Jacques Erasmus Appointed CISO at Webroot

The world renowned internet security services company appointed Jacques Erasmus as the organization's chief information security officer, thanks to his research expertise and experience in the industry.

"As a cloud security leader, Webroot knows better than anyone that today's complex risks require businesses to take a proactive, highly focused approach toward protection," revealed Dick Williams, CEO at Webroot, in the press release that followed the event.

"Jacques' deep technical knowledge of enterprise architectures and emerging threat vectors make him the ideal person to oversee these efforts at Webroot; he will be instrumental in assuring the security of our company's information assets and systems, and ensuring compliance across all of our offices worldwide."

Before joining the Webroot team, Erasmus helped South African companies perform penetration tests, also leading incident response activities for organizations worldwide. Sun Microsystems used his knowledge for consultancy on security and backup infrastructures.

Besides being familiar with the company as a leading malware detection expert, his studies in behavior-based threat protection and cloud-based technology systems make him the perfect man for the job.

For his intense efforts, he was rewarded with numerous certifications and titles, including "Young IT Professional of the Year” by the British Computer Society in 2009.

His new task will require him to oversee the data security operations the firm makes, allowing him to get involved in processes such as development, compliance and implementation.

Erasmus is also known to the industry as a hacker that turned to the good side after he got a job testing out the protection implemented by a company when he was 17. This might be one of the reasons why Webroot considered he was the best for the position.

Following the saying “it takes a hacker to stop a hacker,” the security solutions provider wants to make sure they remain competitive in this ever-growing market. The main issue is that while they get stronger, cybercriminals also evolve and a good marketing campaign is almost never enough to put a stop to their operations.