Lookout pioneered mobile security at a time when most of the industry still thought smartphones weren’t worth protecting. Founded in 2007 in San Francisco by John Hering, Kevin Mahaffey, and James Burgess, the company initially focused on securing mobile devices — detecting malware, phishing attempts, and network threats on phones and tablets. As the threat landscape evolved, Lookout expanded into a full cloud security platform covering mobile threat defense, cloud access security, and data protection.
The company’s Security Service Edge (SSE) platform provides secure access to cloud and private applications while protecting data wherever it goes. Lookout’s mobile threat defense engine, powered by one of the largest mobile security datasets in existence — built from analyzing over 215 million devices and 185 million apps — detects threats that bypass traditional security controls. The platform unifies CASB, zero trust network access, and secure web gateway capabilities with its mobile security heritage.
Lookout has raised over $280 million in funding and serves enterprise customers across government, financial services, healthcare, and technology sectors. The company’s acquisition of CipherCloud in 2021 significantly strengthened its cloud security and data protection capabilities. Lookout’s telemetry from hundreds of millions of mobile endpoints gives it unique visibility into the mobile threat landscape, and its data shows that mobile phishing attacks have been rising steadily year over year. As mobile devices become the primary computing platform for many workers, Lookout’s mobile-first security heritage gives it a genuine edge.
