Fortinet appoints former NSA cyber executive Phil Quade as chief information security officer

Fortinet of Sunnyvale, CA announced on January 10 the appointment of Phil Quade as chief information security officer (CISO). Quade will take responsibility for Fortinet’s information security and ensure compliance with the latest global regulations and standards across all systems. He will lead the strategy and expansion of Fortinet’s Federal and Critical Infrastructure business. Additionally, Quade will serve as a strategic consultant to Fortinet’s C-Level enterprise customers to help inform product development and innovation based on evolving cybersecurity requirements. He will report to founder, chairman and CEO, Ken Xie.

Quade brings more than three decades of cybersecurity and networking experience working across foreign, government, critical infrastructure and commercial industry sectors at the National Security Agency (NSA) at the highest levels of the White House and Congress. Prior to Fortinet, Quade was the NSA Director’s special assistant for cyber and chief of the NSA Cyber Task Force with responsibility for the White House relationship in cyber.

Previously, he served as the chief operating officer of the Information Assurance Directorate at the NSA, managing day-to-day operations, strategy, planning, integration, and relationships in cybersecurity. Prior, Quade served as the head of the Information Operations Technology Center’s Advanced Technology Group, as a professional staffer to the U.S. Senate, and at the Office of the Director for National Intelligence. Additional assignments that Quade held at the NSA include computer and network security evaluator, cryptanalyst and policy management.

In his new role as Fortinet’s CISO, Quade will leverage his considerable experience in managing diverse and complex cyber strategies solutions with global intelligence and partnerships to ensure that both Fortinet and its global customers have the most effective, broad security postures.

“Bringing together the right mix of technology, threat intelligence risk management and partnerships to protect global information and assets is my passion. Fortinet’s Security Fabric vision aligns perfectly to what it takes to deliver an end-to-end, intelligent, scalable, and integrated security architecture for today’s digital economy,” said Quade. “I am thrilled to join Fortinet’s leadership team and contribute to its vision, both in leading our internal information security efforts as well as providing strategic guidance and programs to help safeguard our global customers.”

Source: Fortinet