Government, Critical Infrastructure Security Firm Owl Cyber Defense Names CEO -

Owl Cyber Defense, a provider of hardware-enforced security solutions for military, intelligence and critical infrastructure organizations, has promoted CTO Ken Walker to CEO. Walker also remains president while succeeding former CEO Bob Stalick, who is retiring.

Walker previously held key posts at DynCorp, SecureMethods, Booz Allen Hamilton and Trusted Information Systems.

Owl Cyber Defense, based in Columbia, Maryland, has 188 employees listed on LinkedIn. The company develops hardware and software that secures government and critical infrastructure systems. Key customers include U.S. federal agencies, nuclear power plants, oil and gas providers, and cloud service providers.

Owl has a partner program that includes OEMs, resellers, technology alliances and VARs. A key relationship involves Owl Data Diodes and Dell EMC PowerProtect Cyber Recovery -- which together "provide a secure data vault solution that can be monitored remotely to maintain healthy operations in the vault and gain insight into anomaly detection." Owl's technology allows secure data transfers of system health information outside of the vault, and allows log files and SNMP data to securely reach SIEM systems, the company says.

Owl Cyber Defense Ownership, Security Acquisitions

Owl Cyber Defense has evolved through multiple M&A deals in recent years. The timeline includes:

1999: Owl founded as Owl Computing Technologies.

2017: Owl Cyber Defense, backed by private equity firm DC Capital Partners, was formed through the loose merger of Owl Computing Technologies and QRC Technologies.

2019: The QRC business was sold off.

2020: Owl merged with Tresys Technology in January 2020, and Stalick was named CEO of the combined business. The goal was to create the "number one boundary security product and services company in the world with a continued focus on the U.S. government, defense, and global critical infrastructure markets."

2021: Owl acquired Trident Assured Collaboration Systems (ACS) product line for network video security capabilities.

Owl Cyber Defense Names CEO: Investor Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the Owl Cyber CEO transition, DC Capital Partners Chief Investment Officer Thomas J. Campbell said:

“For over two decades, Owl Cyber Defense has offered undefeated cybersecurity protection for some of the nation’s most critical assets. Owl is a company we take pride in backing, and over the last several years Ken has played a central role in the company’s success, and we are pleased to have Ken step in as CEO to continue to lead Owl’s forward trajectory.”