Company news: SysAid Technologies appoints a new CEO, Invincea receives big contract

» SysAid Technologies, a global provider of IT service management software solutions, has appointed Saar Bitner (left) as CEO. Prior to joining the company in 2007, Saar was the executive director of product management for LightSand. He replaces founder Israel Lifshitz, who will remain with the company in a strategic capacity.

» Aaron Weller has joined PwC US as a managing director, specializing in data privacy and protection in the risk assurance practice. Weller will work with the Seattle-based team throughout the Western region to drive new opportunities. Prior to PwC, Weller co-founded Concise Consulting. Before that, he was at Arthur Andersen in London and Ernst & Young in Australia, where he also established Protiviti and was an associate director of security, before relocating to the United States as its Pacific Northwest security and privacy practice lead.

»Invincea, which provides advanced malware threat detection, network breach prevention and pre-breach forensic intelligence, received a multi-year, $21.4 million contract from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) for the development of secure smartphone and tablet mobile platforms to be used by soldiers in forward-deployed operations.  Dubbed “Mobile Armour,” the project focuses on driving security innovation within the Android operating system for government use.

»Wendi Rafferty (left) has joined CrowdStrike, which offers malware assessment and incident response services, as vice president of the services division. She reports to Shawn Henry, the company's president and a 24-year veteran of the FBI. A 10-year information security veteran, Rafferty formerly managed Mandiant's Western region, and before that was a special agent performing computer crime investigations with the
U.S. Air Force.

»Researcher Christopher Soghoian (right), a prominent activist for privacy and computer security who previously served as the Federal Trade Commission's first in-house technical adviser, will be joining the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project in September as a principal technologist and senior policy analyst.

»Brandon Edwards and Aaron Portnoy, former researchers with TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), have launched Exodus Intelligence. The company offers a bug-buying program, as well as a security intelligence service with customized information on new vulnerabilities and threats. The Exodus team also regularly gives both public and private training courses.