i2Coalition Member Spotlight: Blackwall

Bots make up half of all web traffic—sometimes even more depending on the website specifics—and the majority of those bots are useless or malicious. So we’re very happy to know the nice folks at Blackwall. GateKeeper, Blackwall’s flagship tool, keeps a wide range of cyber threats at bay—including L7 DDoS attacks, brute-force attempts, and automated bot traffic—so that only legitimate requests reach your application layer. We caught up with Blackwall CEO Nik Rozenberg to discuss AI, the threat landscape, and egalitarian cybersecurity.

i2Coalition: Can you give us the elevator pitch for Blackwall?
Nik Rozenberg: Blackwall is a security and web infrastructure company that provides AI-enabled web traffic management solutions by partnering with hosting service providers, managed service providers and eCommerce platforms, who typically host anywhere from dozens to hundreds of thousands of websites.

i2Coalition: At the time of this conversation, you just rebranded from Botguard to Blackwall. Can you tell us about the idea behind the change?
NR: We’re stepping up our mission: bringing top-tier infrastructure protection to the small and mid-sized businesses that have long been underserved. That means going beyond just bot mitigation, expanding our reach globally and pushing innovation even further to support the businesses that need it most.

i2Coalition: All eyes are on artificial intelligence these days, but handling AI-based attacks is at the core of your company’s ethos. What are your insights on how the good guys’ toolsets are evolving as the bad guys get craftier with malicious AI?
NR: AI-powered attacks are slowly becoming —and will continue to become—smarter, faster, and harder to detect and eliminate. That’s exactly why we designed GateKeeper to stay ahead by identifying patterns and blocking threats in real-time, even as they evolve. 

But this isn’t just about automation; it’s about control. Blackwall gives its partners a security engine they can deploy directly into their infrastructure, with the tools to fine-tune protection as threats shift, as well as adaptability—that is, helping the engineers who operate web hosting stay one step ahead by focusing on their specific needs and challenges.

i2Coalition: Besides your tech stack, you also innovate on the commercial side in terms of partnerships. How does that work for your SMB customers?
NR: We’ve built our go-to-market around partnerships with service and hosting providers, who use Gatekeeper to deliver top-tier security directly to millions of SMBs themselves. This model lets us scale without compromising on quality, making infrastructure protection accessible to businesses that typically get overlooked. 

What makes it work is the flexibility: providers can integrate GateKeeper however it suits them, choosing how to package and price it, and offer it as either built-in features or premium upgrades. It’s all about giving them control—while their customers get real protection, without the enterprise price tag.

i2Coalition: Why did your team find it important to join the i2Coalition?
NR: We joined the i2Coalition because we believe in the power of collaboration to support and strengthen the Internet infrastructure community. The challenges facing the open and secure Internet are too important for any one company to tackle alone. By partnering with i2Coalition, we’re aligning with others who share our values — working together to ensure the Internet remains trusted and resilient for everyone.