Claroty adds Jesse Whaley to advisory board for industry expansion guidance

September 19, 2023

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Claroty has announced the appointment of Jesse Whaley, chief information security officer (CISO) of Amtrak, to the company’s advisory board. Whaley has signed on to help the cyber-physical systems protection company realize its vision of safely connecting the cyber and physical worlds.

Claroty’s advisory board is currently chaired by U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.) Michael S. Rogers and includes executives from various companies, from across industries including biotechnology and digital infrastructure.

In his current role as CISO of Amtrak, Whaley leads the management of cyber risk and information security matters, managing everything from traditional enterprise technology risks to unique challenges with operational technology.

Prior to his role at Amtrak, Whaley held several leadership positions in the U.S. Department, including transforming cyber defensive technologies at the Pentagon, building Defense Cybersecurity Operations Centers, and spent 10 years serving in the U.S. Army as a special agent. Additionally, Whaley is a graduate of the FBI CISO Academy.

“We’re excited to welcome such a seasoned and respected authority across the cybersecurity community in Jesse Whaley,” Yaniv Vardi, CEO of Claroty, said in a Monday media statement. “From his service in the U.S. Army and Department of Defense to his leadership at Amtrak, Jesse brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in securing critical infrastructure and will prove invaluable to Claroty and our customers as we partner with them on their journey to secure cyber-physical systems across their organizations.”

“Cyber attacks targeting our nation’s critical infrastructure will only increase in the coming years and the results are potentially devastating, as we learned from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack,” said Whaley. “As threat actors grow more brazen and increasingly seek not just financial gains but also disruption to vital services, critical infrastructure owners and operators must invest in securing their cyber-physical systems. I am eager to work with Claroty as the company is laser-focused on meeting this urgent need and has the right team, technology, and strategy to do so.”

Last week, Claroty announced enhancements to its SaaS platforms’ vulnerability and risk management (VRM) capabilities. The move will further empower cybersecurity teams to evaluate and strengthen their organization’s cyber-physical systems risk posture. These enhancements comprise a granular yet flexible risk scoring framework, features that enable vulnerability prioritization workflows to be ‘up to 11 times more efficient than industry standards,’ and support for the evolving Software Bills of Materials (SBOM) landscape.