James C. Foster Named Advisory Director of Lincoln International’s Cyber M&A Practice

Lincoln International, a leading global mid-market investment bank, has announced that James Foster has joined the firm as Advisory Director, Cyber Security. Mr. Foster will help strengthen the firm’s knowledge and presence in the cyber arena by leveraging his background, contacts and experience in the industry. Foster will assist in developing and securing new business opportunities while providing strategic advice to transaction execution teams.

Foster is a best-selling author and entrepreneur with over a decade of committed experience in the cyber security industry. Prior to joining Lincoln as an Advisory Director, Foster founded Ciphent, Inc. (“Ciphent”), a global pure-play cyber security solutions company. Ciphent expanded rapidly since its founding in 2006, growing its customer base to over 1,000 Federal and commercial organizations and becoming the 16th fastest growing private company in the United States, as ranked by Inc. Magazine in 2010. Foster’s relationship with Lincoln commenced in 2010 as a result of Lincoln’s successful representation of Ciphent in its sale to Accuvant, Inc., a portfolio company of Sverica International, in September of that year.

“James Foster’s deep industry knowledge, extensive contacts and entrepreneurial background will immediately benefit our clients within the cyber industry,” said Jim Lawson, Chairman of Lincoln International. “We were excited to work with James during the sale of Ciphent and look forward to having him join our team.”

Prior to founding Ciphent, Foster held key management positions and roles at several successful cyber security organizations, including Foundstone (acquired by McAfee in 2004), Guardent (acquired by VeriSign in 2003), Information Security Magazine (acquired by Tech Target Media), Booz Allen Hamilton, and Computer Sciences Corporation. Foster started his career working for the Department of Defense.

Foster is a well-known figure within the industry and has had the honor of briefing Congress on the increase in international cyber threats on multiple occasions. Additionally, Foster has been a featured speaker at BlackHat, Gartner, InfoSec World, Focus, and MIT. Foster has published over a dozen books focused on the broader cyber security sector, including international best-selling Buffer Overflow Attacks, Secure Coding, Writing Security Tools & Exploits, and SNORT 2.0.