What occurred to me on my return was the fast pace of change and the incredible level of uncertainty and insecurity we are facing at present with the global financial crisis, strained social relations, and geopolitical changes. Security has become a global issue and all over the world, people are fighting for more freedom and for a secure environment in which to live, grow and prosper.  

In this context, what can we at McAfee bring to the table? Considering that industry and economic strength are key pillars for our wealth, our mission is to protect one of the most precious assets organizations have: their information and IP. As the digital world grows at an exponential level, so does cyber criminality.  I see that not a day goes by without new attacks taking place. By unveiling Operation Shady Rat, McAfee showed how vulnerable, and in some cases candid, corporations and organizations could be.  The researchers at McAfee Labs uncovered details of attacks and intrusions which took place over five years in more than 70 global companies, governments and non-profit organizations. In addition our latest Threat report issued last week, revealed a record-breaking number of pieces of malware, especially on mobile devices.

Just before leaving for my holiday, I had a meeting in London with market analysts in order to share with them our product and solution roadmap as well as our go-to-market strategy in EMEA. Our discussion was very interesting. Their transparent and candid feedback confirmed that McAfee had made significant progress in the region and was heading in the right direction.

I, and my leadership team, have started the planning process for next year, focusing on the areas where we want to invest: Mobility, Devices, Applications and Infrastructure.  Our objective in EMEA is to continue to develop our selling capabilities, increase our focus in commercial and SMB markets, grow the profitability of our existing channels, and invest in new partners. Moreover, I see emerging markets such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of South Africa, Russia and Turkey counting among our key priorities

I am excited about presenting at the EMEA Focus conference, which will soon take place in Germany. This will also be the opportunity for our partners and customers to learn about the latest news and updates from McAfee executives : http://www.cio.de/focus_security_conference/speakers.html.

Last but not least, I want to share my enthusiasm about the brand new McAfee Executive Briefing Center in Amsterdam Schiphol where we have already had the pleasure of hosting some of our customers and partners.

I look forward to welcoming more of you in the coming months. If you would like to come and visit the EBC in Amsterdam, please get in touch with your contact person at McAfee.

You will hear more from me in the coming weeks.

I smell a RAT, last week McAfee revealed Operation Shady RAT, an investigation of targeted intrusions into more than 70 global companies, governments, and non-profit organizations during the last five years.

Security thought leadership and experts like Dmitri Alperovitch (Operation Shady RAT in Vanity Fair) is one reason why I joined McAfee.

Alex Thurber spent last week in South Africa talking his SaaS off with partners and why not since Gartner is projecting this market to grow 20+% in 2011 and to double in size from $10B in 2010 to $21.3B by 2015.

Is this the cloud model for the public sector? Orange County CTO describes journey to IT as a Service.

At a partner event last week I was talking data center with several partners who told me, “It is no longer about securing infrastructure it is about securing data wherever it is at.”

Securing the data center…now its personal.

The Tweet of the week comes from DaveMarcus (who was recently rated a top 10 security expert to follow on twitter): “Getting a Mohawk at Defcon’s MohawkCon…” it’s the perfect look for football season.

As always I appreciate any feedback. Please comment below.