On October 16, 2011, CloudFlare was named the Most Innovative Network & Internet Technology Company of 2011 by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The WSJ received over 600 entries from companies in 31 countries. CloudFlare is a San Francisco-based company that provides services to secure and enhance website performance. It operates between a website's hosting service and a visitor's computer, routing traffic through its global network of data centers. Its security features detect threats such as excessive spam, malicious bots, and denial-of-service attacks. Despite the added layer of protection, CloudFlare's developers optimized their systems to ensure that most pages load up to 40% faster. The company received praise from hacker group LulzSec after successfully protecting a website against numerous attacks.