Blue Coat plucks new Aussie security chief from buyer-land

Security software company Blue Coat has hired Damien Manuel has its chief information security officer.

The role was recently created by Blue Coat to engage with the market and to help raise its “security agenda” in Australia and New Zealand.

“One of the key thing’s we’ve been seeing is that security for businesses is thought of as a tech problem, but it also affects the entire company,” said Manuel. “My role is to peer with industry executives and to help drive more awareness around the importance of security.”

Manuel has worked on both sides of the channel, coming from NAB as its security risk manager. He has also worked with a number of other vendors, including EMC, Telstra and RSA.

“Working with the vendor side is a great opportunity to share what we have learned from the customer side. I’m looking forward to the challenge of getting businesses to understand that security is an industry wide issue.”

Manuel will also lead the security consultant team while based in Blue Coat’s Sydney branch. The company boasts 15,000 customers worldwide, including 78 percent of the Fortune Global 500.