Barracuda Hires Ex-RSA Chief Rohit Ghai As New CEO

Ghai takes over as Barracuda CEO from Hatem Naguib, who has stepped down.

Barracuda Networks announced Tuesday that it has hired longtime cybersecurity executive Rohit Ghai as its new CEO to succeed Hatem Naguib, who has stepped down.

Ghai (pictured) had most recently served as CEO of well-known identity security vendor RSA, a role he’d held since 2017. RSA had disclosed earlier this month that Ghai would be departing from the chief executive role on Sept. 15.

[Related: Barracuda Aims To Boost Email Protection With New Account Takeover, Threat Mitigation Capabilities]

At cybersecurity vendor Barracuda, Ghai takes over for Naguib, who had served as Barracuda CEO since 2021.

In a news release, Barracuda said that Ghai will oversee a new phase of expansion for the vendor with a focus on driving the growth of the BarracudaONE platform. The platform includes tools for securing email, data, networks and applications, while also tying the tools together with a managed XDR offering.

Ghai said in a quote included in the release that Barracuda brings a “relentless focus” on partners and customers, and that a top goal will be to “accelerate Barracuda's business momentum.”

Prior to joining RSA as CEO in 2017, Ghai had served as president of EMC’s Enterprise Content Division. Earlier roles had included executive positions at companies such as Symantec and CA Technologies.

Naguib had joined Barracuda as a senior vice president in 2016, before working his way up to COO in 2018 and then being named CEO in 2021. He spearheaded a major expansion of Barracuda’s product portfolio as well as “deepened engagement” with partners, Barracuda said in the news release.

RSA had disclosed earlier this month that Ghai would be succeeded as CEO of the company by Greg Nelson, who was promoted from his position as president and chief business officer.