Waratek names Apostolos Giannakidis as CTO

Waratek said June 15 it appointed former JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft security leader Apostolos Giannakidis as chief technology officer to steer product strategy and research. The Dublin-based runtime security company is betting on runtime defenses as AI-generated code and AI-assisted attacks increase software risk. Why it matters: - Waratek is positioning runtime security as a response to AI-generated code vulnerabilities that can reach production faster than traditional testing can catch them. - The appointment adds a veteran app security engineer to guide the company’s technology strategy as enterprises face more zero-day and AI-assisted exploit risk. - The move underscores a broader shift toward in-application controls rather than perimeter-only defenses. What happened: - Waratek on June 15 announced Apostolos Giannakidis as chief technology officer. - Giannakidis will lead Waratek’s technology vision, product strategy and security research. - Waratek said Giannakidis will help expand its runtime protection platform as AI-generated code increases the volume of software vulnerabilities and exploits. - Giannakidis is a former AppSec vice president at JPMorgan Chase and a former principal product security engineer at Microsoft. The details: - Giannakidis brings more than two decades of technical experience building and researching technologies that protect production applications from inside the runtime. - His background includes runtime instrumentation, bytecode-level security controls, virtual patching, and detecting and preventing memory- and injection-class exploits. - He has authored security research and disclosures on the JVM and enterprise runtime environments. - He has also contributed to work on runtime instrumentation and virtualization-based protection. - Giannakidis is a frequent speaker at international security conferences on application security, vulnerability exploitation, threat modeling and defensive runtime techniques. - Waratek said its runtime approach blocks exploits where they execute, without requiring code changes. - The company said its platform applies security policy directly inside the application runtime and can block zero-days and AI-introduced flaws at the point of execution. - Waratek said it is investing in runtime defenses because AI coding assistants are increasing insecure code in production. - The company also said attackers are using AI to find and weaponize vulnerabilities at machine speed. - Waratek said legacy perimeter and signature-based security tools cannot keep up with the pace of new zero-day exploits. - The company said compliance and regulatory pressure is rising around demonstrable, in-application controls. - Giannakidis will work with engineering, research and customer-facing teams. - Waratek said the goal is to extend runtime protection across modern Java, .NET and emerging runtimes. - Waratek also wants deeper integrations with the platforms enterprises use to deliver software securely at AI-era speed. - The company is headquartered in Dublin and Chicago. - Waratek says its platform protects enterprise software from exploits at the point of execution and removes classes of exploits without code changes, signatures or intrusive agents. - Waratek says security-conscious organizations use its platform to defend mission-critical applications and meet compliance requirements. - Waratek’s announcement included a LinkedIn link for the company: Waratek on LinkedIn . - Waratek’s website is www.waratek.com. Between the lines: - Waratek is tying its product story to the rise of generative AI, using the CTO hire to reinforce a runtime-first security thesis. - The company is also signaling a push from point solutions toward broader platform integration across common enterprise runtimes. - Giannakidis’ background at Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase gives Waratek a credibility boost with security buyers. What’s next: - Waratek said Giannakidis will help accelerate investment in runtime defenses for AI-era threats. - The company plans to deepen product capabilities across Java, .NET and emerging runtimes. - Waratek also appears to be aiming for tighter integration with enterprise software delivery platforms. The bottom line: - Waratek is betting that runtime security, not pre-production scanning alone, will be the key control for AI-era application risk.