IronNet News

IronNet Cybersecurity Appoints Donald Closser as Chief Product Officer

Written by IronNet | Oct 15, 2019 7:17:00 PM

IronNet Cybersecurity, the global leader in Collective Defense and advanced Network Traffic Analysis, adds seasoned cybersecurity product executive to its leadership team

Fulton, MD.  IronNet, Inc. announced today that it has appointed Donald “Don” Closser as Chief Product Officer (CPO) reporting to Co-CEOs Bill Welch and GEN (Ret.) Keith B. Alexander, the former Director of the U.S. National Security Agency and Founding Commander of U.S. Cyber Command.

“Don is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of building world-class products that help customers secure their enterprise,” said Welch. “His addition is an important step in scaling our ability to deliver innovative solutions that empower security teams to work collectively with industry peers to defend against sophisticated threats targeting their sector.”

“IronNet’s mission is to deliver the power of collective cybersecurity to companies, industries, and nations,” said GEN Alexander. “Don’s proven leadership and expertise in leading product and engineering teams will enhance our ability to bring to market products that transform how organizations defend in cyberspace.”

Closser is charged with driving IronNet’s Software-as-a-Service, on-premise, and hybrid product offerings, providing strategic direction on product development, engineering and innovation.

“For too long cybersecurity solutions have focused on defending against threats in isolation,” said Closser. “IronNet’s products and solutions empower security teams to work across supply-chains and industry ecosystems in real-time to detect and respond to threat campaigns targeting the collective. I am excited to join the company to help lead product innovation and direction so that we achieve our vision of bringing collective defense to companies of all sizes.”

Closser joins IronNet from FireMon, where he led global product management and engineering. Prior to FireMon, he led Trend Micro’s TippingPoint Network Security Group, acquired from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he delivered solutions to protect virtual and physical networks, applications and data. Don’s background includes leadership roles at Symantec, experience at Andersen Consulting, BMC Software, RLX Technologies and Texas Instruments.

“Effective cybersecurity solutions need to have the precision to identify anomalous behavior, the speed to respond to malicious activity, and the ability to learn as the adversary adapts to cyber defenses,” said Vice Admiral (Ret.) Jan Tighe, member of IronNet’s Board of Directors. “Don’s long history of bringing industry-defining network security solutions, coupled with IronNet’s team of elite offensive and defensive cybersecurity operators, makes him the right leader to advance the company’s market leadership in delivering proven behavioral and artificial intelligence detection capabilities that defend companies and industries against sophisticated threats.”

“IronNet has been successfully executing its mission to provide network behavioral analysis technology that enables companies to share threat assessment knowledge in real time to achieve defensive economies of scale.  We are delighted to have a product leader of Don’s caliber to help the company maintain industry leadership and drive future growth,” said Ted Schlein, General Partner at Kleiner Perkins and member of IronNet’s Board of Directors.

About IronNet Cybersecurity

Founded in 2014 by GEN (Ret.) Alexander, IronNet, Inc. is a worldwide cybersecurity leader in network traffic analysis that is revolutionizing how enterprises, industries, and governments secure their networks by delivering the first-ever collective defense platform operating at scale. IronNet combines the skills of its cybersecurity operators with their real-world experience working on both offense and defense in the public and private sectors, integrating this deep tradecraft knowledge into its industry-leading products to solve the most challenging cyber problems facing industry today.

Learn more about IronNet at https://ironnet.com or follow us on Twitter at @IronNetCyber.