, the fastest-growing player in the industry, has registered impressive growth and customer recognition in the global cloud security industry since its establishment. It has become one of the most preferred CSPM/cloud infrastructure security platforms with its disruptive approach.
Frost hones in on Wiz’s ability to visualize risk, which stems from our Security Graph (more on this in the next section), writing, "By conceptualizing ‘cloud risk’ by identifying toxic combinations of risk factors, Wiz has redefined the security industry."
CNAPP Features
Of course, company growth alone is not enough to create a CSPM leader. Frost also looked at how the solutions are competitively differentiated, and how each vendor uniquely solves customer challenges. Wiz earned top marks for not only providing robust cloud security measures but also because it integrates seamlessly across various environments, appealing to a wide range of users:
Wiz has rapidly emerged as a prominent player in the cloud security industry with its integrated CNAPP that offers extensive capabilities.
Frost goes on to emphasize the Wiz Security Graph, and its novel approach to visualizing cloud risk: "Wiz’s best selling point is its Security Graph, which introduces innovative shift-left security measures and enhanced CDR and runtime protection capabilities."
Moreover, Wiz's platform is designed with developers in mind. According to Frost & Sullivan, the focus on developers makes Wiz a popular choice among this demographic and an accelerator for modern DevSecOps practices:
The ease of use and direct interaction capabilities have made Wiz popular among developers, with over 50% of its active users being developers.
Why CSPM?
As cloud adoption grows, so too does the need to maintain control and oversight. The Radar Report underscores the necessity of CSPM solutions in this context, given the risk potential of even simple misconfigurations:
The increasing complexity of cloud environments creates a need for centralized cloud security posture management (CSPM) solutions for comprehensive control and oversight as organizations expand their footprint. The upsurge in cloud misconfiguration drives the urgent need for CSPM tools capable of robust risk and threat detection and remediation.
Another key CSPM driver that Frost emphasizes is the prevalence of hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure. These complex environments present unique challenges in terms of visibility and security, and therefore require new, modern approaches. The report states that "CSPM is particularly essential in hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, where visibility and security control over distributed cloud components can be challenging with traditional security technologies."
In addition to the technical challenges posed by environmental complexity, Frost underscores the growing need to comply with regulatory requirements that impose stringent standards for data protection and privacy:
Stricter regulatory requirements, exemplified by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), also emphasize CSPM solutions to ensure compliance, mitigating potential penalties and reputational risks.
As these regulations become more widespread and rigid, organizations must ensure that their cloud security posture is robust enough to meet compliance requirements, while also protecting against potential threats.
Key Criteria
The CSPM Radar report outlines several key CSPM criteria: integrability, real-time threat detection, innovation support, return on investment (ROI), cloud-agnostic capabilities, scalability, and ease of use.
To be ranked a leader vendors must excel in every one of these areas, each of which is crucial in its own right. For example, integrability is important as organizations increasingly seek to consolidate multiple security tools into a single, comprehensive platform. Innovation is evident in a vendor’s continued development of new features and functionality, ensuring that its technology remains cutting edge. Meanwhile, being cloud-agnostic means integrating seamlessly with third-party tools, providing flexibility to manage security across various cloud environments.
Scalability and ease of use are also critical considerations for organizations as they grow and expand their cloud footprint. A top CSPM solution should scale effortlessly, accommodating the needs of both small businesses and large enterprises.
Conclusion
CSPM plays a pivotal role in cloud security for many reasons: as complexity mounts and cloud threats evolve, regulatory and compliance mandates are also becoming more stringent. This paints a picture in which security teams must be able to detect and remediate misconfigurations in real-time, creating widespread demand for these solutions that is evident in the rapid growth of the market:
The industry grew 45.1% in 2023 on a YoY basis with an estimated revenue of 1639.8M. The industry is forecasted to record robust growth in the next five years, representing a CAGR of 27.8% from 2023 to 2028.
We’d like to thank Frost & Sullivan for their efforts in producing this report, which gives buyers a much needed, objective overview of the CSPM landscape as they consider what solution is the best fit for their cloud security needs.
