Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Cyber security expert Clarke joins a pair of local boards

By Rodney H. Brown

Article updated as of 9:15 a.m., June 7, 2011.

 
Burlington security software developer Veracode Inc., and Visible Assets Inc. of Stratham, N.H., have both recently named former national coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism Richard A. Clarke to the companies’ boards of directors.

Clarke, former special advisor for cyber security to Pres. George W. Bush, is current chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Consulting. According to a release from Veracode, Clarke will help Veracode expand its reach in the federal market, working closely with Veracode’s Federal Advisory Board and senior management team. For Visible Assets, Clarke will help the company introduce its RuBee wireless technology to the defense and security markets.

RuBee is a tracking technology similar to RFID, but based on magnetic energy not radio frequency energy, according to Visible Assets. RuBee networks are based on embedded Oracle software systems and can be used underwater and in harsh environmental conditions, the company said.

Prior to serving in the Bush administration, Clarke served for eight years as a special assistant to President Clinton as national coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism. Clarke began his federal service in 1973 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In the administration of President Ronald Reagan, Clarke was the deputy assistant secretary for Intelligence. He is the author of Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It.

Veracode in February of 2010 landed $12.3 million in venture capital. While the investors in that round were not identified, the company raised $19.5 million in venture backing from Waltham-based Atlas Venture and Polaris Venture Partners, among others, when it was spun out of Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp. in 2005.