Cloud Security Startup Orca Sues Biggest Competitor, Wiz, for Patent Infringement

Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned into a legal battle. Orca Security, which became known for spotting glaring security flaws in Microsoft software, on Wednesday sued its biggest competitor, Wiz, alleging it illegally copied patented software that monitors data stored on cloud servers.

Orca’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Delaware, claims that Wiz “was birthed from the very beginning as a counterfeit copy of Orca’s ideas.” It claims that Orca founder Avi Shua invented cloud monitoring software and says Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and his co-founders intentionally copied Orca’s product when they started their company in 2020, a year after Orca’s founding. Rappaport and his co-founders left Microsoft’s security business to found Wiz.