Commvault, a multinational supplier of cyber resilience and data protection solutions for hybrid cloud companies, has announced Gareth Russell’s appointment as Field Chief Technology Officer, Security for Asia Pacific (APAC). This newly created position is a reflection of Commvault’s dedication to sharing its extensive technical know-how in cyber resilience and data security with more partners and customers in the area. This is especially important in the current ransomware era.
Russell is a seasoned cybersecurity veteran who joins Commvault in the APAC area with years of vast experience in cyber strategy, risk management, cyber resilience, and digital transformation. Russell has vast experience developing, changing, and running capabilities, including integrating cyber security into organizational culture. Russell has a track record of assisting governments and organizations around Asia Pacific in defining and managing their cyber risk postures.
“Bringing my experience to Commvault excites me, especially in light of the rising cyberthreats in our area. My main goal will be to improve cyber resilience plans, which will involve supporting APAC organizations in fortifying their recovery capacities. It’s not a matter of if but when it comes to cyberattacks these days, and I look forward to working with businesses to improve their cyber security and preparedness,” Russell said.
Important gaps in APAC organizations’ cyberattack recovery attempts have been found by Commvault & Tech Research Asia’s latest State of Data Readiness market report.
The report states that while knowledge of cyber resilience is growing throughout ANZ, levels of maturity are still low. According to the study, only 4% of organizations think they have a proactive, mature cyber resiliency capability, while 50% have a “very immature” capability level. The information also demonstrates that cyberattacks are still happening, with many organizations at risk of serious data breaches, particularly those that target production and backup data.
Furthermore, 62% of Australian and 68% of New Zealand organizations report having experienced at least one cyberattack in the previous year. The most frequent targets of attacks on production, secondary, and backup data environments were respondents from Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Just 35% of the organizations that were the target of a cyberattack were able to retrieve all of their data.
Working with organizations to improve their cyber resilience strategies and assist them in defending against the growing frequency and sophistication of cyber threats is one of Russell’s top priorities in his new position.
“In the past few months, we have made great progress in putting together a senior staff with unmatched expertise and experience. With Gareth’s appointment, we can better support our partners and clients in protecting their data,” stated Martin Creighan, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Commvault.
