Next5 Founder Bryan Ware to Join LookingGlass as Chief Executive Officer

LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, the leader in actionable threat intelligence, will acquire Next5, a business intelligence and strategic advisory firm focused on securing American leadership in critical technologies.

As part of this merger, Next5 Founder and CEO, Bryan Ware, will become the new CEO of LookingGlass. Prior to founding Next5, Ware served as the first presidentially appointed Assistant Director of Cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), leading the 1,000-person, $1.25 billion organization through a period of intense volatility and aggressive interference from nation-state adversaries. At CISA, he developed the agency’s first five-year strategy to modernize its sensor and computing infrastructure, transform the way the agency delivers services, and scale to protect U.S. critical infrastructure. Prior to his operational role at CISA, Ware was an Assistant Secretary at DHS, serving as the Secretary’s advisor on cybersecurity and emerging technology matters, and leading strategic initiatives across the U.S. government and its allies.

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“Now more than ever, organizations need to understand their risk in the context of emerging technologies, greater supply chain dependencies, and an evolving threat landscape, especially as we face heightened geopolitical competition,” stated Ware. “This is why I’m excited to join LookingGlass. Next5’s expert network and business intelligence services combined with LookingGlass’s innovative technologies only strengthens our ability to support our customers’ critical cyber missions. Furthermore, I will deepen LookingGlass investments to solve near-future challenges, such as applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to dynamic and complex cybersecurity use cases. This positions LookingGlass to expand our impact as we broaden our engagement across the public and private sectors, especially as the nation prepares for another election, endures persistent cyber conflict, and competes with autocratic adversaries for technological supremacy.”

The merger positions LookingGlass for continued growth and complements the company’s existing suite of cyber solutions, which provide internet intelligence, threat actor profiling, and attack surface insights to U.S. federal and state governments, critical infrastructure organizations, multinational corporations, and international private and public sector entities. LookingGlass customers will benefit from Next5’s strategic analyses and expert network as they navigate evolving cyber threats and emerging technologies to meet their missions.

“Helping our customers meet their missions is a foundational part of how we measure success at LookingGlass. Many of them are facing an increasing frequency of cyberattacks while seeking to understand an evolving threat actor landscape – all of which is critical for informing their strategies and the tactics they need to take to meet their missions,” stated LookingGlass President and Chief Operating Officer, Don Gilberg. “I have seen the Next5 team in action, and it is clear they have the same mission-driven focus. Moreover, their expertise will add key strategic perspectives about the future of cybersecurity that will position our customers to confidently tackle new cyber challenges.”

“Under Bryan’s leadership, CISA’s operational partnerships with the private sector, national security community, and international partners were significantly enhanced. This cross-sector collaboration and engagement is necessary as our government and critical infrastructure face growing cyber threats and increasingly sophisticated threat actors,” said Gilman Louie, Executive Chairman of LookingGlass. “We are thrilled to have Bryan at the helm of LookingGlass to broaden this kind of collaboration in support of our current and future customers.”

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