Las Vegas, October 13–16, 2025 — The first-ever Cloudflare Connect Global event brought together innovators across cloud, security, AI, edge, and developer ecosystems — and Approov was right in the mix. Over four days of keynotes, deep-dive sessions, and community gatherings (yes, including a Gwen Stefani performance!), we came away with fresh insights, stronger partnerships, and a renewed sense of purpose for the year ahead.
Why We Attended
- Partnership & portfolio inclusion: We’re proud that Approov is now included in the Cloudflare Bot Management portfolio, serving as an important complement to Cloudflare’s edge security capabilities. This partnership strengthens the combined defense against malicious automated traffic and enhances protection for mobile APIs and apps.
- Alignment of mission: At Approov, we focus on securing APIs, mobile applications, and ensuring trustworthy communications at scale. Cloudflare’s mission of “connect, protect, and build together” resonated strongly with us.
- Learning & collaboration: The agenda was rich in breakout sessions, workshops, and hands-on labs — the kinds of interactions that spark new thinking.
- Networking & visibility: Being onsite allowed us to meet with cloud developers, security practitioners, infrastructure teams, and other ecosystem partners face to face.
Highlights from Connect 2025
Here is a snapshot of what stood out to us:
Keynote & Opening Session
Cloudflare co-founder & CEO Matthew Prince kicked off the conference, laying out a vision for the “Connectivity Cloud” — how Cloudflare aims to simplify, secure, and accelerate how organizations operate online. Cloudflare’s leadership outlined the evolution toward a Connectivity Cloud, where AI, security, and edge networks converge under a unified, Zero Trust framework.
The session also featured a “Parade of Customers” — from Shopify to Condé Nast — showing real-world use cases, and concluded with a fireside chat between Mark Anderson and Workday’s CEO Carl Eschenbach on scaling in a digital era.
Notable Sessions & Technical Tracks
A few sessions we found especially relevant to what we do at Approov:
- Many tracks focused on app security, bot mitigation, AI / developer tools, platform governance, and network performance.
- Zero Trust in Action: Live sessions demonstrated how Cloudflare Access, Tunnels, and WAAP can combine to secure internal and external applications in under 30 minutes.
- Agentic AI Infrastructure: Cloudflare’s new remote MCP server was unveiled as the foundation for real-time, context-aware agentic systems — a major leap forward for secure AI development at scale.
- Workshops and hands-on labs were especially valuable for getting practical exposure to Cloudflare’s latest tools.
What We Learned & What Matters to Approov
Attending Connect 2025 gave us multiple insights we’ll be bringing back to the team:
- Security & trust are becoming non-negotiables
As APIs and distributed apps scale, malicious bots, abuse, credential stuffing, and fraud attacks are intensifying. Integrating robust runtime attestation (as we do at Approov) becomes even more critical. - Edge, AI, and developer tooling are converging
The trend is clear: compute moves closer to the user, AI workloads run at the edge, and tools are being designed to empower developers. We need to be in that intersection — and that’s where we see opportunities. - Ecosystem and partnerships matter
Cloudflare’s partner programs, integrations, and platform extensions were front and center. We’ll explore deeper alliances, especially where we can embed or complement Cloudflare’s stack. - Real-world case studies guide innovation
Hearing from customers about their pain points — whether around scaling, visibility, or resiliency — reinforces where our roadmap should focus.
Empowering Women in Tech: The Women’s Lunch
One of the most inspiring moments of the event was the Cloudflare Connect Women’s Lunch, hosted by Cloudflare COO and Co-Founder Michelle Zatlyn. The session celebrated the achievements and challenges of women in tech leadership, entrepreneurship, and cybersecurity.
Hearing directly from Zatlyn and other women leaders was a reminder that innovation thrives when diverse voices are heard — and that leadership in tech extends far beyond product, reaching into impact and equity.
Zatlyn’s humanitarian perspective added depth to the week: from protecting digital infrastructure in crisis zones to ensuring equal access to opportunity, Cloudflare’s leadership continues to show that technology can be both powerful and compassionate. Her message resonated deeply: Security is not just a technical mission — it’s a human one.
Looking Ahead
This year marked the first-ever Cloudflare Connect Global event — a milestone that brought together Cloudflare’s worldwide community of partners, developers, and customers.
For Approov, it was a meaningful opportunity to showcase how our solutions enhance Cloudflare’s security ecosystem and to engage with the broader network community shaping the future of the internet.
We’re already looking forward to attending next year’s Cloudflare Connect, where we plan to highlight more joint projects and technical collaborations with Cloudflare. Our goal is to continue deepening our integration and delivering stronger, unified protection for modern mobile and API-driven architectures.
Final Thoughts
Cloudflare Connect 2025 was more than just an industry conference — it was a convergence of ideas, innovation, and humanity. From Zero Trust architectures and agentic AI breakthroughs to Michelle Zatlyn’s humanitarian leadership and Gwen Stefani’s unforgettable performance, it perfectly embodied what the future of tech should look like: secure, inclusive, and inspiring.
For Approov, it reaffirmed our commitment to protecting the integrity of mobile APIs and highlighted how strategic partnerships, like our inclusion in Cloudflare’s Bot Management portfolio, play a key role in achieving that mission.
If you attended Connect 2025, we’d love to hear your insights — or connect to explore how Approov and Cloudflare can strengthen your security stack together.
