Pioneering healthcare IoT and medical device cybersecurity specialist, Cylera, has appointed a new Chief Operating Officer, Geyer Jones, as the firm looks to build on its success in the UK and U.S. healthcare sectors.
Last year, in the UK, an attack against the National Health Services’ key patient telephone service, NHS 111, led to major disruption to patient care services such as ambulance dispatch, out-of-hours appointments and emergency prescriptions. In the U.S., 2022 saw in excess of 600 healthcare providers attacked, including the significant ransomware attack against CommonSpirit Health, the U.S.’s second largest healthcare provider.
The increase in attacks and usage of IoT medical devices has led to demands from Healthcare CEOs, Heads of Hospital IT, and Boards of Directors, for improved cybersecurity controls to better protect patient safety and the resiliency of healthcare IT and IoT systems needed by hospitals. Cylera’s patented technology protects entire connected healthcare IoT environments and helps to solve the complex technological and operational cybersecurity challenges faced by 21st Century hospitals today.
Geyer Jones’ appointment as COO will see him work closely with Cylera’s senior management team. He will oversee the strategic planning and operational direction of the firm as the cybersecurity specialist looks to secure its foothold in the UK and U.S. markets, and as it continues to expand into new territories.
Geyer will be responsible for leading and scaling the company’s growth and go-to market teams, while also ensuring that the company has the business model, assets and services in place to serve customers, scale the business and provide the right environment for employees to grow and thrive.
“I’ve joined Cylera at an exciting point in its growth strategy”, said Jones, the new COO of Cylera. “Hospital networks are becoming increasingly complex with tens of thousands more medical devices coming online over the next couple of years which are essential to critical patient care and diagnostics. As hospitals experience rapid digitalisation to streamline, fast track and improve patient care, this is increasing attack surfaces and potential vulnerabilities in their IT infrastructure.”
“Cylera continues to do things the right way by focusing on customer outcomes, delivering sustainable growth by continually testing the market, and by making sure its products and services are ready to deliver solutions which are needed by its customers”
Geyer brings with him a wealth of experience, leading various business and operations functions across cybersecurity companies with managed services, enterprise software and SaaS businesses. Before joining Cylera, he was an Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners. Prior to joining Scale, he was Chief Strategy Officer at RSA, sitting on the team that led RSA’s divestiture from Dell, resulting in STG’s $2.1b acquisition. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at Symantec and Riptech, helping grow its MSS business from $15m to over $150m.
“I’m looking forward to helping Cylera build on its early success”, continues Jones. “Our focus will be on increasing our foothold in our current markets, by meeting our customers where they are in their maturity journey with the right product offerings and value propositions, and to partner with them as they work to improve their security posture. As we look to the future, we’ll be building out our teams and key infrastructure, enabling us to meet market demand and drive domestic and international expansion.”
Geyer’s appointment comes as recent reports highlight the desperate cybersecurity challenges facing those working in the healthcare sector, globally. In the UK, one report found that healthcare settings were experiencing over 785 cyber-attacks a week – a 69% increase from the year before. Published late last year, a further U.S. report claimed that 50 million patient records were compromised and healthcare related data breaches affected over 22.6 million patients in the previous 12 months.
Co-Founder and CEO, Timur Ozekcin, added: “Geyer has a fantastic reputation for building key business infrastructure strategies that deliver sustainable and successful long-term growth. He will be a key member of the team in helping to increase our market share in the UK and U.S., and in helping us to move into new markets in the future.
“Working in the healthcare sector, it’s vital that we ensure we have the right business model, infrastructure, products and services in place to deliver the high levels of cybersecurity protection our customers, and their patients, need. Following a strategic, sustainable growth strategy enables us to provide exceptional products and services, while also staying on top of the ever-changing face of cybersecurity threats.”
