BALTIMORE, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SafeNet, Inc., a global leader in data protection, announced today the appointment of Prakash Panjwani, a proven information security and software executive, as the company's new President, Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. The 12 year SafeNet veteran has held several executive positions within the organization, most recently the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company's rapidly growing Data Protection group. Mr. Panjwani will succeed current President and CEO, Dave Hansen, who has chosen to leave the organization for personal reasons.

"The board would like to thank Dave for his leadership, significant contributions, and continued support of both Prakash and the organization," said Dave Fishman, a Partner at Vector Capital and member of SafeNet's Board of Directors. "Prakash has been the driving force behind many of the company's most critical initiatives for over a decade. He not only has a proven track record for driving positive change within the organization, but is an inspirational leader who has the trust and respect of the company's employees, customers, and the Board. We look forward continuing our relationship with Prakash in his new role as the company's President and CEO."

Since joining the company in 2002, Mr. Panjwani has taken on greater responsibilities and been instrumental in driving major product strategy, infrastructure, and operational shifts throughout the organization, including:

• The strategic acquisition of 12 companies including Rainbow Technologies, SafeNet's entry into the HSM, authentication, and software protection markets;  Ingrian Networks, broadening SafeNet's data encryption and encryption key management portfolio; Aladdin Knowledge Systems, doubling the size of SafeNet's software monetization business; and most recently Cryptocard, which brought the company's award-winning authentication business into the cloud.

• Spearheading the software division's transformation from a copyright protection offering into a robust software monetization platform capable of software provisioning, license enforcement, usage tracking, and entitlement management, for on-premise and cloud software applications.

• Refocusing the company's data protection product portfolio on three rapidly growing markets – crypto management, data encryption, and authentication and then successfully executing against a highly aggressive product development and go-to-market plan to support it.

"Seeing SafeNet grow from a small start-up to one of the leading information security companies in the world has been a truly inspiring experience for me, alongside the employees I have worked with for more than a decade and the customers who rely on us to protect their most sensitive information," said Prakash Panjwani, President and CEO, SafeNet. "The current opportunity for SafeNet is immense - what we do is more relevant and more important than ever before and we do it better than anyone else in the industry. Continued product innovation, investment in our growing partner ecosystem, a strong go-to-market strategy, and ongoing commitment to customer success will enable us to seize that opportunity."

Prior to SafeNet, Prakash spent several years at Certicom Corporation in various management positions, including Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development. Prior to Certicom, he served in various roles at Motorola Inc. and Telcordia (formerly Bellcore).

Supporting Resources for the Media:

• Prakash Panjwani Biography and Photograph
• SafeNet Executive Management Team Fact Sheet
• SafeNet Media Kit

About SafeNet, Inc.
Founded in 1983, SafeNet, Inc. is one of the largest information security companies in the world, and is trusted to protect the most sensitive data for market-leading organizations around the globe. SafeNet's data-centric approach focuses on the protection of high-value information throughout its lifecycle, from the data center to the cloud. More than 25,000 customers across commercial enterprises and government agencies trust SafeNet to protect and control access to sensitive data, manage risk, ensure compliance, and secure virtual and cloud environments. Learn more about SafeNet on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.