UK cybersecurity startup Barac has the United States firmly in its sights, after opening its first office in Boston and appointing Peter Christou as its first EVP global sales.

Barac is a firm that uses artificial intelligence and behavioural analytics to protect organisations against malware that is hidden in encrypted traffic.

Its flagship platform, Barac Encrypted Traffic Visibility, enables encrypted data to move quickly and safely, while improving the user experience and keeping both a business and its customers safe.

Barac believes that malware in encrypted traffic is a growing problem and a major challenge for cybersecurity.

“More than 80 percent of all corporate traffic is now encrypted, driven by the increased adoption of cloud services, IoT and onerous compliance requirements, such as GDPR,” says Barac founder and CEO Omar Yaacoubi.

“Growth in the use of encryption represents a huge problem for organisations. Existing cybersecurity solutions leave organisations vulnerable to malware attacks because they are simply unable to protect against threats hidden in encrypted traffic.

Barac's approach to malware detection has received industry recognition from the likes of the GHCQ, which invited the company to join its Cyber Accelerator programme.

The programme, run by GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, provides support to companies that GCHQ considers ground breaking in improving the UK's cybersecurity.

As Barac's first EVP of global sales, Peter Christou will help to drive the company's growth in The United States and Europe through increased sales, new partnerships, and further international expansion in 2019.

“Malware hidden in encrypted traffic is one of the biggest threats organisations are facing today,” says Christou.

“Our ability to solve the problem gives us tremendous growth opportunity as we scale up the business both in the UK where we are headquartered, across EMEA and now in the US with the opening of our Boston office.

Christou has more than 25 years' experience of helping innovative security firms grow across EMEA, APAC and the USA. He has previously driven sales and marketing for companies including

Accelops, Securonix, NitroSecurity, Breach Security, Open Environment Corporation and Gradient Technologies.

Barac is headquartered in London, UK, with additional offices in Paris, France; Boston, USA; and Tunis, Tunisia.