IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SecureAuth, the secure identity company, has announced the appointment of Bil Harmer as chief information security officer and chief evangelist. Harmer joins the executive team to “bring trust back to a zero-trust world” and support the rapid growth of the company.
Harmer brings more than 30 years of experience in leading security initiatives for startups, government and established financial institutions. He is recognized for creating a trusted security audit methodology used by the SaaS industry through the introduction of the SOC2 in 2011. Harmer joins SecureAuth after having served as CISO-Americas at Zscaler. Previous executive roles include CSO at GoodData and vice president of security and global privacy officer for the cloud division of SAP.
Martin Savitt, SecureAuth’s CEO, asked Harmer to join him shortly after assuming the company’s leadership role. Harmer didn’t hesitate to accept, because he had been fascinated by the concept of identity long before the prospect of joining SecureAuth.
“When Martin told me SecureAuth’s primary focus was identity, that sold me, because I believe identity represents the core future of enterprise cybersecurity,” Harmer said. “Martin and I share the same vision: to solidify SecureAuth’s reputation as the industry leader in the identity space.”
Harmer joins the company with the primary goal of providing smart, agile, seamless authentication management methods for enterprises burdened by complicated environments. Additionally, SecureAuth’s solutions will ultimately remove the “incredibly unfair and widespread” assumption that users – not the systems they work in – represent the weakest link in the security chain.
“We’re in this zero-trust world in which the primary message to users is to trust nothing. But that’s not conducive to managing a productive workforce,” Harmer said. “I see SecureAuth as being the company that can bring trust back to a zero-trust world. We want enterprises to view us as a truly trusted partner. Fortunately, many already do.”
According to Gartner’s 2019 Worldwide Security Spending Projection, worldwide spending on IT security reached approximately $125 billion in 2019, “yet we saw a record number of breaches last year and probably will again this year,” Harmer said. “The greatest challenge faced in this industry is all of the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) we’ve been using to sell products and solutions. Selling something for the sake of making quota is not my job.”
Savitt said Harmer’s vision, philosophy, experience and approach make him the obvious choice to fill the dual role at SecureAuth. “We are thrilled to add a progressive cloud leader with a mindset to drive customer transformation on our team,” Savitt said. “Identity is now the tip of the spear in the war on cyberattacks. Bil’s extensive experience and proven abilities in security, privacy and data protection, and his impressive track record in developing security programs that support both his company and his customers, will be invaluable to SecureAuth as we move forward. Secure access for all identities is not optional – it's a requirement for all organizations. Bil will play a major role in guiding our customers into the future built around an identity-centric security program.”
About SecureAuth
SecureAuth provides the most advanced identity security solution for large organizations globally enabling secure access to systems, applications, and data. Our customers leverage the flexible, enterprise-grade SecureAuth Identity Platform coupled with the SecureAuth Intelligent Identity Cloud service to deliver the most secure, frictionless user experience for their customers, partners and employees, everywhere, exponentially reducing the threat surface, enabling user adoption and meeting business demands. With over 600 customers globally deployed in the cloud, on-premise or hybrid, SecureAuth offers the most flexible deployment options and is recognized as the industry’s most secure identity platform in the market.
To learn more, visit www.secureauth.com, or connect with us at info@secureauth.com, Twitter, and LinkedIn. SecureAuth is a registered trademark in the United States and/or other countries.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93987d50-2abf-4379-9fa8-a33a2ec62c69