Blue Coat Announces Hugh Thompson as Senior VP and Chief Security Strategist

Blue Coat Systems has named Dr. Hugh Thompson as senior vice president and chief security strategist.  In his new role, he will focus on aligning Blue Coat’s vision and product implementation to market requirements.  Dr. Thompson will report to President and Chief Operating Officer David Murphy.

“With increasing employee mobility and growing adoption of cloud applications, the secure network perimeter is disappearing, driving a fundamental shift in the industry that is forcing CISOs and other IT security leaders to rethink how they protect their users and sensitive corporate data,” said Dr. Thompson.  “Blue Coat has always been an innovator in security, and I believe it is uniquely positioned to deliver the technological advances that will allow businesses to maintain security while embracing the rapid changes in the way we work and live.”

Dr. Thompson is a leading force in the information security industry.  In addition to delivering keynotes at some of the security industry’s largest events, he is a prolific writer and commentator on IT security.  He also sits on the Editorial Board of IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine.

“Dr. Thompson is a valuable addition to our world-class executive team who has deep insight into the security challenges businesses face today,” said Greg Clark, Chief Executive Officer at Blue Coat Systems.  “The combination of his external perspective on the industry and our deep bench of engineering talent positions the company to successfully address the evolving security and networking requirements of businesses worldwide.”

Blue Coat Unified Security solutions combine Global Threat Protection, Universal Policy and Unified Reporting to consistently secure users as they move across networks and devices.  Blue Coat is the market leader in web security.  Eighty-five percent of FORTUNE Global 500 companies rely on Blue Coat to secure their users and look to the company for continued innovation in web security. 

Dr. Thompson holds a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Florida Institute of Technology.  For the past four years he has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where he teaches a graduate course that explores cutting edge techniques for secure software development and software vulnerability exploitation.