UAE-based DarkMatter, a global cyber security firm, has appointed Suresh Bollapragada to the role of vice president of Systems Engineering, where he will be responsible for security of communication platforms, including mobile phones.

Bollapragada has over 20 years of impressive experience in software and system engineering from a number of blue chip technology companies, with his expertise encompassing security technology and networking. He possesses extensive credentials in system software, networking, ARM (Reduced Instruction Set Computing - RISC) and Systems-on-Chips (SoC) architectures, as well as end-to-end (E2E) products.

Prior to joining DarkMatter, Bollapragada was senior director engineering in Qualcomm's Chipset Division in San Diego, USA where he was responsible for security system architecture, SoC security roadmap, software development and commercial deployment of mobile devices running Android, Windows and modem products.

Faisal Al Bannai, DarkMatter's chief executive officer said: "Suresh has impressive electronic security expertise, which extends to applied security, cryptography, protocols, privacy, countermeasures, incident response, and software security. His long experience in software engineering and system architecture will make him an important member of our growing team, and a further achievement in DarkMatter's vision to have globally recognised cyber security technology leaders based in the UAE."

While at Qualcomm, Bollapragada built a 75+ person security engineering group to develop security technologies on Qualcomm Snapdragon and Qualcomm modem chipsets, which are included in top-tier mobile devices including the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy series, Google Nexus, Android devices, Microsoft Windows Phones, Nokia and Blackberry devices.  

Bollapragada said: "The importance of end-to-end cyber security has never been more important, and having spent many years focusing on security within the mobile end-user device environment, it is an exciting prospect to bring this knowledge and experience to an organisation like DarkMatter, which has placed end-to-end cyber security at the centre of its operational outlook."

Bollapragada holds a Master of Computer Science degree from the University of California, San Diego and a Bachelor in Technology (Hons) Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. He graduated from both institutions with honours. – TradeArabia News Service