About David
Experience
David has 30 years of experience, at Board, Director and senior management level, that covers business management and the breadth and depth of information, communication, security and compliance technologies across three continents. He specialises in secure messaging technologies.
David has helped shape government legislation through his work with the Internet Industry Association, trained national police services in malware, was part of the Virtual Global Task Force on Online Child Abuse and gave evidence to a Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission hearing into Cybercrime.
David has managed software, malware and anti-spam research and development for major IT security vendors; setting up Symantec's Security Response Centre in APAC, managing technical R&D teams at Dr Solomon’s (now McAfee), Symantec (Norton Anti-Virus) and MessageLabs the leading cloud-based email filtering, archiving and compliance solutions that is now part of Broadcom Email Security.cloud.
Still an active coder he has helped with the design and delivery of security and compliance-related ICT systems for small businesses and big brands across many industries in Australia and Europe.
Professional & Personal Achievements
- Awarded The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service for his work with the Bucks Community Foundation, Kop Hill Climb.
- Member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Industry Association for six years
- Long term member and Chairman of the XMPP Standards Foundation, part of the IETF
- Setting up Symantec Security Response in Sydney
- GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification), GSEC Certification
- Created Threat Forensics, a real-time automated malware analysis product in 2005
- Early email phishing R&D for MessageLabs
- Recognised by Adobe for Cleartext ESM; IM and social media content filtering and archiving platform
- Wrote the Foreward to the book Configuring Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition by Syngress
- Design of CipherIM, encrypted messenger and file transfer software in the early 2000s
- Creation of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Magic Bullet retail product in Australia
- Multiple trophy winner at Targa Tasmania car rally
- Self taught sourdough bread baker.
Company Milestones
Founded in 1997
2010 Enterprise IM
2005 World First
Designed a secure encrypted IM client-server software product called CipherIM, for which was awarded an Australian (Cryptographic) General Export Licence in 2002.
2005 World First
2010 Enterprise IM
2005 World First
Cleartext was the first MSP (managed service provider) to market with a combined hosted mailbox and managed email security offering in 2005, called ClearEmail.
2010 Enterprise IM
2010 Enterprise IM
2010 Enterprise IM
Cleartext ESM, an Instant Messaging and Social Media aggregation platform using the XMPP protocol with content filtering and archiving. Adobe MAX Honourable Mention.
2013 Distribution
2016 GDPR Consulting
2010 Enterprise IM
The company's focus changed to Value Added Distribution (VAD), specialising in communication & collaboration solutions with a data security and compliance focus.
2015 Assured.Email
2016 GDPR Consulting
2016 GDPR Consulting
An assured delivery email platform with mandatory TLS and carefully selected hashing and cryptographic algorithms. Trademarked Assured.Email.
2016 GDPR Consulting
2016 GDPR Consulting
2016 GDPR Consulting
March 2014 the EU General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). Adopted in April 2016, it came into force on 25 May 2018. David was an accredited Adviza GDPR trainer.
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
Ditch the web forms, spreadsheets and email software! This new platform allows customers to run motoring events with curated entries and built-in communications.
2020 Pandemic Diversification
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
Building on a lifelong interest in food, and as a keen baker, David set up an online shop and artisan food business. The early days were heavily invested in flour and yeast!
2022 Cyber Defence Consulting
2018 Motoring Festival Systems
2022 Cyber Defence Consulting
With organisations of all sizes being targeted by malware and ransomeware, David is now focusing on active cyber defence for small to medium-sized organisations.