Amit Yoran will take the helm at the fast-growing Columbia cybersecurity company Jan. 3. He replaces Tenable co-founder and CEO Ron Gula, who announced in June he was stepping down after 14 years.
Yoran joins Tenable as the company looks to grow and expand internationally after securing a $230 million capital investment in late 2015.
"When we started Tenable, our goal was to build the best vulnerability management solution on the planet, and we're confident that Amit is the right choice to lead us on the next phase of our journey," said Renaud Deraison, also a Tenable co-founder and its chief technology officer, in a statement.
Deraison and Tenable's third co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Huffard, jointly led the company during the search for Gula's successor.
Yoran most recently worked as president of RSA, a cybersecurity company that came under Dell Technologies' umbrella when Dell acquired RSA's parent company, EMC Corp., in September.
An entrepreneur, Yoran sold his own company, NetWitness, to EMC in 2011. Another company he founded, Riptech, was acquired by Symantec in 2002.
Yoran also previously worked as the founding director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, an initiative of the Department of Homeland Security.
Tenable specializes in software that continuously monitors large data networks for vulnerabilities and threats. The company counts among its clients such major brands as MasterCard, BMW, Adidas and Microsoft.
Tenable's 2015 Series B fundraising round was initially announced at $250 million but later closed at $230 million, making it one of the largest among cyber companies. After the investment, Tenable launched a multiyear expansion plan that called for hiring hundreds of workers and a push into international markets. The company currently employs 800 people.
The company announced in October its first acquisition, FlawCheck, a small San Francisco firm intended to expand Tenable's security software offerings.
Yoran was attracted to Tenable because of the position the company is in to address some of the most up-and-coming security challenges, he said. Threats are becoming more sophisticated and target a broader range of companies. At the same time, CEOs and corporate governing boards — not just the companies' security officers — are taking greater interest in finding ways to protect their proprietary information.
With revenue above $100 million, thousands of customers, mature technology and a trusted brand in security circles, Tenable is "in the very small category of security companies which have already achieved scale," Yoran said.
"I think Tenable is uniquely positioned to help organizations understand their level of vulnerability, their level of exposure, their level of risk," Yoran said.
©2016 The Baltimore Sun Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
