Cloudflare: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|American technology company}} |
{{short description|American technology company}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} |
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} |
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{{Use American English|date=October 2024}} |
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{{Infobox company |
{{Infobox company |
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| name |
| name = Cloudflare, Inc. |
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| logo |
| logo = <!-- Cloudflare-logo-vector.svg --> |
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| caption |
| caption = |
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| |
| founded = {{Start date and age|2009|7}} |
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| founders |
| founders = |
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| location |
| location = {{nowrap|[[San Francisco]], California, U.S.}} |
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| key_people |
| key_people = {{Unbulleted list |
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| {{#statements:chief executive officer}} ([[CEO]]) |
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| Matthew Prince ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]]) |
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| {{#statements:chief operating officer}} ([[President (corporate title)|President]] and [[Chief operating officer|COO]]) |
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| [[John Graham-Cumming]] ([[Chief technology officer|CTO]]) |
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}} |
}} |
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| industry |
| industry = [[Information and communications technology]] |
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| products = |
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| [[Internet]] |
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| brands = [[1.1.1.1]] |
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| [[Cloud computing]] }} |
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| services = <!-- {{#statements:product or material produced or service provided}} --> [[reverse proxy]], [[edge computing]], [[streaming media]], [[identity management]], [[virtual private network]] |
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| products = |
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| type = [[Public company|Public]] |
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| services = {{Unbulleted list |
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| traded_as = {{ubl|{{NYSE|NET}} (Class A)|[[Russell 1000]] component}} |
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| [[Reverse proxy]] |
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| num_employees = 3,682 |
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| [[Edge computing]] }} |
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| num_employees_year = 2023 |
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| type = [[Public company|Public]] |
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| revenue = {{Increase}} {{US$|1.297 billion|link=yes}} |
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| traded_as = {{NYSE|NET}} (Class A) |
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| revenue_year = 2023 |
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| num_employees = |
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| operating_income = {{IncreaseNegative}} {{US$|−185 million}} |
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| revenue = {{Increase}} {{US$|431 [[1,000,000|million]]|link=yes}}<ref name="clou_Clou2020">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Results |author= |work=cloudflare.net |date=11 February 2021 |access-date=11 February 2021 |url= https://cloudflare.net/news/news-details/2021/Cloudflare-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-Year-2020-Financial-Results/default.aspx}}</ref> |
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| income_year = 2023 |
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| revenue_year = 2020 |
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| net_income = {{IncreaseNegative}} {{US$|−184 million}} |
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| net_income_year = 2023 |
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| income_year = 2020 |
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| assets = {{Increase}} {{US$|2.759 billion}} |
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| assets_year = 2023 |
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| net_income_year = 2020 |
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| equity = {{Increase}} {{US$|763 million}} |
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| equity_year = 2023 |
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| website = {{URL|https://cloudflare.com}} |
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| subsid = [[Area 1 Security]] |
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| footnotes = <ref name="10K">{{Cite web |date=21 February 2023 |title=Cloudflare, Inc. 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K) |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001477333/000147733324000013/cloud-20231231.htm |publisher=[[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] |pages=17, 95–96}}</ref><ref name="s-1"/> |
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| module = {{infobox network service provider|child=yes|asn=13335}} |
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}} |
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'''Cloudflare, Inc.''' is an American |
'''Cloudflare, Inc.''' is an American company that provides [[content delivery network]] services, cloud [[cybersecurity]], [[DDoS mitigation]], [[wide area network]] services, [[Reverse proxy|reverse proxies]], [[Domain Name Service]], and [[ICANN]]-accredited<ref>{{Cite web |title=List of Accredited Registrars |url=https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=www.icann.org}}</ref> [[Domain name registrar|domain registration services]].<ref name="CNBC">{{Cite news |last=Clifford |first=Tyler |date=6 October 2020 |title=Cloudflare CEO: Dozens of U.S. states are using Athenian Project for election security |publisher=[[CNBC]] |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/06/cloudflares-election-security-services-used-by-most-states-ceo-says.html |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="thinking-big">{{Cite news |last=Durant |first=Richard |date=19 May 2020 |title=Cloudflare: Thinking Big |publisher=[[Seeking Alpha]] |url=https://seekingalpha.com/article/4348730-cloudflare-thinking-big |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lardinois |first=Frederic |date=2018-09-27 |title=Cloudflare launches a low-cost domain registrar |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/cloudflare-launches-a-low-cost-domain-registrar/ |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=TechCrunch }}</ref> Cloudflare's headquarters are in San Francisco, California.<ref name="CNBC" /> According to W3Techs, Cloudflare is used by more than 19% of the Internet for its web security services, {{as of|lc=y|2024|post=.}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Usage statistics and market share of Cloudflare |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cn-cloudflare |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=w3techs.com}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Cloudflare was |
Cloudflare was founded in July 2009 by [[Matthew Prince]], Lee Holloway, and [[Michelle Zatlyn]].<ref name="s-1"/><ref name="inc-2020">{{cite news |last1=Lagorio-Chafkin |first1=Christine |title=Why the CEO of a $350 Million Internet Security Company Practices Radical Transparency |url=https://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/what-i-know-cloudflare-matthew-prince.html |publisher=[[Inc. (magazine)|Inc.]] |date=6 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare, in its IPO filing, thanks a third co-founder: Lee Holloway |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/15/cloudflare-has-a-third-cofounder-lee-holloway-whos-credited-with-making-the-company-what-is-today/ |access-date=2021-05-06 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |date=August 15, 2019 |language=en-US }}</ref> Prince and Holloway had previously collaborated on [[Project Honey Pot]], a product of Unspam Technologies that served as some inspiration for the basis of Cloudflare.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kleinman |first=Zoe |date=25 September 2016 |title=The firm that protects both banks and the Eurovision Song contest |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37348016 |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref> From 2009, the company was venture-capital funded.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kawamoto |first=Dawn |date=March 12, 2019 |title=Cloudflare's $150 million funding round puts its IPO plans in question |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/03/12/cloudflare-150-million-funding-ipo-in-question.html |access-date=March 12, 2019 |website=[[San Francisco Business Times]]}} {{subscription required|s}}</ref> On August 15, 2019, Cloudflare submitted its [[Form S-1|S-1]] filing for IPO on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] under the stock ticker NET.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shieber |first=Jonathan |date=August 15, 2019 |title=Cloudflare files for initial public offering |url=http://techcrunch.com/2019/08/15/cloudflare-files-for-initial-public-offering/ |access-date=August 22, 2019 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |language=en-US }}</ref> It opened for public trading on September 13, 2019, at $15 per share.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loizos |first=Connie |date=September 13, 2019 |title=Cloudflare co-founder Michelle Zatlyn on the company's IPO today, its unique dual class structure, and what's next |url=http://techcrunch.com/2019/09/13/cloudflare-cofounder-michelle-zatlyn-on-the-companys-successful-ipo-and-whats-next/ |access-date=September 16, 2019 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |language=en-US }}</ref> |
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In 2020, Cloudflare co-founder and COO [[Michelle Zatlyn]] was named president, making her one of the few female presidents of a publicly traded technology company in the U.S.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Mehta |first=Stephanie |date=December 17, 2020 |title=Exclusive: Cloudflare promotes Michelle Zatlyn to president, a gain for women in tech |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90587133/exclusive-cloudflare-promotes-michelle-zatlyn-to-president-a-gain-for-women-in-tech |access-date=December 20, 2020 |website=[[Fast Company]] |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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In February 2014, Cloudflare mitigated what was at the time the largest ever recorded [[DDoS]] attack, which peaked at 400 [[Gigabit]]s per second against an undisclosed customer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-and-breaches/ddos-attack-hits-400-gbit-s-breaks-record/d/d-id/1113787|title=DDoS Attack Hits 400 Gbit/s, Breaks Record|last=Schwartz|first=Mathew J.|date=February 11, 2014|work=Dark Reading|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> In November 2014, Cloudflare reported another massive DDoS attack with independent media sites being targeted at 500 Gbit/s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/11/20/the-largest-cyber-attack-in-history-has-been-hitting-hong-kong-sites/#5b0c02b13fc4|title=The Largest Cyber Attack In History Has Been Hitting Hong Kong Sites|last1=Olson|first1=Parmy|date=November 20, 2014|work=[[Forbes]]|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> In March 2013, the company defended [[The Spamhaus Project]] from a DDoS attack that exceeded 300 Gbit/s. [[Akamai Technologies|Akamai's]] chief architect stated that at the time it was "the largest publicly announced DDoS attack in the history of the Internet".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474809/cybercrime-hacking/biggest-ddos-attack-in-history-slows-internet--breaks-record-at-300-gbps.html|title=Biggest DDoS attack in history slows Internet, breaks record at 300 Gbps|last1=Storm|first1=Darlene|date=March 27, 2013|work=[[Computerworld]]|access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/technology/internet/online-dispute-becomes-internet-snarling-attack.html|title=Online Dispute Becomes Internet-Snarling Attack|last1=Markoff|first1=John|date=March 26, 2013|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 22, 2019|last2=Perlroth|first2=Nicole}}</ref> Cloudflare has also reportedly absorbed attacks that have peaked over 400Gbit/s from an [[NTP server misuse and abuse|NTP Reflection attack]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/biggest-ddos-ever-aimed-at-cloudflares-content-delivery-network/|title=Biggest DDoS ever aimed at Cloudflare's content delivery network|last1=Gallagher|first1=Sean|date=February 11, 2014|work=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=May 17, 2016}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare has acquired web-services and security companies, including StopTheHacker (February 2014),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-07 |title=Fresh off IPO, this high-profile Bay Area cloud company just snapped up a browser isolation company |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/01/07/fresh-off-its-ipo-this-high-profile-bay-area-cloud.html |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=[[bizjournals.com]]}}</ref> CryptoSeal (June 2014),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tung |first1=Liam |title=CloudFlare acquires VPN service CryptoSeal, shuts it down |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloudflare-acquires-vpn-service-cryptoseal-shuts-it-down/ |publisher=[[ZDNet]] |date=19 June 2014}}</ref> Eager Platform Co. (December 2016),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-13 |title=Cloudflare acquires app platform Eager, will sunset service in Q1 2017 |url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/13/cloudflare-acquires-app-platform-eager-will-sunset-service-in-q1-2017/ |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=[[VentureBeat]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Neumob (November 2017),<ref name="tech_Neum">{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Ron |date=November 14, 2017 |title=Neumob acquisition gives Cloudflare missing mobile component – TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/14/cloudflare-expands-into-mobile-performance-with-neumob-acquisition/ |access-date=September 18, 2020 |website=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> S2 Systems (January 2020),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Ron |date=January 7, 2020 |title=Cloudflare acquires stealthy startup S2 Systems, announces Cloudflare for Teams – TechCrunch |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/07/cloudflare-acquires-stealthy-startup-s2-system-announces-cloudflare-for-teams/?guccounter=1 |access-date=September 17, 2020 |website=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> Linc (December 2020),<ref name="vent_Clou">{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=December 22, 2020 |title=Cloudflare acquires Linc to automate web app deployment |url=https://venturebeat.com/2020/12/22/cloudflare-acquires-linc-to-automate-web-app-deployment/ |access-date=December 22, 2020 |website=[[VentureBeat]]}}</ref> Zaraz (December 2021),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-12-08 |last=Sawers |first=Paul |title=Cloudflare acquires Zaraz to speed up websites and solve third-party bloat |url=https://venturebeat.com/enterprise/cloudflare-acquires-zaraz-to-speed-up-websites-and-solve-third-party-bloat/ |website=[[VentureBeat]]}}</ref> Vectrix (February 2022),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-11 |title=Cloudflare Acquires Vectrix to Help Businesses Gain Visibility and Control of Their Applications |url=https://itsecuritywire.com/news/cloudflare-acquires-vectrix-to-help-businesses-gain-visibility-and-control-of-their-applications/ |access-date=2022-02-11 |website=ITSecurityWire |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Area 1 Security]] (February 2022),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/3646533/noteworthy-tech-acquisitions-2022.html?page=2|title=Noteworthy tech acquisitions 2022|website=[[Computerworld]]|date=March 23, 2022|author=Charlotte Trueman|access-date=March 25, 2022}}</ref> Nefeli Networks (March 2024), and BastionZero (May 2024).<ref>{{cite news | last=Novinson |first=Michael |title=Cloudflare Buys BastionZero to Guard Critical Infrastructure |url=https://www.databreachtoday.com/cloudflare-buys-bastionzero-to-guard-critical-infrastructure-a-25365 |website=Data Breach Today |date=2024-05-30 |access-date=2024-05-31}}</ref> |
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In 2014, Cloudflare introduced an effort called Project Galileo in response to cyberattacks against vulnerable online targets, such as artists, activists, journalists, and human rights groups. Project Galileo provides such groups with free services to protect their websites. In 2019, Cloudflare announced that 600 users and organizations were participating in the project.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/story/cloudflare-project-galileo-protect-nonprofits/|title=Cloudflare's Five-Year Project to Protect Nonprofits Online|last=Newman|first=Lily Hay|date=June 12, 2019|work=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|access-date=August 5, 2019|language=en|issn=1059-1028}}</ref> On April 1, 2019, Cloudflare announced a new freemium [[Virtual private network|Virtual Private Network]] service named WARP. The service would initially be available through the [[1.1.1.1]] mobile apps with a desktop app available later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/01/cloudflare-warp-free-vpn-service-ios/|title=Cloudflare announces WARP: a new free VPN service for iOS|last=Rambo|first=Guilherme|date=April 1, 2019|website=[[9to5Mac]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402054515/https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/01/cloudflare-warp-free-vpn-service-ios/|archive-date=April 2, 2019|url-status=live|access-date=April 2, 2019}}</ref> On September 25, 2019, Cloudflare released WARP to the public.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/370979/cloudflare-finally-launches-warp-but-its-not-a-mobile-vpn|title=Cloudflare Finally Launches WARP, But It's Not a Mobile VPN|last=Humphries|first=Matthew|date=September 26, 2019|website=PCMAG|access-date=September 27, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tomsguide.com/news/warp-promises-faster-speeds-on-your-phone-without-5g|title=WARP Promises Faster Speeds on Your Phone Without 5G, but Doesn't Quite Deliver Yet|last=Security|first=Paul Wagenseil 2019-09-26T20:13:55Z|website=Tom's Guide|access-date=September 27, 2019}}</ref> The beta for macOS and Windows was announced on April 1, 2020.<ref name="thev_Clou">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare's WARP VPN is launching in beta for macOS and Windows |author=Bijan Stephen |work=The Verge |date=April 1, 2020 |access-date=September 17, 2020 |url= https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/1/21203050/cloudflare-warp-vpn-macos-windows}}</ref> |
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[[File:Lava lamp wall at Cloudflare office -1.jpg|thumb|Lava lamp wall in Cloudflare's San Francisco offices (2021)]] |
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Since at least 2017, Cloudflare has been using a wall of [[lava lamp]]s in their San Francisco headquarters as a [[Hardware random number generator|source of randomness]] for encryption keys, alongside [[double pendulum]]s in its London offices and a [[geiger counter]] in its Singapore offices.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Schwab |first=Katharine |date=2017-08-18 |title=The Hardest Working Office Design In America Encrypts Your Data–With Lava Lamps |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90137157/the-hardest-working-office-design-in-america-encrypts-your-data-with-lava-lamps |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=[[Fast Company]] |language=en-US}}</ref> The lava lamp installation implements the [[Lavarand]] method, where a camera transforms the unpredictable shapes of the "lava" blobs into a digital image.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-11-06 |title=LavaRand in Production: The Nitty-Gritty Technical Details |url=http://blog.cloudflare.com/lavarand-in-production-the-nitty-gritty-technical-details/ |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=The Cloudflare Blog |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> |
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{{As of|2022|alt=In Q4 2022,}} Cloudflare provided paid services to 162,086 customers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Palumbo |first=Angela |date=2023-02-10 |title=Cloudflare Sales Guidance Looks Good. But It's Still Contending With a Spending Slowdown. |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/cloudflare-earnings-stock-price-9aefd34a |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=[[Barron's]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230211000542/https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/cloudflare-earnings-stock-price-9aefd34a |archive-date=2023-02-11 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |language=en}}</ref> |
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In 2020, co-founder and COO Michelle Zatlyn was named president, making her one of few women serving as president of a publicly traded technology company in the United States.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=Mehta|first=Stephanie|date=December 17, 2020|title=Exclusive: Cloudflare promotes Michelle Zatlyn to president, a gain for women in tech|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90587133/exclusive-cloudflare-promotes-michelle-zatlyn-to-president-a-gain-for-women-in-tech|access-date=December 20, 2020|website=Fast Company|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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== Products == |
== Products == |
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[[File:Cloudflare SSL example on Firefox 89 screenshot.png|thumb|An example of [[public key certificate]] issued by Cloudflare]] |
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Cloudflare acts as a [[reverse proxy]] for [[web traffic]]. Cloudflare supports web protocols, including [[SPDY]] and [[HTTP/2]]. In addition to this, Cloudflare offers support for [[HTTP/2 Server Push]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloudflare-offers-http2-server-push-to-boost-internet-speeds/|title=Cloudflare figured out how to make the Web one second faster|last1=Osborne|first1=Charlie|date=April 28, 2016|work=[[ZDNet]]|access-date=May 17, 2016}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare provides network and security products for consumers and businesses, utilizing edge computing, [[reverse proxy|reverse proxies]] for [[web traffic]], data center interconnects, and a [[Content delivery network|content distribution network]] to serve content across its network of servers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Jason |date=September 27, 2010 |title=Cloudflare Wants To Be A CDN For The Masses (And Takes Five Minutes To Set Up) |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/09/27/cloudflare-wants-to-be-a-cdn-for-the-masses-and-takes-five-minutes-to-set-up/ |access-date=September 26, 2020 |website=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> It supports [[transport layer]] protocols [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]], [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], [[QUIC]], and many [[application layer]] protocols such as [[DNS over HTTPS]], [[SMTP]], and [[HTTP/2]] with support for [[HTTP/2 Server Push]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Osborne |first=Charlie |date=April 28, 2016 |title=Cloudflare figured out how to make the Web one second faster |work=[[ZDNet]] |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloudflare-offers-http2-server-push-to-boost-internet-speeds/ |access-date=May 17, 2016}}</ref> {{As of|2023|post=,}} Cloudflare handles an average of 45 million HTTP requests per second.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kerner |first=Sean Michael |date=14 March 2023 |title=Attackers Target Microsoft Exchange, According to Cloudflare Application Security Report |url=https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/attackers-target-microsoft-exchange-according-to-cloudflare-application-security-report/2023/03/ |access-date=30 March 2023 |website=SDX Central}}</ref> |
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=== Artificial intelligence === |
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In 2023, Cloudflare launched Workers AI, a framework allowing for use of [[Nvidia]] [[GPU]]'s within Cloudflare's network.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moss |first=Sebastian |date=29 September 2023 |title=Cloudflare to deploy Nvidia GPUs at the Edge for generative AI inference - in up to 300 data centers |url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/cloudflare-to-deploy-nvidia-gpus-at-the-edge-for-generative-ai-inference-in-up-to-300-data-centers/ |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=Datacenter Dynamics}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare provides [[DDoS mitigation]] services which protect customers from distributed [[Denial-of-service attack|denial of service]] (DDoS) attacks. As of September 2020, the company claims to block "an average of 72 billion threats per day, including some of the largest DDoS attacks in history."<ref name="clou_Clou">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare DDoS Protection |work=Cloudflare Home Page |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://www.cloudflare.com/ddos/}}</ref> |
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In 2024, Cloudflare launched a tool that prevents bots from scraping websites. To build automatic bot detector models, the company analyzed AI bots and crawler traffic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2024-07-03 |title=Cloudflare launches a tool to combat AI bots |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/03/cloudflare-launches-a-tool-to-combat-ai-bots/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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On September 6, 2019, Wikipedia became the victim of a DDoS attack. European users were unable to access Wikipedia for several hours.<ref name="inde_'Mal">{{Cite news |title='Malicious attack' on Wikipedia causes outage in several countries |work=The Independent |location= London |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/wikipedia-down-not-working-stopped-ddos-attack-wikimedia-foundation-outage-why-a9095851.html |date=September 7, 2019 |first=Zamira |last=Rahim}}</ref> The attack was mitigated after Wikimedia network engineers used Cloudflare's network and DDoS protection services to re-route and filter internet traffic.<ref name="blog_Anal">{{Cite web |title=Analyzing the Wikipedia DDoS Attack |work=Internet and Cloud Intelligence Blog |publisher= ThousandEyes |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://blog.thousandeyes.com/analyzing-the-wikipedia-ddos-attack/}}</ref> The specific Cloudflare product used was Magic Transit.<ref name="clou_Wiki">{{Cite web |title= Wikimedia Foundation |work=Cloudflare |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://www.cloudflare.com/case-studies/wikimedia-foundation}}</ref> |
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=== DDoS mitigation === |
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Cloudflare provides free and paid [[DDoS mitigation]] services that protect customers from distributed [[Denial-of-service attack|denial of service]] (DDoS) attacks. Cloudflare received media attention in June 2011 for providing DDoS mitigation for the website of [[LulzSec]], a [[Black hat (computer security)|black hat hacking]] group.<ref name="allthingsd1">{{Cite web |last=Hesseldahl |first=Arik |date=June 10, 2011 |title=Web Security Start-Up Cloudflare Gets Buzz, Courtesy of LulzSec Hackers |url=http://allthingsd.com/20110610/web-security-start-up-Cloudflare-gets-buzz-courtesy-of-lulzsec-hackers/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612090614/http://allthingsd.com/20110610/web-security-start-up-Cloudflare-gets-buzz-courtesy-of-lulzsec-hackers/ |archive-date=June 12, 2011 |access-date=August 15, 2011 |website=[[All Things Digital]]}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare offers a popular [[Content Distribution Network]] (CDN) service. The company launched in 2010 and TechCrunch wrote that its goal was to be "a CDN for the masses".<ref>{{Cite web |title=CloudFlare Wants To Be A CDN For The Masses (And Takes Five Minutes To Set Up) |first=Jason |last=Kincaid |work=TechCrunch |date=September 27, 2010 |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://techcrunch.com/2010/09/27/cloudflare-wants-to-be-a-cdn-for-the-masses-and-takes-five-minutes-to-set-up/}}</ref> Ten years later, the company claimed to support over 25 million internet websites.<ref name="clou_ClouCDN">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare CDN Content Delivery Network |publisher=Cloudflare |access-date=September 26, 2020 |url= https://www.cloudflare.com/cdn/}}</ref> |
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In March 2013, [[The Spamhaus Project]] was targeted by a DDoS attack that Cloudflare reported exceeded 300{{nbsp}}[[Data-rate units#Gigabit per second|gigabits per second]] (Gbit/s).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Storm |first=Darlene |date=March 27, 2013 |title=Biggest DDoS attack in history slows Internet, breaks record at 300 Gbps |work=[[Computerworld]] |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474809/cybercrime-hacking/biggest-ddos-attack-in-history-slows-internet--breaks-record-at-300-gbps.html |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Markoff |first1=John |last2=Perlroth |first2=Nicole |date=March 26, 2013 |title=Online Dispute Becomes Internet-Snarling Attack |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/technology/internet/online-dispute-becomes-internet-snarling-attack.html |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> Patrick Gilmore, of [[Akamai Technologies|Akamai]], stated that at the time it was "the largest publicly announced DDoS attack in the history of the Internet". While trying to defend Spamhaus against the DDoS attacks, Cloudflare ended up being attacked as well; Google and other companies eventually came to Spamhaus' defense and helped it to absorb the unprecedented amount of attack traffic.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gayomali |first1=Chris |title=The biggest cyberattack in Internet history is happening right now |url=https://theweek.com/articles/466160/biggest-cyberattack-internet-history-happening-right-now |publisher=[[The Week]] |date=9 January 2015}}</ref> |
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=== Teams === |
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Cloudflare for Teams is a suite of authentication and security products aimed at business clients. Teams consists of two parts: Gateway, a highly-customizable dns resolver, and Access, a [[Zero trust networks|zero-trust authentication]] service.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-08|title=Cloudflare for Teams: Protecting corporations without sacrificing performance|url=https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/01/08/cloudflare-for-teams/|access-date=2021-02-11|website=Help Net Security|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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In 2014, Cloudflare began providing free DDoS mitigation for artists, activists, journalists, and human rights groups under the name "Project Galileo".<ref name=":4">{{Cite magazine |last=Newman |first=Lily Hay |date=June 12, 2019 |title=Cloudflare's Five-Year Project to Protect Nonprofits Online |language=en |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/story/cloudflare-project-galileo-protect-nonprofits/ |access-date=August 5, 2019 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> In 2017, they extended the service to electoral infrastructure and political campaigns under the name "Athenian Project".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melendez |first=Steven |date=11 June 2020 |title=Amid pandemic and protests, Cloudflare is defending vulnerable websites |publisher=[[Fast Company]] |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90515280/amid-pandemic-and-protests-cloudflare-is-defending-vulnerable-websites |access-date=3 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hatmaker |first=Taylor |date=19 July 2018 |title=Cloudflare Recruits State and Local Governments for Free Election Site Security Programs |publisher=[[TechCrunch]] |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/19/cloudflare-athenian-project/ |access-date=28 January 2021}}</ref> By 2020, more than 1,000 users and organizations were participating in Project Galileo, including 31 US states.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Melendez |first=Steven |date=2020-06-11 |title=Amid pandemic and protests, Cloudflare is defending vulnerable websites |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90515280/amid-pandemic-and-protests-cloudflare-is-defending-vulnerable-websites |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=[[Fast Company]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-03 |title=After a series of cyberattacks, states look to secure election results websites |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/states-look-secure-election-results-websites-ahead-midterms-rcna50441 |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> |
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=== Workers === |
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In 2017 Cloudflare launched Cloudflare Workers, a [[serverless computing]] platform that allows one to create entirely new applications or augment existing ones without configuring or maintaining infrastructure. Since then, the product has expanded to include Workers KV, a low-latency [[Key–value database|key-value data store]], Cron Triggers for scheduling [[Cron|cron jobs]], and additional tooling for developers to deploy and scale their code across the globe. |
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In February 2014, Cloudflare claimed to have mitigated an [[NTP server misuse and abuse|NTP reflection attack]] against an unnamed European customer, which they stated peaked at 400 Gbit/s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Musil |first1=Steven |title=Record-breaking DDoS attack in Europe hits 400 Gbit/s |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/record-breaking-ddos-attack-in-europe-hits-400gbps/ |publisher=[[CNET]] |date=11 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gallagher |first=Sean |date=February 11, 2014 |title=Biggest DDoS ever aimed at Cloudflare's content delivery network |work=[[Ars Technica]] |url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/biggest-ddos-ever-aimed-at-cloudflares-content-delivery-network/ |access-date=May 17, 2016}}</ref> In November 2014, it reported a 500 Gbit/s DDoS attack in Hong Kong.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Olson |first=Parmy |date=November 20, 2014 |title=The Largest Cyber Attack in History Has Been Hitting Hong Kong Sites |work=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/11/20/the-largest-cyber-attack-in-history-has-been-hitting-hong-kong-sites/#5b0c02b13fc4 |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> In July 2021, the company claimed to have absorbed a DDoS attack three times larger than any they'd previously recorded, which their corporate blog implied was over 1.2 [[Data-rate units#Terabit per second|Tbit/s]] in total.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greig |first=Jonathan |title=Cloudflare says it stopped the largest DDoS attack ever reported |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/cloudflare-says-it-stopped-the-largest-ddos-attack-ever-reported/ |access-date=2021-11-19 |website=[[ZDNet]] |language=en}}</ref> In February 2023, Cloudflare reported blocking a 71 million request-per-second DDoS attack which "the company says was the largest HTTP DDoS attack on record".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arghire |first1=Ionut |title=Record-Breaking 71 Million RPS DDoS Attack Seen by Cloudflare |url=https://www.securityweek.com/record-breaking-71-million-rps-ddos-attack-seen-by-cloudflare/ |website=SecurityWeek |access-date=18 February 2023 |date=14 February 2023}}</ref> |
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=== Pages === |
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After being leaked to the press,<ref>{{Cite web |title= Cloudflare is testing a Netlify competitor to host Jamstack sites |date=December 7, 2020 |url= https://social.techcrunch.com/2020/12/07/cloudflare-is-testing-a-netlify-competitor-to-host-jamstack-sites/ |access-date= January 15, 2021 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref> Cloudflare Pages was launched as a beta in December 2020. The product is a [[Jamstack]] platform for front end developers to collaborate and deploy websites on Cloudflare's infrastructure of 200+ data centers worldwide. |
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Cloudflare blocked the largest publicly-recorded DDoS attack in October 2023, with volumetric attacks peaking at 3.8 [[terabits]] per second.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-04 |title=Cloudflare Mitigates Record Breaking 3.8 Tbps DDoS Attack |url=https://hackread.com/cloudflare-mitigates-record-3-8-tbps-ddos-attack/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=hackread.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The attack targeted compromised devices, including hijacked [[Asus]] home routers, DVRs, and web servers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ilascu |first=Ionut |date=3 October 2024 |title=Thomson Reuters to Acquire Abacus Software From Deloitte |url=https://www.complianceweek.com/thomson-reuters-to-acquire-abacus-software-from-deloitte/19942.article |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=Compliance Week |language=en}}</ref> |
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==Acquisitions== |
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The following is a list of acquisitions by Cloudflare: |
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=== Edge computing === |
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* Eager Platform Co. (December 2016) <ref name="glob_Clou">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare Acquires Eager to Build Next-Generation App Platform For Its Massive Global Network |work=GlobeNewswire News Room |date=December 13, 2016 |access-date=September 18, 2020 |url= https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/12/13/923513/0/en/Cloudflare-Acquires-Eager-to-Build-Next-Generation-App-Platform-For-Its-Massive-Global-Network.html}}</ref> |
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In 2017, Cloudflare launched Cloudflare Workers, a [[serverless computing]] platform for creating new applications, augmenting existing ones, without configuring or maintaining infrastructure. It has expanded to include Workers KV, a low-latency [[Key–value database|key-value data store]]; Cron Triggers, for scheduling [[Cron]] jobs; and additional tooling for developers to deploy and scale their code across the globe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare creates Workers Unbound platform for serverless development |url=https://datacenternews.asia/story/cloudflare-creates-workers-unbound-platform-for-serverless-development |access-date=2021-05-26 |website=datacenternews.asia |language=en}}</ref> |
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* Neumob (November 2017)<ref name="tech_Neum">{{Cite web |title=Neumob acquisition gives Cloudflare missing mobile component – TechCrunch |author=Ron Miller |work=TechCrunch |date=November 14, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2020 |url= https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/14/cloudflare-expands-into-mobile-performance-with-neumob-acquisition/}}</ref> |
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* S2 Systems (January 2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare acquires stealthy startup S2 Systems, announces Cloudflare for Teams – TechCrunch |author=Ron Miller |work=TechCrunch |date=January 7, 2020 |access-date=September 17, 2020 |url= https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/07/cloudflare-acquires-stealthy-startup-s2-system-announces-cloudflare-for-teams/?guccounter=1}}</ref><ref name="busi_Clou">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare Acquires S2 Systems Corporation for Next-Gen Browser Isolation |work=businesswire.com |date=January 7, 2020 |access-date=September 17, 2020 |url= https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200107005314/en/Cloudflare-Acquires-S2-Systems-Corporation-for-Next-Gen-Browser-Isolation}}</ref> |
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In 2020, Cloudflare released a [[JAMstack]] platform for developers to deploy websites on Cloudflare's Edge infrastructure, under the name "Pages".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dillet |first=Romain |date=17 December 2020 |title=Cloudflare launches Cloudflare Pages, a platform to deploy and host JAMstack sites |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/17/cloudflare-launches-cloudflare-pages-a-platform-to-deploy-and-host-jamstack-sites/ |access-date=2021-05-26 |publisher=[[TechCrunch]] |language=en-US }}</ref> |
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* Linc (December 2020)<ref name="vent_Clou">{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare acquires Linc to automate web app deployment |author=Kyle Wiggers |work=VentureBeat |date=December 22, 2020 |access-date=December 22, 2020 |url= https://venturebeat.com/2020/12/22/cloudflare-acquires-linc-to-automate-web-app-deployment/}}</ref> |
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In 2022, Cloudflare announced an Edge [[SQL]] database, D1, which is built on [[SQLite]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cloudflare gets serious about infrastructure services |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/11/with-new-serverless-database-cloudflare-gets-serious-about-infrastructure-services/ |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |date=May 11, 2022 |language=en-US }}</ref> |
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In August 2023, Cloudflare and [[IBM]] announced a partnership providing bot management capabilities to protect IBM Cloud customers from malicious bots and automated threats.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kerner |first1=Sean Michael |title=IBM and Cloudflare partner to protect user sites against malicious bots |url=https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/ibm-and-cloudflare-partner-to-protect-user-sites-against-malicious-bots/2023/08/ |website=SDX Central |access-date=13 June 2024}}</ref> |
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Also in August 2023, Cloudflare was hired by [[SpaceX]] to boost the performance of [[Starlink]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-23 |title=SpaceX working with Cloudflare to speed up Starlink service- The Information |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spacex-working-cloudflare-speed-starlink-194833246.html |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}}</ref>and in September launched Cloudflare Fonts as a competitor to [[Google Fonts]].<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Craig Hale |date=2023-09-27 |title=Cloudflare launches new fight against Google over...fonts? |url=https://www.techradar.com/pro/cloudflare-launches-new-fight-against-google-overfonts |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=TechRadar |language=en}}</ref> |
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=== Internet security === |
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In April 2020, Cloudflare announced it was moving away from using [[ReCaptcha|reCAPTCHA]] in favor of [[hCaptcha]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-08 |title=Cloudflare moves from reCAPTCHA to hCaptcha |url=https://www.thankyourobot.com/2020/04/cloudflare-moves-from-recaptcha-to.html |access-date=2021-02-11 |website=Thank You Robot |language=en-US}}</ref> In September 2022, Cloudflare began to test Turnstile – an alternative to [[CAPTCHA]]. The product, instead of presenting a visual CAPTCHA for the user to solve, automatizes the verification process by conducting JavaScript-based checks inside the browser to determine whether the user is a real person or an automated entity. The algorithm reportedly uses machine learning to optimize the process.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shakir |first1=Umar |title=Turnstile is Cloudflare's latest attempt to rid the web of CAPTCHAs |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/28/23367035/cloudflare-turnstile-captcha-bot-blocker-beta |website=The Verge |access-date=28 September 2022}}</ref> |
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Through a contract with the [[Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency]], Cloudflare provides registry and authoritative DNS services to the .gov [[top-level domain]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kass |first=D. Howard |date=2023-01-17 |title=Cloudflare Lands $7.2M Project from CISA for Registry, DNS Services |url=https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-news/cloudflare-lands-7-2m-project-from-cisa-for-registry-dns-services/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=MSSP Alert |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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In November 2020, Cloudflare announced Cloudflare for Teams, consisting of a DNS resolver and web gateway called "Gateway", and a [[Zero trust networks|zero-trust authentication]] service called "Access".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-08 |title=Cloudflare for Teams: Protecting corporations without sacrificing performance |url=https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/01/08/cloudflare-for-teams/ |access-date=2021-02-11 |website=Help Net Security |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare announced a partnership with [[PhonePe]] in January 2023 to secure its mobile payment system.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-20 |title=Digital payments leader partners with Cloudflare to accelerate, secure monthly mobile payments |url=https://venturebeat.com/data-infrastructure/digital-payments-leader-partners-with-cloudflare-to-accelerate-secure-monthly-mobile-payments/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}</ref> In February, Cloudflare launched Wildebeest to allow [[Mastodon (social network)|Mastodon]] users to set up and run their own instances on Cloudflare's infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Porter |first=Jon |date=2023-02-10 |title=Cloudflare wants to help you set up your own Mastodon-compatible server in 'minutes' |url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/10/23593966/cloudflare-mastodon-server-wildebeest-instance-fediverse |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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In August 2023, Cloudflare started the Project Cybersafe Schools program as part of a $20 million grant program from [[Amazon Web Services]], making 70 percent of public school districts in the United States eligible for no-cost cybersecurity services.<ref>{{Cite web |title=K-12 Schools Improve Protection Against Online Attacks, But Are Vulnerable to Ransomware |url=https://www.newsnetmedia.com/story/50025852/k12-schools-improve-protection-against-online-attacks-but-are-vulnerable-to-ransomware |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=www.newsnetmedia.com |language=en}}</ref> |
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In March 2024, they announced Firewall for AI to defend applications running [[Large language model|large language models]] (LLMs).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=S. C. |date=2024-03-05 |title=Cloudflare's Firewall for AI |url=https://www.scmagazine.com/brief/cloudflares-firewall-for-ai |access-date=2024-08-19 |website=SC Media |language=en}}</ref> |
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=== SASE === |
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Cloudflare One, the company's overarching [[Secure access service edge|SASE]] platform, debuted in October 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alspach |first=Kyle |title=Cloudflare expanding into zero-trust network security - Protocol |url=https://www.protocol.com/enterprise/cloudflare-network-security-zero-trust |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=www.protocol.com |language=en}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare One announced the acquisition of [[Area 1 Security]] in February 2022, a company who developed a product for combating phishing email attacks.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Joe |title=Cloudflare to Buy Area 1 Security in Push to Protect Against Phishing Emails |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-23/cloudflare-to-buy-area-1-security-in-biggest-acquisition |access-date=6 May 2024 |newspaper=Bloomberg|date=February 23, 2022 }}</ref> |
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Cloudflare One announced the acquisition of Nefeli Networks in March 2024, a cloud networking company co-founded by computer scientist [[Sylvia Ratnasamy]]. |
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=== VPN === |
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In 2019, Cloudflare released a [[VPN service]] called [[1.1.1.1#WARP|WARP]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/01/cloudflares-privacy-focused-dns-app-adds-a-free-vpn/|title=Cloudflare's privacy-focused DNS app adds a free VPN|last=Khalid|first=Amrita|date=April 2, 2019|website=Engadget|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402052051/https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/01/cloudflares-privacy-focused-dns-app-adds-a-free-vpn/|archive-date=April 2, 2019|access-date=April 2, 2019}}</ref><ref name="warppcmag">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/370979/cloudflare-finally-launches-warp-but-its-not-a-mobile-vpn|title=Cloudflare Finally Launches Warp, But It's Not a Mobile VPN|last=Humphries|first=Matthew|date=September 26, 2019|website=[[PCMag]]|language=en|access-date=2022-11-19}}</ref> and open sourced the custom underlying [[WireGuard#Implementations|WireGuard implementation]] written in [[Rust (programming language)|Rust]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/boringtun-userspace-wireguard-rust/|title=BoringTun, a userspace WireGuard implementation in Rust|last=Krasnov|first=Vlad|date=2018-12-18|website=Cloudflare Blog|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404164726/https://blog.cloudflare.com/boringtun-userspace-wireguard-rust/|archive-date=4 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CloudFlare Launches "BoringTun" As Rust-Written WireGuard User-Space Implementation|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=CloudFlare-BoringTun-WireGuard|website=[[phoronix.com]]|access-date=29 March 2019}}</ref> |
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=== Other services === |
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In January 2021, the company began providing its "Waiting Room" digital queue product for free for COVID-19 vaccination scheduling under the title "Project Fair Shot".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Etherington |first=Darrell |date=22 January 2021 |title=Cloudflare introduces free digital waiting rooms for any organizations distributing COVID-19 vaccines |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/22/cloudflare-introduces-free-digital-waiting-rooms-for-any-organizations-distributing-covid-19-vaccines/ |access-date=2021-05-12 |publisher=[[TechCrunch]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Project Fair Shot later won a [[Webby Awards|Webby People's Choice Award]] in 2022 for Event Management under the Apps & Software category.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cloudflare's Project Fair Shot |url=https://winners.webbyawards.com/2022/apps-and-software/software-services-platforms/event-management/220961/cloudflares-project-fair-shot |website=[[Webby Awards]] |access-date=26 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> |
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In March 2023, Cloudflare announced [[post-quantum cryptography]] will be made freely and forever available to [[cloud service]]s, applications and Internet connections.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/post-quantum-crypto-should-be-free/|title=Post-quantum crypto should be free, so we're including it for free, forever|date=March 16, 2023}}</ref> |
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==Security and privacy issues== |
==Security and privacy issues== |
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===Intrusions=== |
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The hacker group [[UGNazi]] attacked Cloudflare partially by exploiting flaws in [[Google|Google's]] authentication systems in June 2012, gaining administrative access to Cloudflare and using it to [[Website defacement|deface]] [[4chan]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Simcoe|first=Luke|date=June 14, 2012|title=The 4chan breach: How hackers got a password through voicemail|url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/the-4chan-breach-how-hackers-got-a-password-through-voicemail/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115142529/https://www.macleans.ca/2012/06/14/the-4chan-breach-how-hackers-got-a-password-through-voicemail/|archive-date=January 15, 2014|access-date=August 22, 2019|website=[[Maclean's]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Ms. Smith|date=June 3, 2012|title=Hacktivists UGNazi attack 4chan, Cloudflare and Wounded Warrior Project|url=http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hacktivists-ugnazi-attack-4chan-Cloudflare-and-wounded-warrior-project|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112193000/http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hacktivists-ugnazi-attack-4chan-Cloudflare-and-wounded-warrior-project|archive-date=November 12, 2013|access-date=August 22, 2019|work=Privacy and Security Fanatic|publisher=[[NetworkWorld]]}}</ref> From September 2016 until February 2017, a major Cloudflare bug (nicknamed [[Cloudbleed]]) leaked sensitive data, including passwords and authentication tokens, from customer websites by sending extra data in response to web requests.<ref>{{cite web|last=Conger|first=Kate|date=February 23, 2017|title=Major Cloudflare bug leaked sensitive data from customers' websites|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/23/major-cloudflare-bug-leaked-sensitive-data-from-customers-websites/|access-date=August 22, 2019|publisher=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> The leaks resulted from a [[buffer overflow]] which occurred, according to analysis by Cloudflare, on approximately 1 in every 3,300,000 HTTP requests.<ref name="2017Inc">{{cite news|last=Steinberg|first=Joseph|date=February 24, 2017|title=Why You Can Ignore Calls To Change Your Passwords After Today's Massive Password Leak Announcement|work=[[Inc. (magazine)|Inc.]]|url=http://www.inc.com/joseph-steinberg/why-you-can-ignore-calls-to-change-your-passwords-after-todays-massive-password-.html|access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref><ref name="USA Today">{{cite news|last1=Molina|first1=Brett|date=February 28, 2017|title=Cloudfare bug: Yes, you should change your passwords|work=[[USA Today]]|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/02/28/cloudfare-cloudbleed-bug-change-your-passwords/98519794/|access-date=March 1, 2017}}</ref> |
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On June 1, 2012, the hacker group [[UGNazi]] compromised some of Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince's accounts and redirected visitors of the website [[4chan]] to a Twitter account belonging to UGNazi. They allegedly used [[Social engineering (security)|social engineering]] to trick AT&T support staff into giving them access to Prince's voicemail, then exploited a vulnerability in Cloudflare's use of Google's two-factor authentication system. Once in control of Prince's email account, UGNazi was able to redirect the 4chan domain through Cloudflare's database.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simcoe |first=Luke |date=June 14, 2012 |title=The 4chan breach: How hackers got a password through voicemail |url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/the-4chan-breach-how-hackers-got-a-password-through-voicemail/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115142529/https://www.macleans.ca/2012/06/14/the-4chan-breach-how-hackers-got-a-password-through-voicemail/ |archive-date=January 15, 2014 |access-date=August 22, 2019 |website=[[Maclean's]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Ms. |date=June 3, 2012 |title=Hacktivists UGNazi attack 4chan, Cloudflare and Wounded Warrior Project |url=http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hacktivists-ugnazi-attack-4chan-Cloudflare-and-wounded-warrior-project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112193000/http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/hacktivists-ugnazi-attack-4chan-Cloudflare-and-wounded-warrior-project |archive-date=November 12, 2013 |access-date=August 22, 2019 |website=Privacy and Security Fanatic |publisher=[[NetworkWorld]]}}</ref> |
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===2016-2017 data leak=== |
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In May 2017, [[ProPublica]] reported that Cloudflare as a matter of policy relays the names and email addresses of persons complaining about hate sites to the sites in question, which has led to the complainants being harassed. Cloudflare's [[general counsel]] defended the company's policies by saying it is "base constitutional law that people can face their accusers".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Schwencke|first1=Ken|date=May 4, 2017|title=How One Major Internet Company Helps Serve Up Hate on the Web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/how-cloudflare-helps-serve-up-hate-on-the-web|access-date=May 6, 2017|website=[[ProPublica]]}}</ref> In response to the report, Cloudflare updated their abuse reporting process to provide greater control over who is notified of the complaining party.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Prince|first=Matthew|date=May 7, 2017|title=Anonymity and Abuse Reports|url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/anonymity-and-abuse-reports/|access-date=August 22, 2019|website=The Cloudflare Blog}}</ref> |
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{{see|Cloudbleed}} |
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From September 2016 until February 2017, a major Cloudflare bug nicknamed [[Cloudbleed]]<ref name="USA Today">{{Cite news |last=Molina |first=Brett |date=February 28, 2017 |title=Cloudfare bug: Yes, you should change your passwords |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/02/28/cloudfare-cloudbleed-bug-change-your-passwords/98519794/ |access-date=March 1, 2017}}</ref> leaked sensitive data, including passwords and authentication tokens, from customer websites by sending extra data in response to web requests.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conger |first=Kate |date=February 23, 2017 |title=Major Cloudflare bug leaked sensitive data from customers' websites |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/23/major-cloudflare-bug-leaked-sensitive-data-from-customers-websites/ |access-date=August 22, 2019 |publisher=[[TechCrunch]]}}</ref> |
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== Controversies == |
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Cloudflare is cited in reports by [[The Spamhaus Project]], an international [[Spamming|spam]] tracking organization, due to high numbers of cybercriminal botnet operations 'hosted' on Cloudflare services.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spamhaus Botnet Threat Report Q1-2020, ISPs hosting botnet C&Cs|url=https://www.spamhaus.org/news/article/798/spamhaus-botnet-threat-update-q1-2020|access-date=May 1, 2020|website=[[The Spamhaus Project]]}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare has said that it has a content neutrality policy and that it opposes the policing of its customers on [[free speech]] grounds, except in cases where the customers break the law.<ref name="Kashmir">{{Cite news |last=Hill |first=Kashmir |date=17 August 2014 |title=The Company Keeping Your Favorite (And Least Favorite) Websites Online |work=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/07/30/cloudflare-protection/?sh=ac906f414555 |access-date=15 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="BI17">{{Cite news |last=Peterson |first=Becky |date=17 August 2017 |title=Cloudflare CEO explains his emotional decision to punt The Daily Stormer and subject it to hackers: I woke up 'in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet' |work=[[Business Insider]] |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-daily-stormer-got-pushed-offline-by-hackers-2017-8 |access-date=15 September 2021}}</ref> The company has faced criticism for not banning hate speech websites and websites allegedly connected to terrorism groups,<ref name="Guardian15">{{Cite news |date=19 November 2015 |title=Web services firm CloudFlare accused by Anonymous of helping Isis |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/19/cloudflare-accused-by-anonymous-helping-isis |access-date=15 September 2021 |quote=The week before the Paris attacks, Ghost Security counted almost 40 ISIS websites that use Cloudflare's services.}}</ref> but Cloudflare has maintained that no law enforcement agency has asked the company to discontinue these services and it closely monitors its obligations under U.S. laws.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |date=18 November 2015 |title=CloudFlare CEO blasts Anonymous claims of ISIS terrorist support |work=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.com/2015/11/18/cloudflare_ceo_rubbishes_anonymous_claims_of_terrorist_support/ |access-date=16 September 2021}}</ref> |
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<ref name="spamhaus1">{{cite web|date=July 16, 2017|title=Cloudflare and Spamhaus|url=https://wordtothewise.com/2012/07/cloudflare-and-spamhaus/|access-date=February 28, 2017|publisher=Word to the Wise}}</ref> |
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<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Spamhaus Project|url=https://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/listings/cloudflare.com|access-date=September 30, 2019|website=[[The Spamhaus Project]]}}</ref> An October 2015 report found that Cloudflare provisioned 40% of [[Public key certificate|SSL certificates]] used by [[phishing]] sites with deceptive domain names resembling those of banks and payment processors.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Edgecombe|first1=Graham|date=October 12, 2015|title=Certificate authorities issue SSL certificates to fraudsters|work=[[Netcraft]]|url=http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2015/10/12/certificate-authorities-issue-hundreds-of-deceptive-ssl-certificates-to-fraudsters.html|access-date=October 14, 2015}}</ref> |
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In 2022, a research paper by [[Stanford University]] found that Cloudflare was a prominent CDN provider among several other providers that are disproportionately responsible for serving misinformation websites.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Han |first1=Catherine |last2=Kumar |first2=Deepak |last3=Durumeric |first3=Zakir |title=On the Infrastructure Providers That Support Misinformation Websites |journal=Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media |date=May 31, 2022 |volume=16 |pages=287–298 |doi=10.1609/icwsm.v16i1.19292 |s2cid=237300450 |url=https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/19292 |access-date=August 27, 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Cloudflare Is One of the Companies That Quietly Powers the Internet. Researchers Say It's a Haven for Misinformation|url=https://time.com/6208828/cloudflare-misinformation-internet-research/|date=August 26, 2022|access-date=August 27, 2022|first1=Chris|last1=Stokel-Walker| language=en|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> Cloudflare has come under pressure on multiple occasions due to its services being utilized to access [[far-right]] content.<ref name="Lee" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Timothy B. |date=December 4, 2017 |title=Cloudflare's CEO has a plan to never censor hate speech again |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/cloudflares-ceo-has-a-plan-to-never-censor-hate-speech-again/ |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare suffered a major outage on July 2, 2019,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cheng|first=Michelle|date=July 15, 2019|title=Cloudflare shows how transparent tech companies should be|url=https://qz.com/work/1666535/cloudflare-turned-outage-into-teaching-point-about-transparency/|access-date=July 17, 2020|website=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]]}}</ref> which rendered more than 12 million websites (80% of all customers) unreachable for 27 minutes.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|last=Graham-Cumming|first=John|date=July 12, 2019|title=Details of the Cloudflare outage on July 2, 2019|work=The Cloudflare Blog|url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/details-of-the-cloudflare-outage-on-july-2-2019/|access-date=July 12, 2019}}</ref> A similar outage occurred on July 17, 2020, causing a similar effect and impacting approximately the same number of sites.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dassanayake|first=Dion|date=July 17, 2020|title=Discord DOWN: Server status latest, connection and chat problems confirmed|url=https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/1311090/Discord-down-server-status-latest-connection-and-chat-problems|access-date=July 17, 2020|website=[[Daily Express]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Carpenter|first=Nicole|date=July 17, 2020|title=Discord, Riot Games down with reported Cloudflare outage|url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/17/21329005/cloudflare-outrage-discord-riot-games-july-2020|access-date=July 17, 2020|website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]}}</ref> |
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=== Service terminations === |
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On March 9, 2021, Tillie Kottmann from the hacking collective "Advanced Persistent Threat 69420" revealed to [[Bloomberg News]] that the group had gotten [[Superuser|root shell access]] to Cloudflare headquarters' internal network due to a security failure in the company's camera system.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Turton|first=William|date=2021-03-09|title=Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, Exposing Tesla, Jails, Hospitals|language=en|work=Bloomberg|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-09/hackers-expose-tesla-jails-in-breach-of-150-000-security-cams|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-10}}</ref> This meant that they had complete access to run any commands on the network. The group also accessed video feeds from company cameras monitoring entry points and thoroughfares. Cloudflare confirmed these claims in a blog post, but disputed that the hackers would have been able to access the company's data centers from the corporate network. They also denied Kottmann's claims that they would have been able to access CEO Matthew Prince's laptop from the compromised network, stating that he was out of the office at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Graham-Cumming|first=John|date=2021-03-10|title=About the March 8 & 9, 2021 Verkada camera hack|url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/about-the-march-8-9-2021-verkada-camera-hack/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310231522/https://blog.cloudflare.com/about-the-march-8-9-2021-verkada-camera-hack/|archive-date=2021-03-10|access-date=2021-03-10|website=The Cloudflare Blog|language=en}}</ref> |
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[[File:Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare Matthew Prince.jpg|thumb|Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare Matthew Prince]] |
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==== ''The Daily Stormer'' ==== |
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==Controversies== |
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Cloudflare provided DNS routing and DDoS protection for the [[white supremacist]] and [[neo-Nazi]] website, ''[[The Daily Stormer]].'' In 2017 Cloudflare [[Deplatforming|stopped providing its services]] to ''The Daily Stormer'' after an announcement on the website asserted that the "upper echelons" of Cloudflare were "secretly supporters of their ideology".<ref name=":15">{{Cite magazine |last=Johnson |first=Steven |date=January 16, 2018 |title=Inside Cloudflare's Decision to Let an Extremist Stronghold Burn |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-issue-cloudflare/ |access-date=August 5, 2019 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name="Peterson" /> |
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Cloudflare has faced several controversies over its unwillingness to monitor content distributed via its network<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |date=August 28, 2017 |title=The far right is losing its ability to speak freely online. Should the left defend it? |location= London |work=The Guardian |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/28/daily-stormer-alt-right-cloudflare-breitbart |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Rhett|date=December 14, 2018|title=Cloudflare Under Fire for Allegedly Providing DDoS Protection for Terrorist Websites|url=https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-under-fire-for-allegedly-providing-ddos-prot-1831107649|access-date=August 5, 2019|website=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Sankin|first=Aaron|date=July 11, 2019|title=The Dirty Business of Hosting Hate Online|url=https://gizmodo.com/the-dirty-business-of-hosting-hate-online-1836286885|access-date=August 5, 2019|website=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Jesselyn |date=December 14, 2018 |title=U.S. Tech Giant Cloudflare Provides Cybersecurity For At Least 7 Terror Groups |url= https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cloudflare-cybersecurity-terrorist-groups_n_5c127778e4b0835fe3277f2f |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[HuffPost]]}}</ref>—a stance it has defended based on the principle of [[Freedom of speech|free speech]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Captain|first=Sean|date=February 27, 2019|title=Is Cloudflare a privacy champion or hate speech enabler? Depends who you ask|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90312063/how-cloudflare-straddles-its-role-as-privacy-champion-and-hate-speech-enabler|access-date=August 5, 2019|website=[[Fast Company]]}}</ref> Cloudflare stated that it will "continue to abide by the law" and "serve all customers", further explaining "our proper role is not that of Internet censor".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Timothy B.|date=August 31, 2017|title=Tech companies declare war on hate speech—and conservatives are worried|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/tech-companies-are-cracking-down-on-hate-speech/|access-date=August 6, 2019|website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> These controversies have involved Cloudflare's policy of [[content neutrality]] and subsequent usage of its services by numerous contentious websites,<ref>{{cite news |last=Peterson |first=Becky |date=August 17, 2017 |title=Cloudflare CEO explains his emotional decision to punt The Daily Stormer and subject it to hackers: I woke up 'in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet' |url= http://www.businessinsider.com/the-daily-stormer-got-pushed-offline-by-hackers-2017-8 |access-date=August 17, 2017 |website=[[Business Insider]]}}</ref> including ''[[The Daily Stormer]]'' and [[8chan]],<ref name="Kelly, The verge, 2019">{{Cite web|last=Kelly|first=Makena|date=August 4, 2019|title=Cloudflare to revoke 8chan's service, opening the fringe website up for DDoS attacks|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805063504/https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack|archive-date=August 5, 2019|access-date=August 5, 2019|website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> an [[imageboard]] which has been linked to multiple [[mass shootings in the United States]] and the [[Christchurch mosque shootings]] in [[New Zealand]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |date=August 4, 2019 |title=8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes |work=The Guardian |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/mass-shootings-el-paso-texas-dayton-ohio-8chan-far-right-website |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last1=Mezzofiore|first1=Gianluca|last2=O'Sullivan|first2=Donie|date=August 5, 2019|title=El Paso shooting is at least the third atrocity linked to 8chan this year|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/04/business/el-paso-shooting-8chan-biz/index.html|access-date=August 5, 2019|website=[[CNN]]}}</ref> Under public pressure, Cloudflare terminated services to ''The Daily Stormer'' in 2017 and to 8chan following the [[2019 El Paso shooting]]. |
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Previously, Cloudflare had refused to take any action regarding ''The Daily Stormer''.<ref name=":12" /> Founder Matthew Prince said he found the website's content "vile", but regretted he alone could "decide its fate".<ref name="businessinsider">{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Becky |title=Cloudflare CEO explains his emotional decision to punt The Daily Stormer and subject it to hackers: I woke up 'in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet' |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-daily-stormer-got-pushed-offline-by-hackers-2017-8 |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref> He told ''[[Business Insider]]'': "The ability of somebody to single-handedly choose to knock content offline doesn’t align with core ideas of due process or justice. Whether that’s a national government launching attacks or an individual launching attacks."<ref name="businessinsider"/> |
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Cloudflare has come under pressure on multiple occasions due to its policies and for refusing to cease technical support (such as DNS routing and DDoS mitigation) of websites such as [[LulzSec]], ''[[The Daily Stormer]]'', and [[8chan]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> Some have argued Cloudflare's services allow access to content which spreads hate and has led to harm and deaths.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/technology/8chan-shooting-manifesto.html |title=8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator. |last=Roose |first=Kevin |date=August 4, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 5, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/8chan-pedophiles-child-porn-gamergate/|title=8chan is home to a hive of pedophiles|last=O'Neill|first=Patrick Howell|date=November 17, 2014|website=[[The Daily Dot]]|access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/8chan-hosted-content-disappears-from-google-searches/|title=8chan-hosted content disappears from Google searches [Updated]|last=Machkovech|first=Sam|date=August 17, 2015|website=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> However Cloudflare, as an Internet infrastructure provider, has broad legal immunity from the content produced by its users.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/cloudflares-ceo-has-a-plan-to-never-censor-hate-speech-again/|title=Cloudflare's CEO has a plan to never censor hate speech again|last=Lee|first=Timothy B.|date=December 4, 2017|website=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> |
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As a self-described "free speech absolutist", Prince, in a blog post, vowed never to succumb to external pressure again and sought to create a "political umbrella" for the future.<ref name=":12" /> Prince further addressed the dangers of large companies deciding what is allowed to stay online, a concern that is shared by a number of civil liberties groups and privacy experts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Citron |first=Danielle Keats |date=November 28, 2017 |title=What to Do about the Emerging Threat of Censorship Creep on the Internet |url=https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa-828.pdf |journal=[[Cato Institute]] |volume=282 |pages=3–4 |via=Cato.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Keller |first=Daphne |date=August 15, 2017 |title=The Daily Stormer, Online Speech, and Internet Registrars |url=https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2017/08/daily-stormer-online-speech-and-internet-registrars |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=[[Stanford Center for Internet and Society]] |publisher=[[Stanford Law School]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaban |first=Hamza |date=August 18, 2017 |title=Banning neo-Nazis online may be slippery slope, tech group warns Silicon Valley |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/08/18/banning-neo-nazis-online-may-be-slippery-slope-tech-group-warns-silicon-valley/ |access-date=August 6, 2019}}</ref> The [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]], a US digital rights group, said that services such as Cloudflare "should not be adjudicating what speech is acceptable", adding that "when illegal activity, like inciting violence or defamation, occurs, the proper channel to deal with it is the legal system".<ref name=":15" /> |
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==== Mass shootings and 8chan ==== |
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[[HuffPost|''The Huffington Post'']] has alleged that Cloudflare provides services to "at least 7 terrorist groups", as designated by the [[United States Department of State]]<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> including the [[Taliban]], [[Hamas]], and the [[al-Quds Brigades]], and has been aware since at least 2012, and has taken no action. However, according to Cloudflare's CEO, no law enforcement agency has asked the company to discontinue these services.<ref name=":13">{{cite web |url= http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/20150127/102855/HHRG-114-FA18-Wstate-KohlmannE-20150127.pdf |title=Charlie Hebdo and the Jihadi Online Network: Assessing the Role of American Commercial Social Media Platforms |last=Kohlmann |first=Evan F. |date=January 27, 2015 |publisher=United States House of Representatives |access-date= August 22, 2019}}</ref> |
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In 2019, Cloudflare was criticized for providing services to the far-right<ref name=":6" /> discussion and imageboard [[8chan]]. The message board has been linked to mass shootings in the United States and the [[Christchurch mosque shootings]] in New Zealand.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Roose |first=Kevin |date=August 4, 2019 |title=8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator. |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/technology/8chan-shooting-manifesto.html |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> In addition, a number of news organizations including ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''[[The Daily Dot]]'' have reported on the existence of [[child pornography]] and [[child sexual abuse]] discussion boards.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Patrick Howell |date=November 17, 2014 |title=8chan, the central hive of Gamergate, is also an active pedophile network |url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/8chan-pedophiles-child-porn-gamergate/ |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[The Daily Dot]]}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Machkovech |first=Sam |date=August 17, 2015 |title=8chan-hosted content disappears from Google searches: Domain-specific searches contain warning about "suspected child abuse content" |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/8chan-hosted-content-disappears-from-google-searches/ |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dewey |first=Caitlin |date=January 13, 2015 |title=This is what happens when you create an online community without any rules |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/01/13/this-is-what-happens-when-you-create-an-online-community-without-any-rules/ |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> |
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A Cloudflare representative said that the platform "does not host the referenced websites, cannot block websites, and is not in the business of hiding companies that host illegal content".<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 2019 |title=Cloudflare embroiled in child abuse row |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50138970 |access-date=November 15, 2019}}</ref> Cloudflare did not terminate service to [[8chan]] until public and legal pressure mounted in the wake of the [[2019 El Paso shooting]], in which the associated manifesto was published to 8chan.<ref name="Kelly, The verge, 2019" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Uebele |first=Hannah |date=August 6, 2019 |title=El Paso: When Freedom Of Speech Turns Violent |work=[[WGBH (FM)|WGBH]] |url=https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2019/08/06/el-paso-when-freedom-of-speech-turns-violent |access-date=2021-06-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Ben |date=August 4, 2019 |title=Investigators 'reasonably confident' Texas suspect left anti-immigrant screed |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigators-reasonably-confident-texas-suspect-left-anti-immigrant-screed-tipped-n1039031 |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'' immediately after the shooting, CEO Matthew Prince defended Cloudflare's support of 8chan, saying that he had a "moral obligation" to keep 8chan online.<ref name="Matthew Prince">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |author-link=Julia Carrie Wong |date=August 3, 2019 |title=8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/mass-shootings-el-paso-texas-dayton-ohio-8chan-far-right-website |access-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> |
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On August 5, 2019, Cloudflare terminated service to 8chan.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/terminating-service-for-8chan/ | title=Terminating Service for 8Chan | date=August 5, 2019 }}</ref> Following this, 8chan moved its forums from the [[Clearnet (networking)|clearnet]] to the [[dark web]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/5/20754943/8chan-epik-offline-voxility-service-cutoff-hate-speech-ban | title=8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service | date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> Cloudflare explained that 8chan "have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |date=2019-08-05 |title=8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/mass-shootings-el-paso-texas-dayton-ohio-8chan-far-right-website |access-date=2023-04-30 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Prince said that what happened in El Paso was "abhorrent in every possible way", removing 8chan from the Internet was "the right thing to do".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Makena |date=2019-08-05 |title=Cloudflare to revoke 8chan's service, opening the fringe website up for DDoS attacks |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Matthew Prince" /> |
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Cloudflare services have been used by [[Rescator]], a [[Carding (fraud)|carding]] website that sells stolen payment card data.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/09/29/cloudflare-pushes-more-encrypted-web/ |title=Cloudflare Pushes More Encrypted Web |last1=Yadron |first1=Danny |date=September 29, 2014 |work=The Wall Street Journal |location=New York |access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.softpedia.com/news/Underground-Payment-Card-Store-Rescator-Hacked-and-Defaced-432598.shtml |title=Underground Payment Card Store Rescator Hacked and Defaced |last1=Kovacs |first1=Eduard |date=March 17, 2014 |work=[[Softpedia News]] |access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/01/spreading-the-disease-and-selling-the-cure/ |title=Spreading the Disease and Selling the Cure |last1=Krebs |first1=Brian |date=January 15, 2015|work=[[Krebs on Security]]|access-date=August 14, 2015}}</ref> Two of the top three online chat forums belonging to the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) are guarded by Cloudflare. According to Prince, U.S. law enforcement has not asked Cloudflare to discontinue the service, and it has not chosen to do so itself.<ref name=":13"/> In November 2015, [[Hacktivism|hacktivist]] group [[Anonymous (group)|Anonymous]] discouraged the use of Cloudflare's services following the [[November 2015 Paris attacks|ISIL attacks in Paris]] and the renewed accusation that Cloudflare aids terrorists.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/19/cloudflare-accused-by-anonymous-helping-isis |title=Web services firm Cloudflare accused by Anonymous of helping Isis |last1=Hern |first1=Alex |date=November 19, 2015 |work=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=November 19, 2015}}</ref> Cloudflare responded by calling the group "15-year-old kids in [[Guy Fawkes mask]]s", and saying that whenever such concerns are raised it consults anti-terrorism experts and abides by the law.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://fortune.com/2015/11/18/anonymous-isis-cloudflare/ |title=Anonymous' Gripes About ISIS Are 'Absurd,' CEO says |last=Hackett |first=Robert |date=November 18, 2015 |website=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> |
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==== Kiwi Farms ==== |
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In late 2019, Cloudflare was criticized for providing services to the anti-black website Chimpmania. Hundreds of thousands signed a petition on [[Change.org]] urging Prince to terminate services to Chimpmania. The petition was created by the parents of a biracial baby who was born with [[gastroschisis]] and who was mocked as a "mulatto monkey baby" by site users, and whose pictures were posted on the site. Over the ten years the site has been active, numerous other petitions have also been leveled against it, none of which were successful.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/chimpmania-racist-vile-petition-albie-3523468|title=Thousands call for vile racist website 'Chimpmania' to be shut down|last=Cooper|first=Joel|date=November 11, 2019|website=devonlive|access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> |
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{{See also|Kiwi Farms#Terminations of service}} |
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Cloudflare provided [[DDoS mitigation]] and acted as a [[reverse proxy]] for [[Kiwi Farms]], a far-right<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyagd/keffals-kiwi-farms | title=Inside Keffals' Battle to Bring Down Kiwi Farms | date=September 7, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/07/techscape-kiwi-farms-cloudflare | title=TechScape: How Kiwi Farms, the worst place on the web, was shut down | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=September 7, 2022 }}</ref> Internet forum dedicated to discussion and [[trolling]] of online figures or communities. The site often engages in harassment and [[doxxing]] of targets<ref name="NY-intelligencer">{{Cite web |last1=Pless |first1=Margaret |title=Kiwi Farms, the Web's Biggest Community of Stalkers |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/07/kiwi-farms-the-webs-biggest-community-of-stalkers.html |website=Intelligencer |publisher=[[New York Magazine]] |access-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831184007/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/07/kiwi-farms-the-webs-biggest-community-of-stalkers.html |archive-date=August 31, 2022 |date=July 19, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> and has been implicated in the [[Kiwi Farms#Suicides of harassment targets|suicides of at least three people]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baj |first=Lavender |date=July 13, 2021 |title=Kiwi Farms Has 14 Days To Find A New Domain Host After Being Booted Off DreamHost |url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/07/kiwi-farms-domain-registrar/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211001/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/07/kiwi-farms-domain-registrar/ |archive-date=October 1, 2021 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 13, 2021 |website=[[Kotaku]] Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wodinsky |first=Shashona |date=June 29, 2021 |title=The Worst Site on the Web Gets DDoS'd After Being Connected to Prominent Developer's Suicide |url=https://gizmodo.com/the-worst-site-on-the-web-gets-ddosd-after-being-connec-1847196197 |url-status=live |access-date=August 31, 2022 |website=[[Gizmodo]] |language=en-us |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629232418/https://gizmodo.com/the-worst-site-on-the-web-gets-ddosd-after-being-connec-1847196197}}</ref><ref name=":3"/><ref name="Near Suicide Kotaku">{{Cite news |last1=Kotaku Staff |date=June 28, 2021 |title=The Brilliant SNES Emulator Author Known As Near Has Died |work=[[Kotaku]] |url=https://kotaku.com/the-brilliant-snes-emulator-creator-known-as-near-has-d-1847182851 |url-status=live |access-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627225413/https://kotaku.com/the-brilliant-snes-emulator-creator-known-as-near-has-d-1847182851 |archive-date=June 27, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Insider-Colombo">{{Cite web |last=Colombo |first=Charlotte |date=August 3, 2021 |title=Kiwi Farms, the forum that has been linked to 3 suicides, was made to troll Chris Chan years before she was arrested on an incest charge |url=https://www.insider.com/chris-chan-arrest-what-is-kiwifarms-the-forum-exposed-her-2021-8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211001/https://www.insider.com/chris-chan-arrest-what-is-kiwifarms-the-forum-exposed-her-2021-8 |archive-date=October 1, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=August 31, 2022 |website=[[Insider.com|Insider]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Kiwi Farms also has a reputation for [[transphobic]] content, and its users have been accused of [[swatting]] vulnerable individuals.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Pressure grows on Cloudflare to drop Kiwi Farms after latest doxing campaign |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/kiwi-farms-cloudflare-keffals/ |access-date=August 23, 2022 |website=[[The Daily Dot]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="ViceKiwi">{{Cite web |last=Cole |first=Samantha |date=August 23, 2022 |title=People Are Demanding That Cloudflare Drop Kiwi Farms |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3434y/people-are-demanding-that-cloudflare-drop-kiwi-farms |access-date=August 24, 2022 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Scott |title=Campaign pushes Cloudflare to drop trans hate site |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/08/25/cloudflare-trans-hate-site-kiwi-farms |website=[[Axios (website)|Axios]] |access-date=25 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825224047/https://www.axios.com/2022/08/25/cloudflare-trans-hate-site-kiwi-farms |archive-date=August 25, 2022 |date=August 25, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=As Twitch Streamer Flees, Pressure Mounts On Cloudflare To Stop Protecting Controversial Kiwi Farms Site|url=https://kotaku.com/twitter-drop-kiwi-farms-hashtag-cloudflare-keffals-1849451829|website=[[Kotaku]]|access-date=26 August 2022|date=25 August 2022|last1=Bardhan|first1=Ashley}}</ref> Although Cloudflare was not the primary website host, they did perform critical services to keep Kiwi Farms on-line, both protecting the site from [[denial-of-service attack]]s and [[Content delivery network|optimizing content delivery]].<ref>{{cite web |title=What is a reverse proxy? Proxy servers explained |url=https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/cdn/glossary/reverse-proxy/ |website=Cloudflare |access-date=2 September 2022 |quote=A reverse proxy is a server that sits in front of web servers ... typically implemented to help increase security, performance, and reliability. }}</ref><ref name="thinking-big" /><ref name="CBS-keffals-cloudflare">{{cite web |last1=Czachor |first1=Emily Mae |title=Cloudflare indicates services will continue for controversial website Kiwi Farms |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cloudflare-abuse-policy-kiwi-farms-harassment-clara-sorrenti-keffals/ |website=[[CBS News]] |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902034204/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cloudflare-abuse-policy-kiwi-farms-harassment-clara-sorrenti-keffals/ |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |date=September 1, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Claburn |first1=Thomas |title=Cloudflare tries to explain why it protects far-right forums that stalk and harass victims |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/31/cloudflare_kiwi_farm/ |website=[[The Register]] |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902085145/https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/31/cloudflare_kiwi_farm/ |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |date=August 31, 2022 |quote=... the company continues to provide security – its reverse proxy service – that helps Kiwi Farms defend against denial of service attacks and keeps the web forum online. |url-status=live}}</ref> |
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In 2022, a campaign was launched by [[transgender]] activist [[Clara Sorrenti]], who has previously been targeted by the forum, to pressure Cloudflare into terminating service for Kiwi Farms.<ref name=Bloomberg>{{cite web |last1=D'Anastasio |first1=Cecilia |title=Cloudflare Urged to Cut Ties to Site That Promotes Harassment |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-30/cloudflare-urged-to-cut-ties-to-site-that-promotes-harassment |website=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]] |access-date=30 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903105657/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-30/cloudflare-urged-to-cut-ties-to-site-that-promotes-harassment |archive-date=September 3, 2022 |date=August 30, 2022 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Gilbert |first1=David |title=Inside Keffals' Battle to Bring Down Kiwi Farms |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyagd/keffals-kiwi-farms |website=Vice News |access-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908020330/https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyagd/keffals-kiwi-farms |archive-date=September 8, 2022 |date=September 7, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Cloudflare responded by issuing a statement on its abuse policies and saying it didn't want to set precedent for speech on the internet with its "extraordinary" decision.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tenbarge |first1=Kat |last2=Abbruzzese |first2=Jason |last3=Collins |first3=Ben |title=Internet services company Cloudflare blocks Kiwi Farms citing 'targeted threats' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cloudflare-provided-security-services-kiwi-farms-blocks-website-rcna46219 |website=NBC News |publisher=NBC |access-date=24 July 2023 |language=en |date=3 September 2022}}</ref> |
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The company also released a blog post<ref>{{cite web |title=Cloudflare's abuse policies & approach |url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflares-abuse-policies-and-approach/ |website=The Cloudflare Blog |publisher=Cloudflare |access-date=21 February 2023 |ref=CFAUG2022 |language=en |date=31 August 2022}}</ref> and likened their services to that of a public utility, stating that "Just as the telephone company doesn't terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded ... that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy", but that it would certainly be the "popular choice" to drop sites that the Cloudflare team "personally feels [are] disgusting and immoral".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alspach |first1=Kyle |title=Cloudflare probably won't terminate services for 'despicable' sites |url=https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/cloudflare-service-termination-kiwi-farms |website=[[Protocol (website)|Protocol]] |access-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831210230/https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/cloudflare-service-termination-kiwi-farms |archive-date=August 31, 2022 |date=August 31, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=D'Anastasio |first1=Cecilia |title=Cloudflare Hints It Won't Cut Ties to Site Linked to Harassment |url=https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/cloudflare-hints-it-won-t-cut-ties-to-site-linked-to-harassment-1.1812952 |website=[[BNN Bloomberg]] |access-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831205402/https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/cloudflare-hints-it-won-t-cut-ties-to-site-linked-to-harassment-1.1812952 |archive-date=August 31, 2022 |date=August 31, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> The company also defended their decision by saying that "where they had provided DDoS protection services to an anti-LGBTIQ+ website, they donated 100% of the fees earned to an organisation fighting for [[LGBT|LGBTIQ+]] rights".<ref name="guardian-trolling-site">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Josh |title=Cloudflare defends providing security services to trans trolling website Kiwi Farms |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/01/cloudflare-defends-providing-security-services-to-trans-trolling-website-kiwi-farms |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902052308/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/01/cloudflare-defends-providing-security-services-to-trans-trolling-website-kiwi-farms |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |date=September 1, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> The blog post mentioned Cloudflare's terms of use agreement, which allows them to terminate service due to "content that discloses sensitive personal information, [and] incites or exploits violence against people" but, according to ''[[The Guardian]]'', the statement "did not specifically address how Kiwi Farms users doxxing people did not fall foul of these terms".<ref name="guardian-trolling-site" /> |
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On September 3, 2022, Cloudflare blocked Kiwi Farms, citing urgent escalating rhetoric against targets of Kiwi Farms, stating that there is an "unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life". According to ''The Washington Post'', there was a "surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site" and CEO Matthew Prince said that Cloudflare believes "there is an imminent danger, and the pace at which law enforcement is able to respond to those threats we don't think is fast enough to keep up".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Menn |first1=Joseph |last2=Lorenz |first2=Taylor |title=Under pressure, security firm Cloudflare drops Kiwi Farms website |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/03/cloudflare-drops-kiwifarms/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=3 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903222349/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/03/cloudflare-drops-kiwifarms/ |archive-date=September 3, 2022 |date=September 3, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Prince |first1=Matthew |title=Blocking Kiwifarms |url=https://blog.cloudflare.com/kiwifarms-blocked/ |website=Cloudflare |access-date=3 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903221655/https://blog.cloudflare.com/kiwifarms-blocked/ |archive-date=September 3, 2022 |date=September 3, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tenbarge |first1=Kat |last2=Abbruzzese |first2=Jason |last3=Collins |first3=Ben |title=Internet services company Cloudflare blocks fringe message board Kiwi Farms citing 'targeted threats' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cloudflare-provided-security-services-kiwi-farms-blocks-website-rcna46219 |website=NBC News |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904004316/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cloudflare-provided-security-services-kiwi-farms-blocks-website-rcna46219 |archive-date=September 4, 2022 |date=September 3, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> |
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==== Switter ==== |
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Switter was a social media network for the [[sex worker]] community, built by Australia-based company Assembly Four on [[Mastodon (software)|Mastodon]]'s open-source software, before Cloudflare dropped Switter as a client and ceased services in April 2018, citing terms of service violations.<ref name="vice-switter-cloudflare-response">{{cite web |last1=Cole |first1=Samantha |date=April 19, 2018 |title=Cloudflare: FOSTA Was a 'Very Bad Bill' That's Left the Internet's Infrastructure Hanging |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kgvga/cloudflare-switter-down-fosta-sesta |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902204019/https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kgvga/cloudflare-switter-down-fosta-sesta |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |access-date=2 September 2022 |website=[[Vice News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Donovan |first1=Caroline |date=April 16, 2018 |title=Trump Just Signed A Law That Helped Create A New Twitter For Sex Workers |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/sex-workers-twitter-switter-mastodon-alternative-social |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902234411/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/sex-workers-twitter-switter-mastodon-alternative-social |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |access-date=2 September 2022 |website=[[BuzzFeed News]] |publisher=[[BuzzFeed]]}}</ref> This occurred shortly after the passage of [[FOSTA-SESTA|FOSTA/SESTA]], a set of bills criminalizing websites that "facilitate or support [[sex trafficking]]" in 2018. SESTA [[Section 230#Sex trafficking – Backpage.com and FOSTA-SESTA (2012–17)|weakened protections for Internet infrastructure companies]] and was [[Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act#Advocacy groups 2|criticized on free speech grounds]] due to concerns about disproportionate impact and disruptions to the lives of sex workers.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 April 2018 |title=Cloudflare Just Banned a Social Media Refuge for Thousands of Sex Workers |publisher=[[Vice News]] |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xk78x/switter-down-cloudflare-banned-sex-workers-sesta-fosta}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Romano |first1=Aja |date=2 July 2018 |title=A new law intended to curb sex trafficking threatens the future of the internet as we know it |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McSherry |first1=Corynne |last2=York |first2=Jillian C. |title=The Internet Is Not Facebook: Why Infrastructure Providers Should Stay Out of Content Policing |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/10/internet-not-facebook-why-infrastructure-providers-should-stay-out-content |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |access-date=16 August 2023 |language=en |date=13 October 2022}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare said the move was "related to our attempts to understand [[FOSTA-SESTA|FOSTA]], which is a very bad law and [sets] a very dangerous precedent".<ref>{{cite news |date=18 April 2018 |title=Cloudflare and FOSTA/SESTA |publisher=Assembly Four |url=https://assemblyfour.com/switter/cloudflare-fosta-sesta}}</ref> Assembly Four said that "Given Cloudflare's previous stances of privacy and freedom, as well as fighting alongside the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation|EFF]], we had hoped they would take a stand against FOSTA/SESTA".<ref name="vice-switter-cloudflare-response" /> |
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=== Terrorism === |
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In 2015, testimony to the [[United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs]], it was reported that two of the top three online chat forums and nearly forty other web sites belonging to the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) were guarded by Cloudflare.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Kohlmann |first=Evan F. |date=January 27, 2015 |title=Charlie Hebdo and the Jihadi Online Network: Assessing the Role of American Commercial Social Media Platforms |url=http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA18/20150127/102855/HHRG-114-FA18-Wstate-KohlmannE-20150127.pdf |access-date=August 22, 2019 |publisher=[[United States House of Representatives]]}}</ref> |
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In 2018, [[HuffPost|''The Huffington Post'']] documented that Cloudflare provided services for "at least 7 terrorist groups", as designated by the [[United States Department of State]] including [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]], the [[Taliban]], the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]], the [[al-Quds Brigades]], the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK), the [[al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades]], and [[Hamas]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> At the time, Cloudflare's general counsel, Doug Kramer, told The Huffington Post that he couldn't comment on specific cases in which Cloudflare was told about possible terrorist organizations using its services, but that Cloudflare does work with government agencies to be in compliance with its legal obligations.<ref name=":3" /> |
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In September 2019, Cloudflare reported in their [[Form S-1]] filing that their technology was "used by, or for the benefit of, certain individuals or entities" that were blacklisted due to United States economic and trade sanctions regulations",<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sun |first1=Mengqi |title=Cloud-Services Company Cloudflare Discloses Potential Sanctions Violations |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/cloud-services-company-cloudflare-discloses-potential-sanctions-violations-11568152033 |access-date=4 March 2023 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=10 September 2019}}</ref> including "entities identified in OFAC’s counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking sanctions programs, or affiliated with governments currently subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stone |first1=Jeff |title=Cloudflare may have provided service to terrorists, drug traffickers in violation of U.S. sanctions |url=https://cyberscoop.com/cloudflare-ipo-terrorism-narcotics/ |access-date=4 March 2023 |work=CyberScoop |date=11 September 2019}}</ref> |
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=== Crime === |
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Cloudflare has been cited in reports by [[The Spamhaus Project]], an international [[Spamming|spam]] tracking organization, for the high numbers of cybercriminal botnet operations hosted by Cloudflare.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spamhaus Botnet Threat Report Q1-2020, ISPs hosting botnet C&Cs |url=https://www.spamhaus.org/news/article/798/spamhaus-botnet-threat-update-q1-2020 |access-date=May 1, 2020 |website=[[The Spamhaus Project]]}}</ref><ref name="spamhaus1">{{Cite web |date=July 16, 2017 |title=Cloudflare and Spamhaus |url=https://wordtothewise.com/2012/07/cloudflare-and-spamhaus/ |access-date=February 28, 2017 |publisher=Word to the Wise}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Spamhaus Project |url=https://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/listings/cloudflare.com |access-date=September 30, 2019 |website=[[The Spamhaus Project]]}}</ref> An October 2015 report found that Cloudflare provisioned 40% of the [[Public key certificate|SSL certificates]] used by [[typosquatting]] [[phishing]] sites, which use deceptive domain names resembling those of banks and payment processors to compromise Internet users' banking and other transactions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Edgecombe |first=Graham |date=October 12, 2015 |title=Certificate authorities issue SSL certificates to fraudsters |work=[[Netcraft]] |url=http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2015/10/12/certificate-authorities-issue-hundreds-of-deceptive-ssl-certificates-to-fraudsters.html |access-date=October 14, 2015}}</ref> Cloudflare has been criticized for having a [[conflict of interest]] by providing DDoS protection to both the operators and victims of "[[stresser]]" services.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Krebs |first1=Brian |title=Spreading the DDoS Disease and Selling the Cure – Krebs on Security |url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/10/spreading-the-ddos-disease-and-selling-the-cure/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=20 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Team |first1=SecureWorld News |title=Is this OK? DDoS Defense Vendor Protected World's Largest DDoS-for-Hire Site |url=https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news/does-cloudflare-protect-ddos-sites |website=www.secureworld.io |language=en-us |date=3 May 2018 |access-date=11 October 2023}}</ref> |
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In 2018, Cloudflare was identified by the European Union's Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List as a "[[notorious market]]" which engages in, facilitates, or benefits from counterfeiting and piracy. The report noted that Cloudflare hides and anonymizes the operators of 40% of the world's pirate sites, and 62% of the 500 largest such sites, and "does not follow due diligence when opening accounts for websites to prevent illegal sites from using its services".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-07 |title=Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List |url=https://torrentfreak.com/images/tradoc_157564.pdf |access-date=16 July 2021 |publisher=[[European Commission]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |date=2018-12-10 |title=New EU Piracy Watchlist Targets Key Pirate Sites and Cloudflare |url=https://torrentfreak.com/new-eu-piracy-watchlist-targets-key-pirate-sites-and-cloudflare-181210/ |access-date=16 July 2021 |publisher=[[TorrentFreak]]}}</ref> |
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In 2020, an Italian court ruled Cloudflare had to block current and future domain names and IP addresses of the pirate IPTV service "IPTV THE BEST" for infringing on Lega [[Serie A]] intellectual property.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pekic |first=Branislav |date=2021-02-17 |title=Court orders CloudFlare to stop hosting illegal IPTVs |url=https://advanced-television.com/2021/02/17/court-orders-cloudfare-to-stop-hosting-illegal-iptvs/ |access-date=2023-06-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref> At the time, Cloudflare was already blocking 22 domain names in Italy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Van der Sar |first=Ernesto |date=2020-10-14 |title=Italian Court Orders Cloudflare to Block a Pirate IPTV Service |url=https://torrentfreak.com/italian-court-orders-cloudflare-to-block-a-pirate-iptv-service-201014/ |access-date=16 July 2021 |publisher=[[TorrentFreak]]}}</ref> German courts have similarly found that "Cloudflare and its anonymization services attract structurally copyright infringing websites."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nordemann |first=Jan Bernd |date=2021-07-12 |title=Duties of DNS resolvers and CDN providers – the CoA Cologne finds Cloudflare accountable |url=http://copyrightblog.kluweriplaw.com/2021/07/12/duties-of-dns-resolvers-and-cdn-providers-the-coa-cologne-germany-finds-cloudflare-accountable/ |access-date=16 July 2021 |publisher=[[Wolters Kluwer]]}}</ref> |
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=== Response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine === |
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After [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia invaded Ukraine]] in late February 2022, [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation [[Mykhailo Fedorov]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Timberg |first1=Craig |last2=Zakrzewski |first2=Cat |last3=Menn |first3=Joseph |title=A new iron curtain is descending across Russia's Internet |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/04/russia-ukraine-internet-cogent-cutoff/ |access-date=11 May 2022 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=4 March 2022}}</ref> and others<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Logan |last2=Vanjani |first2=Karishma |title=These Companies Haven't Left Russia. Behind Their Decisions to Stay. |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/russia-ukraine-war-companies-51648143368 |access-date=17 May 2022 |work=[[Barron's (magazine)|Barron's]] |date=25 March 2022}}</ref> called on Cloudflare to stop providing its services in the [[Russia]]n market amidst reports that Russia-linked websites spreading disinformation were using the company's content delivery network services.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stone |first1=Jeff |last2=Gallagher |first2=Ryan |title=Cloudflare Rebuffs Ukraine Requests to Stop Working With Russia |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/cloudflare-rebuffs-ukraine-requests-to-stop-working-with-russia |access-date=11 May 2022 |work=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]] |date=8 March 2022}}</ref> Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince responded that the company decided to remain providing services to Russian people to counter Russia's attempts to raise a 'digital iron curtain'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin |first=Jon |date=2022-03-08 |title=Cloudflare refuses to pull out of Russia, says Putin would celebrate shutoff |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/cloudflare-wont-cut-off-russia-says-it-needs-more-internet-access-not-less/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Disrupters and Defenders: What the Ukraine War Has Taught Us About the Power of Global Tech Companies |url=https://www.institute.global/insights/geopolitics-and-security/disrupters-and-defenders-what-ukraine-war-has-taught-us-about-power-global-tech-companies |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=www.institute.global |language=en-GB}}</ref> Prince shared that "Indiscriminately terminating service would do little to harm the Russian government but would both limit [Russian citizens'] access to information outside the country and make significantly more vulnerable those who have used us to shield themselves as they have criticized the government."<ref name=Ars22>{{cite news |last1=Brodkin |first1=Jon |title=Cloudflare refuses to pull out of Russia, says Putin would celebrate shutoff |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/cloudflare-wont-cut-off-russia-says-it-needs-more-internet-access-not-less/ |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=[[Ars Technica]] |date=8 March 2022}}</ref> The company later said it had minimal sales and commercial activity in Russia and had "terminated any customers we have identified as tied to sanctioned entities".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morrow |first1=Allison |title=Crypto is dead. Long live crypto: Davos Dispatch |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/26/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=[[CNN]] |date=26 May 2022}}</ref> |
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Cloudflare's Project Galileo, launched in 2014, offers [[DDoS]] protection to [[NGO]]s for free. In 2022, they extended free protection to [[Ukrainian government]] and telecoms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CloudFlare Teams Up With 15 NGOs To Protect Citizen Journalists And Activists From DDoS Attacks |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/12/cloudflare-teams-up-with-15-ngos-to-protect-citizen-journalists-and-activists-from-ddos-attacks/ |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |date=June 12, 2014 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garson |first1=Melanie |last2=Furlong |first2=Pete |date=May 2022 |title=Disrupters and Defenders: What the Ukraine War Has Taught Us About the Power of Global Tech Companies |url=https://institute.global/policy/disrupters-and-defenders-what-ukraine-war-has-taught-us-about-power-global-tech-companies |journal=[[Tony Blair Institute for Global Change]] |language=en}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist| |
{{Reflist|refs= |
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<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |date=August 28, 2017 |title=The far right is losing its ability to speak freely online. Should the left defend it? |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/28/daily-stormer-alt-right-cloudflare-breitbart |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> |
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<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Rhett |date=December 14, 2018 |title=Cloudflare Under Fire for Allegedly Providing DDoS Protection for Terrorist Websites |url=https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-under-fire-for-allegedly-providing-ddos-prot-1831107649 |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Jesselyn |date=December 14, 2018 |title=U.S. Tech Giant Cloudflare Provides Cybersecurity For at Least 7 Terror Groups: Among its customers are the Taliban, al-Shabab and Hamas. |work=[[HuffPost]] |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cloudflare-cybersecurity-terrorist-groups_n_5c127778e4b0835fe3277f2f |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> |
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<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Captain |first=Sean |date=February 27, 2019 |title=Is Cloudflare a privacy champion or hate speech enabler? Depends who you ask |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90312063/how-cloudflare-straddles-its-role-as-privacy-champion-and-hate-speech-enabler |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[Fast Company]]}}</ref> |
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<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Wong |first=Julia Carrie |date=August 4, 2019 |title=8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/mass-shootings-el-paso-texas-dayton-ohio-8chan-far-right-website |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> |
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<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last1=Mezzofiore |first1=Gianluca |last2=O'Sullivan |first2=Donie |date=August 5, 2019 |title=El Paso shooting is at least the third atrocity linked to 8chan this year |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/04/business/el-paso-shooting-8chan-biz/index.html |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[CNN]]}}</ref> |
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<!--<ref name="Bofa">{{Cite news |date=March 11, 2021 |title=Controversial US infosec firm Cloudflare is providing potentially sanctions-busting services to Myanmar's military junta |url=https://bofa.substack.com/p/controversial-us-tech-firm-cloudflare |access-date=6 June 2021 |website=Bofa on Insecurity |last1=Bofa |first1=Sugondese Separatist}}</ref>--> |
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<ref name="Lee">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Timothy B. |date=August 31, 2017 |title=Tech companies declare war on hate speech—and conservatives are worried |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/08/tech-companies-are-cracking-down-on-hate-speech/ |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref> |
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<ref name="Peterson">{{Cite news |last=Peterson |first=Becky |date=August 17, 2017 |title=Cloudflare CEO explains his emotional decision to punt The Daily Stormer and subject it to hackers: I woke up 'in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet' |work=[[Business Insider]] |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/the-daily-stormer-got-pushed-offline-by-hackers-2017-8 |access-date=August 17, 2017}}</ref> |
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<ref name="Kelly, The verge, 2019">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Makena |date=August 4, 2019 |title=Cloudflare to revoke 8chan's service, opening the fringe website up for DDoS attacks |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805063504/https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |access-date=August 5, 2019 |website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> |
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<ref name="s-1">{{cite web |title=S-1 Filing |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1477333/000119312519222176/d735023ds1.htm |website=US SEC |access-date=2 December 2022}}</ref> |
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}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* {{Official website|https://www.cloudflare.com}} |
* {{Official website|https://www.cloudflare.com}} |
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*[https://workers.cloudflare.com/ Cloudflare Workers] |
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*[https://pages.cloudflare.com/ Cloudflare Pages] |
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{{Finance links |
{{Finance links |
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| name = Cloudflare, Inc. |
| name = Cloudflare, Inc. |
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| symbol = NET |
| symbol = NET |
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| yahoo = NET |
| yahoo = NET |
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| google = NET |
| google = NET:NYSE |
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| bloomberg = NET:US |
| bloomberg = NET:US |
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| sec_cik = 1477333}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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Latest revision as of 00:50, 12 December 2024
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| |
| Industry | Information and communications technology |
| Founded | July 2009 |
| Founder | Lee Holloway Matthew Prince Michelle Zatlyn  |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Key people | |
| Brands | 1.1.1.1 |
| Services | reverse proxy, edge computing, streaming media, identity management, virtual private network |
| Revenue |  US$1.297 billion (2023) |
 US$−185 million (2023) | |
| US$−184 million (2023) | |
| Total assets | US$2.759 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$763 million (2023) |
Number of employees | 3,682 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | Area 1 Security |
| ASN | |
| Website | cloudflare |
| Footnotes / references [1][2] | |
Cloudflare, Inc. is an American company that provides content delivery network services, cloud cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, wide area network services, reverse proxies, Domain Name Service, and ICANN-accredited[3] domain registration services.[4][5][6] Cloudflare's headquarters are in San Francisco, California.[4] According to W3Techs, Cloudflare is used by more than 19% of the Internet for its web security services, as of 2024.[update][7]
History
[edit]Cloudflare was founded in July 2009 by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn.[2][8][9] Prince and Holloway had previously collaborated on Project Honey Pot, a product of Unspam Technologies that served as some inspiration for the basis of Cloudflare.[10] From 2009, the company was venture-capital funded.[11] On August 15, 2019, Cloudflare submitted its S-1 filing for IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker NET.[12] It opened for public trading on September 13, 2019, at $15 per share.[13]
In 2020, Cloudflare co-founder and COO Michelle Zatlyn was named president, making her one of the few female presidents of a publicly traded technology company in the U.S.[14]
Cloudflare has acquired web-services and security companies, including StopTheHacker (February 2014),[15] CryptoSeal (June 2014),[16] Eager Platform Co. (December 2016),[17] Neumob (November 2017),[18] S2 Systems (January 2020),[19] Linc (December 2020),[20] Zaraz (December 2021),[21] Vectrix (February 2022),[22] Area 1 Security (February 2022),[23] Nefeli Networks (March 2024), and BastionZero (May 2024).[24]
Since at least 2017, Cloudflare has been using a wall of lava lamps in their San Francisco headquarters as a source of randomness for encryption keys, alongside double pendulums in its London offices and a geiger counter in its Singapore offices.[25] The lava lamp installation implements the Lavarand method, where a camera transforms the unpredictable shapes of the "lava" blobs into a digital image.[26][25]
In Q4 2022,[update] Cloudflare provided paid services to 162,086 customers.[27]
Products
[edit]
Cloudflare provides network and security products for consumers and businesses, utilizing edge computing, reverse proxies for web traffic, data center interconnects, and a content distribution network to serve content across its network of servers.[28] It supports transport layer protocols TCP, UDP, QUIC, and many application layer protocols such as DNS over HTTPS, SMTP, and HTTP/2 with support for HTTP/2 Server Push.[29] As of 2023,[update] Cloudflare handles an average of 45 million HTTP requests per second.[30]
Artificial intelligence
[edit]In 2023, Cloudflare launched Workers AI, a framework allowing for use of Nvidia GPU's within Cloudflare's network.[31]
In 2024, Cloudflare launched a tool that prevents bots from scraping websites. To build automatic bot detector models, the company analyzed AI bots and crawler traffic.[32]
DDoS mitigation
[edit]Cloudflare provides free and paid DDoS mitigation services that protect customers from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Cloudflare received media attention in June 2011 for providing DDoS mitigation for the website of LulzSec, a black hat hacking group.[33]
In March 2013, The Spamhaus Project was targeted by a DDoS attack that Cloudflare reported exceeded 300 gigabits per second (Gbit/s).[34][35] Patrick Gilmore, of Akamai, stated that at the time it was "the largest publicly announced DDoS attack in the history of the Internet". While trying to defend Spamhaus against the DDoS attacks, Cloudflare ended up being attacked as well; Google and other companies eventually came to Spamhaus' defense and helped it to absorb the unprecedented amount of attack traffic.[36]
In 2014, Cloudflare began providing free DDoS mitigation for artists, activists, journalists, and human rights groups under the name "Project Galileo".[37] In 2017, they extended the service to electoral infrastructure and political campaigns under the name "Athenian Project".[38][39] By 2020, more than 1,000 users and organizations were participating in Project Galileo, including 31 US states.[40][41]
In February 2014, Cloudflare claimed to have mitigated an NTP reflection attack against an unnamed European customer, which they stated peaked at 400 Gbit/s.[42][43] In November 2014, it reported a 500 Gbit/s DDoS attack in Hong Kong.[44] In July 2021, the company claimed to have absorbed a DDoS attack three times larger than any they'd previously recorded, which their corporate blog implied was over 1.2 Tbit/s in total.[45] In February 2023, Cloudflare reported blocking a 71 million request-per-second DDoS attack which "the company says was the largest HTTP DDoS attack on record".[46]
Cloudflare blocked the largest publicly-recorded DDoS attack in October 2023, with volumetric attacks peaking at 3.8 terabits per second.[47] The attack targeted compromised devices, including hijacked Asus home routers, DVRs, and web servers.[48]
Edge computing
[edit]In 2017, Cloudflare launched Cloudflare Workers, a serverless computing platform for creating new applications, augmenting existing ones, without configuring or maintaining infrastructure. It has expanded to include Workers KV, a low-latency key-value data store; Cron Triggers, for scheduling Cron jobs; and additional tooling for developers to deploy and scale their code across the globe.[49]
In 2020, Cloudflare released a JAMstack platform for developers to deploy websites on Cloudflare's Edge infrastructure, under the name "Pages".[50]
In 2022, Cloudflare announced an Edge SQL database, D1, which is built on SQLite.[51]
In August 2023, Cloudflare and IBM announced a partnership providing bot management capabilities to protect IBM Cloud customers from malicious bots and automated threats.[52]
Also in August 2023, Cloudflare was hired by SpaceX to boost the performance of Starlink,[53]and in September launched Cloudflare Fonts as a competitor to Google Fonts.[54]
Internet security
[edit]In April 2020, Cloudflare announced it was moving away from using reCAPTCHA in favor of hCaptcha.[55] In September 2022, Cloudflare began to test Turnstile – an alternative to CAPTCHA. The product, instead of presenting a visual CAPTCHA for the user to solve, automatizes the verification process by conducting JavaScript-based checks inside the browser to determine whether the user is a real person or an automated entity. The algorithm reportedly uses machine learning to optimize the process.[56]
Through a contract with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cloudflare provides registry and authoritative DNS services to the .gov top-level domain.[57]
In November 2020, Cloudflare announced Cloudflare for Teams, consisting of a DNS resolver and web gateway called "Gateway", and a zero-trust authentication service called "Access".[58]
Cloudflare announced a partnership with PhonePe in January 2023 to secure its mobile payment system.[59] In February, Cloudflare launched Wildebeest to allow Mastodon users to set up and run their own instances on Cloudflare's infrastructure.[60]
In August 2023, Cloudflare started the Project Cybersafe Schools program as part of a $20 million grant program from Amazon Web Services, making 70 percent of public school districts in the United States eligible for no-cost cybersecurity services.[61]
In March 2024, they announced Firewall for AI to defend applications running large language models (LLMs).[62]
SASE
[edit]Cloudflare One, the company's overarching SASE platform, debuted in October 2020.[63]
Cloudflare One announced the acquisition of Area 1 Security in February 2022, a company who developed a product for combating phishing email attacks.[64]
Cloudflare One announced the acquisition of Nefeli Networks in March 2024, a cloud networking company co-founded by computer scientist Sylvia Ratnasamy.
VPN
[edit]In 2019, Cloudflare released a VPN service called WARP,[65][66] and open sourced the custom underlying WireGuard implementation written in Rust.[67][68]
Other services
[edit]In January 2021, the company began providing its "Waiting Room" digital queue product for free for COVID-19 vaccination scheduling under the title "Project Fair Shot".[69] Project Fair Shot later won a Webby People's Choice Award in 2022 for Event Management under the Apps & Software category.[70]
In March 2023, Cloudflare announced post-quantum cryptography will be made freely and forever available to cloud services, applications and Internet connections.[71]
Security and privacy issues
[edit]Intrusions
[edit]On June 1, 2012, the hacker group UGNazi compromised some of Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince's accounts and redirected visitors of the website 4chan to a Twitter account belonging to UGNazi. They allegedly used social engineering to trick AT&T support staff into giving them access to Prince's voicemail, then exploited a vulnerability in Cloudflare's use of Google's two-factor authentication system. Once in control of Prince's email account, UGNazi was able to redirect the 4chan domain through Cloudflare's database.[72][73]
2016-2017 data leak
[edit]From September 2016 until February 2017, a major Cloudflare bug nicknamed Cloudbleed[74] leaked sensitive data, including passwords and authentication tokens, from customer websites by sending extra data in response to web requests.[75]
Controversies
[edit]Cloudflare has said that it has a content neutrality policy and that it opposes the policing of its customers on free speech grounds, except in cases where the customers break the law.[76][77] The company has faced criticism for not banning hate speech websites and websites allegedly connected to terrorism groups,[78] but Cloudflare has maintained that no law enforcement agency has asked the company to discontinue these services and it closely monitors its obligations under U.S. laws.[79]
In 2022, a research paper by Stanford University found that Cloudflare was a prominent CDN provider among several other providers that are disproportionately responsible for serving misinformation websites.[80][81] Cloudflare has come under pressure on multiple occasions due to its services being utilized to access far-right content.[82][83][84][85]
Service terminations
[edit]
The Daily Stormer
[edit]Cloudflare provided DNS routing and DDoS protection for the white supremacist and neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. In 2017 Cloudflare stopped providing its services to The Daily Stormer after an announcement on the website asserted that the "upper echelons" of Cloudflare were "secretly supporters of their ideology".[86][87]
Previously, Cloudflare had refused to take any action regarding The Daily Stormer.[85] Founder Matthew Prince said he found the website's content "vile", but regretted he alone could "decide its fate".[88] He told Business Insider: "The ability of somebody to single-handedly choose to knock content offline doesn’t align with core ideas of due process or justice. Whether that’s a national government launching attacks or an individual launching attacks."[88]
As a self-described "free speech absolutist", Prince, in a blog post, vowed never to succumb to external pressure again and sought to create a "political umbrella" for the future.[85] Prince further addressed the dangers of large companies deciding what is allowed to stay online, a concern that is shared by a number of civil liberties groups and privacy experts.[89][90][91] The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US digital rights group, said that services such as Cloudflare "should not be adjudicating what speech is acceptable", adding that "when illegal activity, like inciting violence or defamation, occurs, the proper channel to deal with it is the legal system".[86]
Mass shootings and 8chan
[edit]In 2019, Cloudflare was criticized for providing services to the far-right[92] discussion and imageboard 8chan. The message board has been linked to mass shootings in the United States and the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.[92][93][94] In addition, a number of news organizations including The Washington Post and The Daily Dot have reported on the existence of child pornography and child sexual abuse discussion boards.[95][96][97]
A Cloudflare representative said that the platform "does not host the referenced websites, cannot block websites, and is not in the business of hiding companies that host illegal content".[98] Cloudflare did not terminate service to 8chan until public and legal pressure mounted in the wake of the 2019 El Paso shooting, in which the associated manifesto was published to 8chan.[99][100][101] In an interview with The Guardian immediately after the shooting, CEO Matthew Prince defended Cloudflare's support of 8chan, saying that he had a "moral obligation" to keep 8chan online.[102]
On August 5, 2019, Cloudflare terminated service to 8chan.[103] Following this, 8chan moved its forums from the clearnet to the dark web.[104] Cloudflare explained that 8chan "have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit."[105] Prince said that what happened in El Paso was "abhorrent in every possible way", removing 8chan from the Internet was "the right thing to do".[106][102]
Kiwi Farms
[edit]Cloudflare provided DDoS mitigation and acted as a reverse proxy for Kiwi Farms, a far-right[107][108] Internet forum dedicated to discussion and trolling of online figures or communities. The site often engages in harassment and doxxing of targets[109] and has been implicated in the suicides of at least three people.[110][111][112][113][114] Kiwi Farms also has a reputation for transphobic content, and its users have been accused of swatting vulnerable individuals.[115][116][117][118] Although Cloudflare was not the primary website host, they did perform critical services to keep Kiwi Farms on-line, both protecting the site from denial-of-service attacks and optimizing content delivery.[119][5][120][121]
In 2022, a campaign was launched by transgender activist Clara Sorrenti, who has previously been targeted by the forum, to pressure Cloudflare into terminating service for Kiwi Farms.[122][123] Cloudflare responded by issuing a statement on its abuse policies and saying it didn't want to set precedent for speech on the internet with its "extraordinary" decision.[124]
The company also released a blog post[125] and likened their services to that of a public utility, stating that "Just as the telephone company doesn't terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded ... that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy", but that it would certainly be the "popular choice" to drop sites that the Cloudflare team "personally feels [are] disgusting and immoral".[126][127] The company also defended their decision by saying that "where they had provided DDoS protection services to an anti-LGBTIQ+ website, they donated 100% of the fees earned to an organisation fighting for LGBTIQ+ rights".[128] The blog post mentioned Cloudflare's terms of use agreement, which allows them to terminate service due to "content that discloses sensitive personal information, [and] incites or exploits violence against people" but, according to The Guardian, the statement "did not specifically address how Kiwi Farms users doxxing people did not fall foul of these terms".[128]
On September 3, 2022, Cloudflare blocked Kiwi Farms, citing urgent escalating rhetoric against targets of Kiwi Farms, stating that there is an "unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life". According to The Washington Post, there was a "surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site" and CEO Matthew Prince said that Cloudflare believes "there is an imminent danger, and the pace at which law enforcement is able to respond to those threats we don't think is fast enough to keep up".[129][130][131]
Switter
[edit]Switter was a social media network for the sex worker community, built by Australia-based company Assembly Four on Mastodon's open-source software, before Cloudflare dropped Switter as a client and ceased services in April 2018, citing terms of service violations.[132][133] This occurred shortly after the passage of FOSTA/SESTA, a set of bills criminalizing websites that "facilitate or support sex trafficking" in 2018. SESTA weakened protections for Internet infrastructure companies and was criticized on free speech grounds due to concerns about disproportionate impact and disruptions to the lives of sex workers.[134][135][136]
Cloudflare said the move was "related to our attempts to understand FOSTA, which is a very bad law and [sets] a very dangerous precedent".[137] Assembly Four said that "Given Cloudflare's previous stances of privacy and freedom, as well as fighting alongside the EFF, we had hoped they would take a stand against FOSTA/SESTA".[132]
Terrorism
[edit]In 2015, testimony to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, it was reported that two of the top three online chat forums and nearly forty other web sites belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were guarded by Cloudflare.[138]
In 2018, The Huffington Post documented that Cloudflare provided services for "at least 7 terrorist groups", as designated by the United States Department of State including Al-Shabaab, the Taliban, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the al-Quds Brigades, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and Hamas.[139][112] At the time, Cloudflare's general counsel, Doug Kramer, told The Huffington Post that he couldn't comment on specific cases in which Cloudflare was told about possible terrorist organizations using its services, but that Cloudflare does work with government agencies to be in compliance with its legal obligations.[112]
In September 2019, Cloudflare reported in their Form S-1 filing that their technology was "used by, or for the benefit of, certain individuals or entities" that were blacklisted due to United States economic and trade sanctions regulations",[140] including "entities identified in OFAC’s counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking sanctions programs, or affiliated with governments currently subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions".[141]
Crime
[edit]Cloudflare has been cited in reports by The Spamhaus Project, an international spam tracking organization, for the high numbers of cybercriminal botnet operations hosted by Cloudflare.[142][143][144] An October 2015 report found that Cloudflare provisioned 40% of the SSL certificates used by typosquatting phishing sites, which use deceptive domain names resembling those of banks and payment processors to compromise Internet users' banking and other transactions.[145] Cloudflare has been criticized for having a conflict of interest by providing DDoS protection to both the operators and victims of "stresser" services.[146][147]
In 2018, Cloudflare was identified by the European Union's Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List as a "notorious market" which engages in, facilitates, or benefits from counterfeiting and piracy. The report noted that Cloudflare hides and anonymizes the operators of 40% of the world's pirate sites, and 62% of the 500 largest such sites, and "does not follow due diligence when opening accounts for websites to prevent illegal sites from using its services".[148][149]
In 2020, an Italian court ruled Cloudflare had to block current and future domain names and IP addresses of the pirate IPTV service "IPTV THE BEST" for infringing on Lega Serie A intellectual property.[150] At the time, Cloudflare was already blocking 22 domain names in Italy.[151] German courts have similarly found that "Cloudflare and its anonymization services attract structurally copyright infringing websites."[152]
Response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
[edit]After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov[153] and others[154] called on Cloudflare to stop providing its services in the Russian market amidst reports that Russia-linked websites spreading disinformation were using the company's content delivery network services.[155] Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince responded that the company decided to remain providing services to Russian people to counter Russia's attempts to raise a 'digital iron curtain'.[156][157] Prince shared that "Indiscriminately terminating service would do little to harm the Russian government but would both limit [Russian citizens'] access to information outside the country and make significantly more vulnerable those who have used us to shield themselves as they have criticized the government."[158] The company later said it had minimal sales and commercial activity in Russia and had "terminated any customers we have identified as tied to sanctioned entities".[159]
Cloudflare's Project Galileo, launched in 2014, offers DDoS protection to NGOs for free. In 2022, they extended free protection to Ukrainian government and telecoms.[160][161]
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External links
[edit]- Official website
- Business data for Cloudflare, Inc.:
Categories:
- Cloudflare
- 2009 establishments in California
- 2019 initial public offerings
- American companies established in 2009
- Companies based in San Francisco
- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Content delivery networks
- Cloud computing
- DDoS mitigation companies
- Domain name registrars
- Freedom of speech in the United States
- Internet properties established in 2009
- Internet security
- Internet technology companies of the United States
- Networking companies of the United States
- Reverse proxy
- Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Virtual private network services