EY appoints Partner to lead fight against cybercrime
Chris Gould has been appointed partner at EY and will head up the firm’s UK cyber-crime team. With the level of cyber threats increasing, it will be Gould’s role to help clients better defend their boarders as well as track down perpetrators. Gould will leverage his 25 years’ experience in cyber-crime related knowledge from his past roles at, among others, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte.
Gould started his career in 1990 at PKF, rising to a senior level over his almost five years at the company. In 1995 Gould moved to Deloitte, where he grew to become a Senior Manager in the practice for information security and business continuity projects for the financial sector. In 2003 Gould joined KPMG as the firm’s Head of IT Advisory and Assurance Practice in Russia. In this role, Gould was responsible for the development of new service offerings and managing existing client portfolio. Five years later, he left the consulting industry to join Barclays Bank, where he became the Director of Internal Audit. In 2010 Gould moved to PwC Russia, where he worked as a Partner and CEE Leader for Cyber Security and Forensics, during which he developed an information security consulting function, and built a strong local practice and cross regional team of Information Security professionals and develop sustainable project pipeline.
Gould holds a Bachelor degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
The threat of cyber-attacks continues to grow yearly, with a recent report from the UK Government finding that 90% of large organisation had a breach last year compared to 81% the year before, while small organisations saw a 14% increase in those responding that they had been breached to 74%. And yesterday Consultancy.uk a new report from Marsh, highlighting that UK firms still have a long way to go when it comes to mature cyber security.
In a bid to help client better combat the increasing threat of cyber security, EY has been expanding its Forensic Technology practice – also incorporating a cyber-security offering – which now has a 130 strong team doing £30 million in business.
Gould’s new role as partner will be to head up the cyber security team within the Forensic Technology practice. He will deploy his experience to help organisations tackle the threat of cyber-crime by pro-actively identifying threats, responding to data breaches, and tracking down perpetrators.“Chris brings a wealth of experience in the cyber space, where we expect to see significant growth. Clients will be taking steps to protect themselves from cybercrime, investigate breaches and deal with the aftermath of cyber incidents from rogue employees, criminal gangs and state sponsored attacks,” explains Paul Walker, Partner and Head of Forensic Technology in the UK.
Gould adds: “This is an exciting opportunity for me to join a dynamic team. I hope to bring the skills and experience, that I have gained throughout my career, to help protect businesses from hackers and cybercrime.”
Earlier this year EY launched a state-of-the-art model to help firms combat cybercrime.