FireHost, a Dallas-based cloud hosting provider that has made security the focus of its offerings, announced on Tuesday that it has appointed retired U.S. Army Col. Jeff Schilling as the company’s new chief security officer (CSO).
Prior to joining FireHost, Schilling was the Director of the Global Incident Response practice for Dell SecureWorks where his team supported customers with incident response planning, capabilities development, digital forensics investigations, and active incident management.
Schilling is the former director of the U.S. Army’s Global Network Operations and Security Center under the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command. He oversaw security operations and incident response for more than 1 million computer systems on 350 wide-area networks supporting U.S. Army units in more than 2,500 locations worldwide.
During his 24-year military career, Schilling served as director of the Department of Defense’s global security operations center with Joint Task Force Global Network Operations, where he managed security operations and incident response for more than 4 million computer systems.
Schilling will oversee FireHost’s security operations and work closely with product development to ensure the company’s infrastructure services maintain their cutting edge in protecting customers’ applications, data, and operations, the company said.
In addition to announcing the appointment of Schilling, the company said it that it has hired Jim Hilbert as senior vice president of global sales. Hilbert will oversee FireHost’s global sales, partnering, and business development. Hilbert has led sales and revenue growth at a number of technology companies, such as Amdahl, Tivoli, IBM, SupportSoft, Asera, EMC, Appian, Cloud Harbor, and most recently, Rackspace.
In March 2014, the company announced that Jim Lewandowski would take over as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, replacing founder and former CEO Chris Drake who has taken on the role of chief technology officer (CTO).
“Unlike traditional IaaS providers, FireHost is a security company first,” Lewandowski said in a statement. “Bringing top-notch talent like Jeff and Jim to FireHost strengthens our ability to protect our customers with the industry’s finest security professionals. We are raising the security standard for what businesses should demand from their cloud provider. And we are doing this because customers increasingly understand it is unacceptable to settle for services that pass compliance audits but do not deliver the pieces necessary for secure cloud computing.”
“At FireHost, we complement this secure, high-performing infrastructure with high-caliber security operations, and our customers benefit greatly,” Schilling said. “By providing security operation centers and security professionals with corporate and military backgrounds, we are rewriting the formula for how a cloud provider should operate. Simply put, we represent what the cloud provider of the future will look like, and it is much more secure than any traditional, commodity cloud provider existing today.”
In April, FireHost announced a $25 million Series E funding round led by its longtime investor, The Stephens Group, a family-owned private equity firm based in Little Rock, Arkansas. In June 2013, FireHost raised $12 million in a Series D funding round, roughly nine months after the company announced that it had raised $10 million.
The company says that it has doubled its revenue each of the past three years.
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Managing Editor, SecurityWeek.Previous Columns by Mike Lennon:Cloud Hosting Firm FireHost Names New CSODistil Networks Raises $10 Million to Battle Malicious BotsSilent Circle Raises $30 Million, Moves HQ to SwitzerlandCheck Point Launches Threat Intelligence StoreGoogle Acquires Mobility Management Firm Divide
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