In a decade of leadership, Thompson built Symantec from a consumer desktop software vendor into an enterprise software provider Symantec CEO John Thompson is retiring.Thompson, 59, has led the Cupertino, Calif.-based security vendor for the past decade. He will be replaced by Enrique Salem, the company’s chief operating officer, effective April 4, 2009, Symantec Corp. said in a statement released Monday afternoon.During his tenure, Thompson built Symantec from a consumer desktop software vendor, best known for its Norton products, into a leading enterprise software provider. The company aggressively acquired new software companies, including its most high-profile purchase: the 2005 $10.5 billion acquisition of enterprise storage software vendor Veritas.Although Symantec has warned of a slowdown in sales recently, executives said Monday that they have been working on the transition for the past 10 months, an effort called “Project Texas.” “I’ve always believed that 10 years was long enough to sit in this role,” Thompson said in a call with financial analysts Monday. Related content news EchoMark releases watermarking solution to secure private communications, detect insider threats Enterprise-grade software embeds AI-driven, forensic watermarking in emails and documents to pinpoint potential insider risks By Michael Hill Sep 28, 2023 4 mins Communications Security Communications Security Communications Security news SpecterOps to use in-house approximation to test for global attack variations The new offering uses atomic tests and in-house approximation in purple team assessment to test all known techniques of an attack. By Shweta Sharma Sep 28, 2023 3 mins Penetration Testing news New Trojan ZenRAT masquerades as Bitwarden password manager A report by Proofpoint identifies the new Trojan as undocumented and possessing information-stealing capabilities. By Lucian Constantin Sep 28, 2023 4 mins Cyberattacks Hacking Data and Information Security news UK Cyber Security Council CEO reflects on a year of progress Professor Simon Hepburn sits down with broadcaster ITN to discuss Council’s work around cybersecurity professional standards, careers and learning, and outreach and diversity. By Michael Hill Sep 27, 2023 3 mins Government Data and Information Security Security Practices Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe