Barry Mainz: The veteran commander defending our critical infrastructure

Barry Mainz, the chief executive of Forescout Technologies, is not the type of man who lingers over the scenery. When we spoke with him recently from his office in San Jose, he had the demeanor of a general surveying a battlefield — one where the enemy is invisible, the terrain is digital, and the stakes are nothing less than the integrity of the modern world. “Cybersecurity isn’t just about protecting data,” he said. “It’s about protecting trust. If that goes, everything else collapses.”

Mainz, who took charge at Forescout in January 2023, is a veteran of the tech wars, with a résumé that resembles a roadmap of the industry’s evolution: Sun Microsystems, Mercury Interactive, Wind River Systems (under Intel’s banner), MobileIron, and Malwarebytes. Now, at Forescout — a company that specializes in securing the sprawling and unruly networks of devices that characterize our era—he’s responsible for safeguarding what he refers to as “the connective tissue” of enterprises, governments, and critical infrastructure.

It’s a mission that feels less like a corporate job and more like a calling, especially in a year when cyberattacks have surged, ranging from ransomware crippling hospitals to state-sponsored hackers probing power grids.

For those unfamiliar with Forescout, it is a cybersecurity company that excels in visibility. Its platform delves into the murky depths of networks — IT, IoT, and operational technology (OT) — to identify every device, evaluate its risk, and, if needed, lock it out. Think of it as a digital bouncer with X-ray vision. In a time when your smart thermostat could be collaborating with a foreign server, this is no small achievement.

During his interview with CEO.com, Mainz compared it to “knowing who’s in your house at all times — and ensuring they’re not up to any trouble." This is a relatable metaphor for a high-stakes scenario, but it captures the essence of Forescout’s promise: control through clarity.

When Mainz arrived at Forescout, the company was at a crossroads. Under his predecessor, Wael Mohamed, it had weathered a transformation — shifting from a hardware-heavy model to a cloud-centric, recurring-revenue business with profitability in sight. But it had also endured turbulence: two rounds of layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023, including a ten-per-cent cut to its Israel R&D center, signaled a need for sharper focus.

Mainz, with his operational scalpel and a boardroom charm honed over decades, was the man tapped to steady the ship. “We’re not here to chase every shiny object,” he said. “We’re here to solve the hard problems — security, critical infrastructure, the stuff that keeps the lights on.”