"Steven has the leadership and management skills coupled with the experience to propel business transformation for customers in Australia," said Fortinet Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands regional director Jon McGettigan.

"His depth of experience as a CISO working inside of organisations means that he brings a unique perspective and ability to have discussions with customers that will help them understand and address their cybersecurity pain points and how to address them. We welcome Steven to the team and look forward to seeing how he will drive the conversation forward."

Woodhouse brings more than 25 years of experience to Fortinet.

He joins the company from the Queensland Department of Education where he worked as CISO and executive director of enterprise technology services.

Woodhouse previously worked as CIO at NSW Land Registry Services, chief information and technology officer at Land and Property Information, and architecture and planning manager at the NSW Department of Lands.

Earlier in his career he was CIO at the NSW Department of Information and Technology, senior network administrator at the Central Corporate Services Unit, security and network architect at Network Support Solutions, and desktop support manager at Wentworth Area Health Service.

Woodhouse holds a graduate certificate in industrial management from the University of New South Wales, and a doctorate in IT from Charles Sturt University.

"Fortinet offers technology that works together through its security fabric to achieve a strong security outcome for organisations. Additionally, Fortinet has an attractive culture and is on a massive growth trajectory, which makes it a very appealing organisation to join," said Woodhouse.

"There are significant cybersecurity challenges for organisations, from ransomware running rife to the significant movement and lack of control of the edge brought on by a hybrid working environment. I look forward to helping customers understand the strength of the Fortinet offering, through the lens of experience rather than theory, and how it will help them create protect their environment across people, process, and technology that will lead to great customer outcomes."