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Secarma Appoints Ex-military Ethical Hacker as Technical Director

Cybersecurity firm Secarma Ltd has appointed an influential ex-military cybersecurity expert as Technical Director, as it looks to bolster its growing cloud security division.

The board-level role sees Holly Williams heading up the technical development and direction of Secarma’s 40-strong team of penetration testers and senior management.

Williams previously served for five years as a site security officer with the British armed forces, overseeing the installation, maintenance and decommissioning of secure communications systems, including a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan.

Since leaving the military and completing an MSc in Information Security and Privacy, she has worked in penetration testing for six years, supporting clients including global, blue-chip business, SMEs and the public sector. She is CREST certified as a web application specialist.

Backed by technology entrepreneurs Lawrence and Gail Jones, Secarma specialises in penetration testing, cloud security, red teaming and Cyber Essentials certification.

The firm continues to foster a close partnership with British hosting giant UKFast, also owned by Lawrence Jones, addressing the overlapping needs of their respective customer bases.

Williams said: “It’s a hugely exciting time to take up this role at Secarma. We are growing significantly and developing our product portfolio, collaborating with UKFast to support their customers. Criminals don’t clock off at 5pm, so we’re developing services that support our clients around the clock.

“Cloud security is a major focus – especially for businesses operating multi-cloud or hybrid IT architectures. Our specialist penetration testers are experts across the major cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure and eCloud. For organisations adopting a multi-cloud approach it’s an amazing resource to be able to tap into those skillsets and provide a level of assurance over their platform security.”

Williams, who is a regular public speaker and social media commentator, is quickly becoming a recognised figure in a once male-dominated industry. Her recent talk at Infosec Europe on physical intrusions was standing room only.

She added: “Secarma is really strong when it comes to educating the market. We’re out at events helping people understand security whilst engaging with the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. We are always on the lookout for talent.

“Secarma also has a reputation for extensive research and disclosing vulnerabilities to vendors and manufacturers to protect consumers. I want to focus on growing the important work we’ve already done in that space.”

The firm is headquartered at UKFast Campus in Manchester, with satellite teams based in Glasgow and London. Secarma holds a 13.3% stake in Shearwater Group PLC following the completion of a £7.4m deal in April 2019.

Jones said: “Within UKFast, we’re developing our Security Operations Centre, our Threat Monitoring service and our global DDoS protection network, DDoSX. These products sit incredibly well alongside Secarma’s cloud security division. Holly has made an incredible impact since joining Secarma and is perfectly placed to take on this role and help us take the business to new heights.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tim Parker .