Cigent® Technology, the world leader and pioneer in self-defending data security, today announced the appointment of founder John Benkert as CEO. He succeeds co-founder Bradley Rowe who will remain Cigent's Chairman.

"Perfect timing – both companies are taking off," said Brad Rowe. "I will stay actively involved with Cigent, but with John assuming overall responsibility, I can more keenly focus on Blueshift™ Cybersecurity, which we carved out of Cigent and funded as an independent company. John is the original founder and visionary behind Cigent. Nobody understands how to realize the Company's full potential better than John."

Cigent founder John Benkert spent twenty years in USAF Intelligence and seven in the NSA, where he received the National Scientific Achievement Award for technological innovations in data security. He is a world-leading authority in data recovery, forensics, and destruction. Recognizing the inherent vulnerabilities in traditional cybersecurity solutions, Benkert set out ten years ago with US Governmental backing to design the most secure approach to data protection – protecting sensitive information no matter the situation or adversary. Securing funding from In-Q-Tel, the Cigent team of experts in storage, data forensics, and cybersecurity has now achieved Benkert's vision of developing the most secure data security solution available.

"I've worked hard with Brad and our team to reach this inflection point," said John Benkert. "Cigent’s mission-critical technology and intellectual property have broad governmental and commercial applications. Global technology partners and key agencies appreciate our unique capabilities to protect sensitive data, closing the gap where traditional cybersecurity techniques have failed. As a result, we predict rapidly accelerating growth not only for Cigent but also for Blueshift."

Cigent's military-grade data protections protect data in ultra-sensitive use-cases, such as the Department of Defense (DoD). However, the same Cigent protections apply commercially to safeguard sensitive data continuously – on endpoints, IoT devices, smart cards, data centers, moving through networks, sent via email, shared in online folders, or stored in the cloud. Recognizing an enormous additional market opportunity, Blueshift Cybersecurity was carved out of Cigent and funded as an independent operating company in September 2021. Blueshift provides managed SOC as a Service / XDR as a Service to small and medium businesses (SMBs) from 5 to 10,000 employees affordably. Blueshift has integrated Cigent's Zero-Trust controls into its XDR platform. Therefore, the Blueshift SOC can instantaneously "lock down" sensitive data during a security event. A heightened threat state can trigger Cigent controls in real-time without human intervention.

About Cigent Technology

Cigent® protects your most valuable asset – your data. Funded by In-Q-Tel™, we are a fusion of experts in storage, data forensics, and cybersecurity on a mission to develop a new standard in data protection. Our military-grade technology provides secure data protection from any threat vector.

About Blueshift Cybersecurity

Blueshift XDR™ (Extended Detection and Response) is Blueshift's affordable, highly automated SOC-as-a-Service platform that simplifies compliance initiatives and extends security visibility and management across your entire organization. It seamlessly integrates with all existing devices, data, and systems across the network — such as cloud, IoT, endpoint, server, remote workers, and more. To learn more about Blueshift Cybersecurity and Blueshift XDR, please visit https://www.blueshiftcyber.com.