"There Are No European Cybersecurity Vendors." Wrong
The article rebuts the claim that no European cybersecurity vendors exist, highlighting numerous European companies such as Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and others that compete globally. It argues that while Europe may lack a dominant player matching US giants, its cybersecurity ecosystem is vibrant and innovative, with many firms succeeding in specialized areas.
Background
- The article pushes back on a common Silicon Valley talking point: that Europe lacks "real" cybersecurity companies. The author argues this claim reflects US-centric bias and ignorance, not reality.
- Key European vendors cited include Avast (Czechia, sold to NortonLifeLock in a $8B deal), Bitdefender (Romania), Kaspersky (Russia, now restricted in the US), ESET (Slovakia), and SaaS-centric firms like Wiz (Israel) and SentinelOne (Israel-founded).
- The "no European vendors" line is often used to justify US dominance in security procurement (NATO, governments, big enterprises) and to steer funding toward American startups.
- The debate connects to deeper tensions: EU tech sovereignty push (GDPR, Gaia-X, the EU Cyber Solidarity Act) vs. the reality that most threat intel, cloud security, and zero-day discovery flows through US companies.
- European cybersecurity faces structural disadvantages: fragmented markets, less VC capital, stricter privacy laws that limit telemetry/data collection, and weaker incentives to build "US-style" scaled platform companies.