LONDON, Feb. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SoftIron Ltd.,
the leader in purpose-built and performance-optimized data center
appliances, announces the appointment of Mark Chen to the role of Chief Security Officer.
An original co-founder of the company, Mark previously served as
the company's Chief Scientist before a professional sabbatical, and
returns to lead the company's unique secure provenance strategy,
aimed at reinforcing the company's security against root-level
hardware and software compromises by both foreign and domestic
actors.
The appointment of Chen to Chief Security Officer reinforces
SoftIron's commitment to providing "clear box" solutions to
customers using its superior, task-specific hardware, which
currently includes storage and transcoding. Chen has been active in
information security and engineering for more than twenty years,
with an extensive background in cryptology, e-commerce, network
security, application development, and embedded systems. He will
work to enhance security in the engineering, manufacturing and
auditing of SoftIron's products, which are designed, developed and
assembled in California.
Chen was formerly a senior engineer and security architect for
Intuit, where he designed and built the security system for the
world's first online retail banking system, and was responsible for
conducting scalability, performance optimization, and failure-mode
analysis on the system's high-volume cryptographic servers. Chen
enters the role of Chief Security Officer with a clear vision to
boost SoftIron's secure provenance strategy, bringing auditable
transparency to every aspect of SoftIron's hardware and software
products and ensuring the integrity of critical systems and data.
This mission is taking on elevated importance as governments and
other organizations roll out mission-critical Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Edge Computing deployments and are looking
for new strategies to secure supply chains for technology and
communications networks. (News note: On February 10, 2020, The National
Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) unveiled a new
National Counterintelligence Strategy for the US, addressing
modern-day threats, including "adversaries attempting to access
national supply chains at multiple points by inserting malware into
important information technology networks and communications
systems.")
"As computing systems become increasingly intertwined with the
fabric of society, so too do root-level threats that can be used to
exploit a range of critical assets such as sensitive
communications, election results, and intellectual property.
Developing strategic countermeasures against these threats is a
priority across government and industry, but it has to start from a
secure foundation: the very hardware and software we use to run
these systems. That's where we come in," said Phil Straw, CEO of SoftIron.
"Our customers can take great confidence in the appointment of a
legendary talent like Mark Chen
returning to SoftIron to steer the organization across all aspects
of security. Mark has been a pioneer in providing security in the
digital age, having worked with companies like Intuit, VeriSign,
RSA, Netscape, Certicom and more. We are proud to have him
returning as part of our core leadership team and look forward to
leveraging his considerable talent as our security chief."
"Protecting our critical technology base against a growing and
diverse array of adversaries becomes ever more important as
society's reliance on technology increases," said Mark Chen. "The industry's constant drive to
minimize production and material costs through outsourcing has
created a situation where complex supply chains with opaque,
multi-tier relationships are the norm. This environment offers deep
shadows in which spies and hackers can thrive and invites
root-level exploits in both hardware and software. A
compromised technology base, in turn, threatens industries such as
energy, financial services, health care, and government. As I
return to SoftIron as CSO, I am resolved to help drive our approach
to secure provenance and to lead the industry in a new direction
where root-level security becomes a planned priority, not a
reaction to events that have already threatened lives and
fortunes."
For more information on SoftIron's approach to security, visit
http://bit.ly/SoftIronSecureProvenance
About SoftIron®
SoftIron is the world-leader in purpose-built,
performance-optimized, storage solutions from the data center to
the edge. The company's HyperDrive® software-defined storage
portfolio is built on Ceph; it's custom-designed and purpose-built
for scale-out enterprise storage and runs at wire speed. HyperCast™
delivers the best density and value for real-time video streaming.
SoftIron unlocks greater business value for enterprises by
delivering great products without software and hardware
lock-in.
Photo -
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