CloudFlare is a content delivery network

Content Delivery Network

A content delivery network or content distribution network is a system of computers containing copies of data placed at various nodes of a network....

 and distributed Domain Name Server service aimed at enhancing website performance and speed and providing security. CloudFlare offers both free and paid services. CloudFlare gained media attention after providing security to LulzSec

LulzSec

Lulz Security, commonly abbreviated as LulzSec, is a computer hacker group that claims responsibility for several high profile attacks, including the compromise of user accounts from Sony Pictures in 2011. The group also claimed responsibility for taking the CIA website offline...

's website. The Turkish government also utilizes CloudFlare technology.

Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn created CloudFlare in 2009. Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway previously worked on Project Honey Pot

Project Honey Pot

Project Honey Pot is a web based honeypot network which uses software embedded in web sites to collect information about IP addresses used when harvesting e-mail addresses for spam or other similar purposes such as bulk mailing and e-mail fraud...

. CloudFlare was launched at September 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

The World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....

(WEF) praised CloudFlare's "innovative algorithms" and its ability to adapt in its "Technology Pioneers 2012" report. The WEF called LulzSec's use of CloudFlare's services "a vote of confidence in CloudFlare's approach."