Former Defense Intelligence Agency CISO Joins Corelight as Federal CTO

SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Corelight, provider of the industry's first open network detection and response (NDR) platform, today announced that Jean Schaffer, a 33-year veteran of the U.S. intelligence community, has joined the company as federal CTO. In this newly created role, Schaffer will be responsible for articulating the value of Corelight's data-first approach to cybersecurity at all levels of the government.

Schaffer retired last year from her dual role as CISO and chief of enterprise operations and cybersecurity for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), where she championed modernization of the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), a secure intranet system utilized by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to house top secret and sensitive information. She began serving as an advisor to Corelight in 2020 and now joins the Corelight executive team in her first full-time private sector role, reporting to Corelight Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Greg Bell.

"Jean's resume is truly astounding. She brings a rare combination of operational experience at scale, fluency with federal programs and policies, and strategic acumen," said Bell. "For government agencies and other large organizations, real time data of the highest quality has become the lifeblood of security operations. Jean understands this transformation, and I am thrilled to welcome her to the Corelight team."

Schaffer's career also spans three decades at the National Security Agency (NSA), holding numerous senior executive roles in cybersecurity and signals intelligence. She led efforts to improve the NSA's insider threat detection capabilities, among other initiatives, and also managed the global network infrastructure supporting NSA's tactical, enterprise, business and mission systems. 

"Adversaries have increased their playbooks for cyberattacks against the government, making government partnerships with technology vendors imperative to a strong defense against potential attacks," said Schaffer. "The first step to any cyber offensive operation is reconnaissance - teams must know their IT environments - and I believe Corelight provides the best data for knowing your network.

"I am excited to share my knowledge of the requirements and needs of the federal government, particularly in the defense and intelligence sectors, and to create true partnerships between federal cyber defenders which will help Corelight to further shape its product offerings," she added.

Since its inception, Corelight has focused on the needs of the federal government by optimizing its full sensor portfolio to extract exceptional network data; data that is rich yet lightweight, interlinked for faster analysis, and designed for defenders.

Powered by Zeek and Suricata, the de facto standards in network security monitoring technology, Corelight Sensors support a broad range of federal missions, ranging from national security to research and development. For more information on Corelight use cases and certifications for the public sector, visit the government network security section on its website.

About Corelight
Corelight gives defenders unparalleled insight into networks to help them protect the world's most critical organizations and companies. Corelight's global customers include Fortune 500 companies, major government agencies, and large research universities. The company has received investment support from Accel, General Catalyst, Insight Partners and Osage University Partners. Based in San Francisco, Corelight is an open-core security company founded by the creators of Zeek, the widely-used network security technology. For more information, visit https://www.corelight.com or follow @corelight_inc.

SOURCE Corelight, Inc.