Owl Cyber Defense
Owl Cyber Defense builds purpose-built, made-in-the-USA hardware data diodes and Cross Domain Solutions that enforce secure one-way and policy-controlled data transfer. It serves U.S. defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure customers — including 90%+ of U.S. nuclear power plants — with certified, FPGA-based boundary security products.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersColumbia, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Owl Cyber Defense does
Owl Cyber Defense Solutions, LLC is a U.S.-based, privately held cybersecurity company that designs and manufactures purpose-built, made-in-the-USA hardware data diodes and Cross Domain Solutions (CDS) for high-assurance network environments. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with additional offices in Danbury, CT; Morrisville, NC; and Abu Dhabi, UAE, Owl was the first company to commercialize data diode technology and has accumulated 25+ years of FPGA-based protocol filtering development. Its product portfolio splits into two lines: data diodes (Owl Talon One, Talon Torrent, Incident Response Diode, XD Verge) that enforce one-way hardware data transfer up to 100 Gbps with sub-2ms latency, and CDS products (XD Vision, V2CDS, XD Bridge ST, XD Guardian XML, XD Chat, XD Tyton, XD Air, IXD Tera) that enable secure bidirectional and policy-controlled transfer between networks of differing classification. Owl's products are certified to NCDSMO Baseline, Common Criteria EAL4+, Raise the Bar, ISO 9001:2015, AS9100D, and NATO approval, and are sold through enterprise field sales supplemented by channel and rugged-platform partners (Curtiss-Wright, PacStar, Trenton Systems, Dell Technologies).
Owl's primary customers are the U.S. Department of Defense (all major branches), the U.S. Intelligence Community, and commercial critical infrastructure operators — including 90%+ of U.S. nuclear power plants, 30+ power and water utilities, and hundreds of oil and gas operators globally — with secondary financial-services deployments around secure data vaults. The company operates a vertical-segmentation GTM with an enterprise field-sales motion in which solution architects scope configurations before quote; pricing is quote-based with no self-serve or e-commerce option, and contracts tend to be multi-year. Revenue streams consist of one-time hardware appliance sales, recurring software modules and bandwidth licensing, and professional services (systems hardening, accreditation assistance, installation, training). The Big Bad Wolf Security acquisition in August 2023 extended Owl's focus into cloud boundary security, and subsequent product launches (XD Tyton, IRD) and strategic partnerships (Foxguard, Trihedral/VTScada) indicate continued expansion of adjacent product and vertical surfaces on top of the legacy hardware franchise.
Owl Cyber Defense firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Owl Cyber Defense
- Legal name
- Owl Cyber Defense Solutions, LLC
- Website
- https://owlcyberdefense.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Owl Cyber Defense builds purpose-built, made-in-the-USA hardware data diodes and Cross Domain Solutions that enforce secure one-way and policy-controlled data transfer. It serves U.S. defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure customers — including 90%+ of U.S. nuclear power plants — with certified, FPGA-based boundary security products.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Owl Cyber Defense industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cross Domain Solutions
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Security Systems Services (56162)
- SIC
- Computer Communications Equipment (3576), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Secure Industrial Gateways, Data Diodes & Unidirectional Security (HDADAJAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Confidential Computing & Hardware-backed Protection (TEE/HSM) (HDADAFAJ), DNS Security & Protective DNS (HDADABAF)
Keywords
Where Owl Cyber Defense is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Columbia
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Owl Cyber Defense business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Hardware Appliances: Sale of purpose-built data diode and cross domain solution hardware appliances including rack-mounted, DIN-rail, and rugged form factors. Products include Owl Talon, Owl IRD, XD Vision, V2CDS, XD Bridge ST, XD Tyton, IXD Tera, XD Air, and XD Chat.
- Professional Services: Systems hardening, architecture assessments, custom data filtering, accreditation assistance, installation services, and product training. Offered through Solutions Engineering team with cleared engineers supporting classified environments.
- Software Modules and Upgrades: Software modules, protocol adapters, and product updates for existing hardware platforms. Variable bandwidth licensing available.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Enterprise hardware appliances with custom configuration |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Owl Cyber Defense product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Owl Cyber Defense designs, manufactures, and sells hardware-enforced data diode and Cross Domain Solution (CDS) appliances for high-assurance network security. Its portfolio includes one-way data transfer diodes (Owl Talon One, Talon Torrent, IRD, XD Verge) and cross-domain solutions (XD Vision, V2CDS, XD Bridge ST, XD Guardian XML, XD Chat, XD Tyton, XD Air, IXD Tera) that enforce deterministic, policy-approved data flows between networks of differing classification or trust levels for defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure customers.
Product overview
Owl Cyber Defense is a pure-play cybersecurity company offering purpose-built, made-in-the-USA data diode and cross-domain solutions. The portfolio comprises two core product lines: Data Diodes (Owl Talon One, Owl Talon Torrent, Owl Incident Response Diode, XD Verge) providing hardware-enforced one-way data transfer with protocol filtering up to 100 Gbps; and Cross-Domain Solutions (XD Vision, V2CDS, XD Bridge ST, XD Guardian XML, XD Chat, XD Tyton, XD Air, IXD Tera) enabling secure bidirectional and policy-controlled data transfer between networks of differing security classifications. The company serves government/defense, intelligence community, and commercial critical infrastructure (oil & gas, power/utilities, water/wastewater) markets with both standard and ruggedized product form factors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Owl Talon One Single PCIe-based protocol filtering diode delivering up to 1 Gbps of hardware-enforced one-way transfer with FPGA-based protocol filtering. Available in 1U rackmount, DIN-Rail, and bidirectional configurations for defense and critical infrastructure applications.
- Owl Talon Torrent High-speed protocol filtering diode platform scaling to 100 Gbps, combining FPGA-based protocol filtering with hardware-enforced one-way transfer for backbone links and high-throughput mission data transfer.
- Owl Incident Response Diode (IRD) Pocket-sized protocol filtering diode for incident response and forensics teams, providing hardware-enforced one-way USB transfer with FPGA-based protocol filtering for secure evidence collection from compromised endpoints to trusted analysis environments. Reduces reinfection risk and preserves forensic integrity.
- XD Verge DIN-Rail form factor data diode designed for space-constrained and extreme environment installations in industrial and tactical deployments.
- XD Vision Multi-domain cross-domain solution for secure real-time collaboration streaming HD voice, VTC, FMV, and XML data across 2 to 20+ networks of varying classification levels with scalable expansion.
- V2CDS Real-time cross-domain solution delivering secure VoIP, VTC, FMV, and structured data across network security boundaries. Supports rugged point-to-point and multi-party calls, reducing covert channels while preserving joint and coalition collaboration.
- XD Bridge ST High-performance cross-domain solution for high-speed streaming of structured and fixed-format data with hardware-enforced separation using U.S. Government-approved data diode and low-latency mission-speed transfer.
- XD Guardian XML Dual-guard, quad-diode exportable cross-domain appliance supporting hardware-enforced unidirectional and bidirectional transfer modes for fast, secure data transfer between systems of differing security levels internationally. Holds MDA FMS Baseline Certification and NSA/CC hardware-enforced diode certification.
- XD Chat Secure cross-domain text chat collaboration solution enabling real-time text communication between operators on classified and unclassified networks with XMPP-native interoperability and policy-enforced Raise the Bar-aligned controls. Interoperates with Cisco Jabber and Openfire.
- XD Tyton First secure gateway enabling iPhone and iPad (iOS/iPadOS) operation within classified air-gapped networks. Built to meet U.S. Government's Raise the Bar and CSfC requirements with MDM integration for secure OTA updates.
- XD Air Removable media security device for scanning and transfer of classified data using portable media. Provides Known Good, Known Bad, and Known Source protection methods with deep content inspection for MS Office and PDF files.
- IXD Tera Industrial cross-domain solution for critical infrastructure providing high-availability hardware-enforced data transfer with simultaneous one-way and bidirectional communications, supporting multiple industrial protocols including OPC DA/A&E, OPC UA, REST, Oracle TNS, and Syslog. Integrates with OSIsoft PI System.
- Rugged Cross Domain Solutions RTB-compliant cross-domain data transfer solutions deployable on validated rugged hardware platforms (VPX, Micro-Server, Rack-Mounted) from Curtiss-Wright, PacStar, Trenton Systems, KLAS Enterprises, and Voyager Systems for mobile, airborne, shipboard, and forward-deployed tactical environments.
- Owl Support Services 24x7x365 technical support, product training, solutions engineering, accreditation process assistance, and professional services for Owl data diode and cross-domain deployments.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 100 Gbps one-way data transfer with sub-2ms latency
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Owl Cyber Defense
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Owl Cyber Defense technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability7 records
Feature8 records
Owl Cyber Defense partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Trihedral EngineeringcoreTechnology integration enabling secure transfer of operational data from OT environments to IT systems using VTScada and Owl's data diodes. Solution deployed at U.S. cities including Houston and Nashville in water and wastewater facilities. Designed to eliminate cyber risks associated with data transfer while enabling critical infrastructure data mobility.
- FoxguardcoreStrategic partnership to enhance cybersecurity for the North American electrical grid. Combines Owl's one-way data transfer technology with Foxguard's OT security and patch management solutions. Delivers tested reference architectures enabling utilities to safely connect OT and IT systems without exposing critical infrastructure to external threats. Addresses compliance with NERC CIP and IEC 62443 cybersecurity standards.
- Dell TechnologiescorePartnership to provide hardware-enforced cybersecurity for Dell Cyber Recovery data vault. Owl data diodes enable secure monitoring, remote access, software updates, and time synchronization (NTP) for air-gapped vault architecture. Supports secure one-way transfers without introducing new threats to isolated vault environments.
- Curtiss-WrightcoreValidated rugged platform partner for VPX-based tactical deployments. Curtiss-Wright CHAMP-XD3 3U VPX platform certified for use with Owl Rugged Cross Domain Solutions for aircraft, vehicles, ships, and unmanned platforms.
- PacStar (Curtiss-Wright)coreValidated micro-server platform partner. PacStar 451, 453, and 454 systems certified for Owl Rugged Cross Domain Solutions. Ideal for vehicles, transit cases, and tactical kits where SWaP is critical.
- Trenton SystemscoreValidated rack-mounted server platform partner. Trenton Systems Dual-Node Server certified for Owl Rugged CDS deployments in shelters, shipboard spaces, and fixed command posts.
- Big Bad Wolf SecurityminorAcquisition announced August 2023. Maryland-based cloud infrastructure security company acquired to enhance cybersecurity capabilities. Expands Owl's focus on domain boundary security and next-generation cloud solutions.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Owl Cyber Defense competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Saab: Saab's defense and cyber business delivers secure communication, situational awareness, and cross-domain capabilities for NATO and allied militaries, overlapping with Owl's tactical rugged CDS and coalition data-sharing use cases.
- General Dynamics Mission Systems: General Dynamics Mission Systems delivers cyber, secure networking, and cross-domain products for DoD and federal agencies, competing with Owl at the system-integration layer for high-assurance classified network solutions.
- Raytheon (RTX): RTX/Raytheon competes across the defense cyber portfolio, including cross-domain and secure information-sharing products, and is also a former employer of multiple Owl executives — making it both a competitor and a feeder network.
- BAE Systems: BAE Systems' Intelligence & Security segment offers cross-domain and secure information-sharing solutions for DoD and the intelligence community, making it a broader incumbent competitor with overlapping CDS and data diode product lines.
Direct peers
- Forcepoint: Forcepoint's cross-domain solution portfolio (formerly Raytheon|Websense, now backed by Francisco Partners) directly competes with Owl's CDS line for DoD, intelligence community, and federal customers, including high-assurance data transfer and classified network access.
- Advenica: Swedish-headquartered Advenica provides certified high-assurance data diodes and cross-domain solutions approved by EU and NATO defense customers, competing with Owl's XD Guardian XML and Owl Talon in European and allied defense markets.
- Waterfall Security Solutions: Waterfall is the most direct data diode competitor to Owl, offering hardware-enforced unidirectional gateways for industrial control, critical infrastructure, and government OT/IT separation — overlapping heavily with Owl's Talon and IXD Tera products.
Emerging players
- Sasa Software: Sasa Software specializes in data diodes, removable media security, and content inspection for air-gapped networks — directly comparable to Owl's XD Air and Talon products, primarily serving defense and government customers outside the U.S.
- OPSWAT: OPSWAT provides removable media security, data sanitization, and content inspection for OT/IT and critical infrastructure environments, competing most directly with Owl's XD Air product family in cross-domain file transfer.
Others
- Tenable (Industrial Security): Tenable's OT Security (formerly Indegy) and Nessus offerings compete in the broader OT/ICS security stack alongside Owl, addressing the same critical infrastructure customers with adjacent — rather than overlapping — vulnerability management and asset visibility capabilities.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Owl Cyber Defense social profiles
Digital presenceOwl Cyber Defense compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance11 records
Owl Cyber Defense financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Owl Cyber Defense leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Owl Cyber Defense subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Owl Cyber Defense funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Owl Cyber Defense M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A3 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Owl Cyber Defense
What does Owl Cyber Defense do?
Owl Cyber Defense designs, manufactures, and sells hardware-enforced data diode and Cross Domain Solution (CDS) appliances for high-assurance network security. Its portfolio includes one-way data transfer diodes (Owl Talon One, Talon Torrent, IRD, XD Verge) and cross-domain solutions (XD Vision, V2CDS, XD Bridge ST, XD Guardian XML, XD Chat, XD Tyton, XD Air, IXD Tera) that enforce deterministic, policy-approved data flows between networks of differing classification or trust levels for defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure customers.
Is Owl Cyber Defense a public or private company?
Owl Cyber Defense is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Owl Cyber Defense founded?
Owl Cyber Defense was founded in 1999. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Owl Cyber Defense based?
Owl Cyber Defense is headquartered in Columbia, United States, in the North America region.
How does Owl Cyber Defense make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Hardware Appliances are the primary driver. The others are professional Services and software Modules and Upgrades.
Who are Owl Cyber Defense's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Saab, General Dynamics Mission Systems, Raytheon (RTX) and BAE Systems. Direct peers are Forcepoint, Advenica and Waterfall Security Solutions. Emerging players are Sasa Software and OPSWAT. Tenable (Industrial Security) is listed as an others.
Does Owl Cyber Defense have an API?
No public API is recorded for Owl Cyber Defense.
What industry is Owl Cyber Defense in?
Owl Cyber Defense's product category is Cross Domain Solutions. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADAJAM, Secure Industrial Gateways, Data Diodes & Unidirectional Security, with a secondary code of HDADAFAJ, Confidential Computing & Hardware-backed Protection (TEE/HSM). Its NAICS code is 5415 and its SIC code is 3576.