Leading cloud communications company, 8×8 recently announced that they are taking additional steps to secure their business. The organisation has just appointed Michael Armer as their Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer. What’s more, 8×8 has just successfully completed its third NIST/FISMA compliance audit, delivered by a federally-certified professional.
Armer comes to 8×8 with more than 20 years of information technology and cybersecurity leadership experience. He has a strong background in the areas of intellectual property protection, data privacy, risk management, and corporate cyber governance. What’s more, Armer was also recently the VP and CISO for the Barrick Gold Corporation. Before that, he worked as head of information security for Lam Research Corp.
What Will 8×8’s New CISO do?
In his global position, Armer will be responsible for managing 8×8’s corporate information security strategy. This means that he’ll be dealing with things like strategic planning, governance and compliance, and control of security measures. Armer will identify and evaluate the overall performance of 8×8’s security efforts and will ensure that the business remains compliant with regulatory requirements and best practices.
According to Armer, it’s critical for today’s businesses to be able to keep their business communications systems as secure as possible. 8×8 is one of the market leaders in delivering cloud communication solutions to companies over a secure network, and Armer is thrilled to be part of the well-respected team.
As well as a useful history in the security landscape, Armer is also a certified information system security professional, a member of the CISO executive round table, and he holds an MBA from South California university too!
The FISMA/NIST Compliance
As well as appointing their new CISO, 8×8 also announced that they had successfully achieved FISMA/NIST compliance for the third time in a row. FISMA is based on the NIST 800-5 fourth revision, and it’s considered to be one of the most intensive compliance certifications in the world.
The Chairman and CTO for 8×8, Bryan Martin, said in a press release that compliance with these regulations can only be achieved through a highly-focused security-first culture. 8×8 begins its focus on security at the most senior levels, and they believe that welcoming Michael to the team will help them to maintain their strong standards.
Although compliance, data protection, and security will be the primary focus of Amer’s new role, he will also be offering strategic insights into product development and the technology roadmap too. Michael will be joining a seasoned team of certified professionals with over a decade of compliance and security experience.
