Social SafeGuard Adds Dave DeWalt As Vice Chair, NightDragon Security as Investor
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (PRWEB) April 05, 2018 -- Social SafeGuard, a leading provider of software for digital risk defense, today announced the appointment of renowned cyber security executive Dave DeWalt to Social SafeGuard’s board of directors – serving as vice chair. DeWalt’s advisory and investment firm NightDragon Security has also invested in the company.
DeWalt previously served as chairman and chief executive officer for FireEye, which he took public in 2013, as well as McAfee and Documentum. He has also been an active investor, board member and presidential advisor. DeWalt is founder of NightDragon Security and a managing director at AllegisCyber, a cyber security-focused venture capital firm. He is an investor and board member for several innovative companies, including CallSign, Claroty, DataTribe, Five9, ForeScout, ForgeRock, Illusive Networks, Optiv, Phantom Cyber and Team8. He also serves as the vice chair of Delta Airlines.
“Digital and social media channels have become a major hot spot for cyber activity,” said DeWalt. “There’s currently a massive dislocation between what attackers can do and what defenders can prevent. You have three billion consumers and nearly every enterprise using digital and social channels every day, and that creates significant risk for phishing attacks, false identities, malicious pages, etc. It’s a big vulnerability and a huge problem for companies, all of whom need to protect the integrity of their data, their people and their brands.”
DeWalt said digital and social media security is an emerging hot spot for Chief Information Security Officers, who are aware of the threat but have been busy tackling network, endpoint and email security issues. “CISOs are moving rapidly to understand these are major attack vectors they have to defend. They’re doing red teaming exercises to show how vulnerable they are, and CEOs and risk committees are asking about online threats. Detecting and preventing attacks within your network is not enough. Digital and social are quickly becoming the new front lines for cyber defense.”
Industry analysts have yet to size the market for digital risk defense, but Social SafeGuard founder and CEO Jim Zuffoletti believes it will become a multi-billion dollar market over the next 3-4 years. The FBI’s recent Internet Crime Report says social media attacks quadrupled over five years. Additional data reinforces the prevalence of digital and social risk: 43 percent of people accept friend requests from people they don’t know; 66 percent of online spear phishing attacks are opened by their intended targets; and the typical company encounters 61 fraudulent brand impersonations that damage their digital presence.
Social SafeGuard was founded in 2014 and provides cloud-based software to manage the full life cycle of digital risk defense, so enterprises can detect, analyze and prevent attacks in real time – while automating governance and compliance. The Social SafeGuard platform helps security, risk, compliance and brand leaders protect their company’s presence across more than 50 digital and social channels, including:
• External social platforms (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube);
• Mobile chat platforms (e.g. WhatsApp, WeChat);
• Unified communications platforms (e.g. Skype for Business); and
• Cloud applications (e.g. Salesforce, Veeva, Office365);
• Internal collaboration platforms (e.g. Slack, Yammer, Chatter, IBM Connections);
• News and blog sites (e.g. RSS, Mashable, Reddit); and
• Dark web threats (e.g. bin sites, custom sites, etc.).
“We’re incredibly excited to add Dave as vice chair and NightDragon as a strategic investor,” said Zuffoletti. “Dave is an industry icon for a reason. He has an unparalleled track record in scaling companies, understanding CISO needs, and recognizing gaps in the cyber security market. I cannot think of a more accomplished executive to advise Social SafeGuard as we grow quickly to meet customer needs and market demand.”
Social SafeGuard and co-founders Zuffoletti and Otavio Freire (CTO) will be at the RSA Conference later this month (booth 124). For more information on digital risk defense, including perspective on the Facebook privacy breach, please follow the Social SafeGuard blog and/or download the company’s white paper on social media security: http://www.socialsafeguard.com/achieve-social-media-security-now.
About Social SafeGuard
Social SafeGuard delivers software to manage the full life cycle of digital risk defense, so enterprises can detect, analyze and prevent attacks in real time – while automating governance and compliance. Customers and partners include Johnson & Johnson, Sun Life Financial, McAfee and other leading brands across 18 industries and 20 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.SocialSafeGuard.com.
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Press Contacts:
Tim Marklein
Big Valley Marketing
[email protected]
+1 415-999-2006
Tim Marklein, Social Safeguard, http://www.socialsafeguard.com, +1 415 999 2006, [email protected]
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