In this interview, Dan Aitches (the Pentaguru) talks with Enrique Salem, former Symantec CEO and current FireEye executive, about how the cybersecurity landscape has shifted in recent years. Salem highlights a wave of new technologies—cloud computing, mobility, consumerization, and big data—that are spawning novel threats, requiring security solutions that protect users while enabling productivity. He notes the $25 billion size of the security market and points to Cisco’s $2.7 billion acquisition of Sourcefire as evidence of the sector’s growing importance and consolidation. Salem explains why he chose to join FireEye, describing the company as a leader in next‑generation threat protection with a focus on extending security to mobile devices and cloud‑based services. The conversation ends with a forward‑looking note that FireEye’s innovative approach positions it well for future challenges.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Dan Aitches, the Pentaguru, here with Enrique Salem from FireEye. Today, Enrique, let's talk about the industry in general. You're obviously the CEO of Symantec and now FireEye. In the last few years, have you seen the industry change?
Well, I think what you're seeing is that there's a whole new set of technologies coming out. You've got cloud, mobility, consumerization, big data, and all of these things are creating new threats. So what companies have to do is think about how do they enable those technologies so that their users can continue to be protected. Continue to be productive, but do it in a way that they manage the risk and can do it in a way that's safe for everybody.
Absolutely. One of the big stories over the past few days here actually was the acquisition of, or completion of the acquisition of Sourcefire by Cisco. $2.7 billion. That's the size of a security company these days. What does that make you think about the size of a security company, Jen?
I think what it shows is that one, security is very, very important to lots and lots of people, and people are going to spend money in the security market. It's a $25 billion market. And so what Cisco is doing there is saying, we need to have a bigger presence in network security. And they stepped up and said, we're going to make this big investment. Absolutely.
And you must have been FireEye for over a year now? Yeah. How are you finding sort of being back in the industry and working with a company such as this who are very dynamic in the way they're working?
Well, see, the reason I'm here is because I looked at a lot of different companies and said, who's doing something very innovative, something that's going to solve a real problem that customers have today. And there's a lot of good companies out there, but FireEye is one that I really see at the leading edge of next-generation threat protection. And so we're very focused on not only what we're doing today, but what we're going to do on mobile devices, what we're going to do in cloud-based services. And so it's an exciting place to be. So for the future as well, isn't it? Exactly.
Excellent. Watch this space here. I'm Dan Brady. Thanks very much.
