Today Bit9 announced the appointment of Richard A. Clarke, former U.S. cyber security czar, to our company’s board of directors. With increased threats of state-sponsored attacks on government agencies, having security mechanisms in place to prevent Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) is essential to bridge the gap in defending against IT security vulnerabilities. There has been no bigger voice regarding the protection against state-sponsored threats than Richard Clarke. With over 30 years of government service and serving three presidents, he has been a thought leader regarding the future of IT security.
It only seems appropriate that Clarke would join our team. Bit9 is at the forefront in endpoint protection, stopping some of the most advanced attacks recently, including ones that infiltrated Lockheed Martin and others. Our solutions use innovative technology – Application Whitelisting – which is the antithesis of antivirus and gives the user complete control over all software on all endpoints. This prevents the risk associated with malicious, illegal and unauthorized software that can compromise your computer or your company’s network and Intellectual Property. It’s even more important to note that governments are sponsoring these attacks in order to acquire information regarding American companies.
“The difference here is that we are seeing some governments doing industrial espionage and then turning that information over to companies in their country,” Clarke states.
Clarke brings up a valid point regarding how we approach security. Many companies ask too much of their employees — demanding that they maintain a level of paranoia in order to prevent malicious software from being delivered within the employees’ individual email account. As a result it handcuffs the employee from doing what they do best: their job. Bit9 alleviates this paranoia by preventing unauthorized and/or malicious files from running, which frees the employee to do their job and allows everyone to focus on their business objectives.
Within this position, Clarke will join a leading group of thought leaders already present on the Bit9 team, and provide us with even more insight on the future of cyber security. As our company grows, it is important employ the best minds within this important field. Clarke sits on a bedrock of knowledge and experience that will become invaluable to our team and our customers. For more information regarding Clarke’s recent appointment: News Release.
