Samir Sherif named Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at F5

F5 announced the appointment of Samir Sherif as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer. Sherif previously served as CISO at Absolute Software and Imperva, and held roles at Citigroup including Global Head of Application Security.

According to the release, Sherif will lead the security culture and enterprise cybersecurity strategy at F5 and evolve its resilience and security capabilities. The release says his remit also includes overseeing cybersecurity programs and standards for the products and services of F5 and showing customers and the wider industry the value of its security solutions. Computer Weekly quotes Sherif as saying his mission as CISO at F5 is to further strengthen the company's enterprise cybersecurity initiatives through its multicloud application security. SecurityWeek reports that Sherif succeeds Gail Coury as CISO at F5, and that Coury is retiring on March 1 after three years in charge of the company's enterprise security efforts.

SecurityWeek reports that Sherif spent 21-plus years at Citigroup, a career that culminated in the role of Global Head of Application Security. According to SecurityWeek, Imperva, where Sherif was previously CISO, was owned by Thales at the time of the announcement, while Crosspoint Capital acquired Absolute Software in 2023. The release says his work at Citigroup, Imperva and Absolute Software has given him experience helping organizations around the world with compliance, resilience and security.

SecurityWeek reports that F5, the company whose enterprise cybersecurity strategy Sherif will now direct, is based in Seattle. SecurityWeek describes F5, which is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol FFIV, as an application delivery and security firm. In its own description, the company says F5 is a security and multi-cloud application services company. The company says it partners with organizations to optimize and secure apps and APIs at the edge, in the cloud or on premises.

Sherif said in the release that F5 aims, by raising the bar on its security standards and culture, to help its customers build a more secure digital world.