Dr. Chase Cunningham, a recipient of Security magazine's Most Influential People in Security, has joined Ericom as its Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, he will shape the company's strategic vision, roadmap and key partnerships. Dr. Cunningham previously served as vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, providing strategic guidance on Zero Trust, artificial intelligence, machine learning and security architecture design for security leaders around the globe.

Dr. Cunningham was initially introduced to Ericom in his role at Forrester, where he covered the company and its Zero Trust-related solutions. Regarding his decision to join Ericom, he commented, "The world changed in 2020 and more strategic solutions to enable a growing remote and dispersed workforce became absolutely essential. As a result, a focused Zero Trust strategy came to be the global standard. I’ve spent years analyzing the evolution in this space, and after seeing Ericom’s current technologies and previewing the ones it will introduce in 2021, I was convinced that this place had a real focus on the future for Zero Trust and it had the team I wanted to work with to continue to drive innovation and help businesses achieve a better Zero Trust end state."

While at Forrester Research, Dr. Cunningham spearheaded and evolved the Forrester Zero Trust certification program, and was the principal architect for the Zero Trust eXtended (ZTX) framework, which helped drive Zero Trust adoption globally. His first-hand knowledge, years of operational experience in the security market, and specific focus on strategic technologies, Zero Trust solutions, and effective security architecture design make Dr. Cunningham uniquely qualified to assist Ericom’s clients and partners to better secure their businesses in a post-Covid, perimeter-less world.

Prior to joining Forrester Research, Dr. Cunningham was the Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Armor, where he designed and managed the cloud security and intelligence engine for their enterprise customers. He is also a retired US Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician, with more than 20 years’ experience in cyberforensic and cyberanalytic operations, including time spent working in security centers within the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other government agencies.

"Chase’s Zero Trust vision and drive have had a major impact on the global cybersecurity market, and his passion, real-world expertise, and candor are valued and appreciated by industry executives and as well as government leaders. We believe that his insights and hands-on security expertise will enable the digital transformation that is crucial to our customers’ secure growth and success," said David Canellos, CEO of Ericom. "His guidance and direction of our strategic programs and technology innovation will help us rapidly deliver more impactful cloud cybersecurity solutions for our customers and partners.”

"I look forward to helping the company accelerate [the] evolution [of Zero Trust] and build out its security portfolio, providing a broader set of capabilities to help secure businesses as they digitally transform in the future," Dr. Cunningham.

In addition to his role at Ericom, Dr. Cunningham will continue to provide insights and perspectives on Zero Trust security on media platforms including Forbes Technology Council, The Analyst Syndicate, and Cybercrime Magazine, in addition to his LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube social media channels. Visit the Ericom blog to read Dr. Cunningham’s article on why he joined Ericom Software, and the hands-on Zero Trust security leadership approach he will be taking going forward.