Vint Cerf Named Chair Of StopBadware Board Of Directors

PRESS RELEASE

Cambridge, Mass., November 15, 2012--Vint Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers and Google's chief Internet evangelist, has been unanimously elected chair of StopBadware's board of directors. Renowned angel investor, philanthropist, and technology commentator Esther Dyson will take on the office of clerk. Both Cerf and Dyson have served on the board since the non-profit organization spun off from Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in January of 2010.

Cerf takes over the role of chair from PayPal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Barrett, who has held the title since StopBadware's spinoff and will continue to serve as a director. "As the world moves ever more of its information online, StopBadware's work to bring people together to secure the Web becomes increasingly important," says Barrett. "Vint Cerf is an unparalleled evangelist for collaborative defense of the Internet ecosystem, and I'm pleased to pass the title of chair to him as we all continue to work toward this common goal."

Cerf has been a prominent advocate for the need to maintain the health of the Internet as it evolves. He has been a staunch and vocal supporter of StopBadware's collaborative approach to online security since the organization's inception as a project at the Berkman Center. "Ensuring the safety of trillions of web pages and billions of people online requires a tremendous amount of resources," Cerf says. "The only way to do this is to combine forces, and I accept the ongoing challenge of leading StopBadware in that charge."

The board also added two new members: PayPal's senior manager of ecosystem security, Brett McDowell, and Google's global public policy manager, Eric Davis. They join Cerf, Dyson, Barrett, Qualys CEO Philippe Courtot, and Maxim Weinstein, StopBadware's President & Executive Director.

About StopBadware

StopBadware makes the Web safer through the prevention, mitigation, and remediation of badware websites. It began as a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University before spinning off as a standalone non-profit organization in 2010. Corporate partners include Google, Mozilla, Verizon, PayPal, Qualys, and Verisign. StopBadware is based in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, visit www.stopbadware.org