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Rohit Dhamankar is a cybersecurity executive with 20+ years of experience leading product strategy, threat intelligence, and AI across globally recognised security companies. Currently VP M&A Product Strategy at Fortra, he has held leadership roles at Alert Logic, Click Security, TippingPoint (HP Enterprise), and Cisco — spanning multiple VC/PE-backed exits and teams of 35+.
Beyond the technical, Rohit writes about the strategic and human dimensions of cybersecurity — why organisations fail, how leaders think under pressure, and what the next decade of digital risk looks like. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and at global conferences including Black Hat and RSAC.
Rohit holds a Master's in Physics from IIT Kanpur, a Master's in Electrical & Computer Engineering from UT Austin, and an Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology. He is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified product leader and an NACD-certified board director — bringing both deep technical grounding and boardroom-level governance perspective to every challenge.
Away from work, Rohit is a practitioner of Carnatic music. He serves as Co-founder and Director of Antarnaada (antarnaada.org), a Central Texas non-profit founded in 2017 to nurture the Carnatic music tradition through concerts, workshops, and annual composer day celebrations. He is also Co-founder and Director of Sadananda (sadananda.org), a US 501(c)(3) non-profit supporting underprivileged communities in India through its partner Anandam in Chennai.
He volunteers at retreats for the Blossom Foundation (blossomfoundation.com), an entirely volunteer-led centre for Yogic studies in Graham, TX. In memory of a father-like figure Dr. Chandragiri Dinaker 'CD' Rao in Austin, he established the Dr. C.D. Rao Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Austin Community College — supporting engineering students with financial need.
He has travelled to over 40 countries and writes at durvaankur.com.
Career Highlights
Career Highlights
2025-Current
VP M&A — Product Strategy · Fortra
2022–2025
VP Product Strategy · Fortra
Leads AI and TI strategy, and XDR roadmap across Fortra's full product portfolio
2018–2022
VP Threat Intelligence Products · Alert Logic (Fortra)
Led 35+ person team across product, threat intel, ML/AI, and vulnerability research for MDR platform
2013–2018
Product Strategy Advisor · Durvaankur
Advised Live Oak Venture Capital portfolio companies on cybersecurity strategy and product roadmap
2012–2013
VP Click Labs · Click Security (Acq. by Alert Logic)
Pioneered one of the industry's first security analytics solutions; won many marquee enterprise customers
2010–2012
CTO & Co-Founder · Jumpshot (Acq. by Avast)
Co-founded startup that simplified malware removal for consumers; developed industry-first passive scanning
2005–2010
Director, Digital Vaccine · TippingPoint / HP Enterprise
Led $25M+ revenue product and security research team of 15+; delivered solutions for Fortune 500 clients
2005–2007
Director, SANS Top 20 & @RISK Newsletter · SANS Institute
Authored weekly newsletter reaching 1M+ readers; co-established vulnerability framework basis for CVSS
2002–2005
Sr. Security Researcher · TippingPoint / 3Com
Second security researcher hired; built Digital Vaccine team; won first-ever NSS Labs Gold Award
2000–2002
Software Engineer · Cisco Systems
Authored 200+ vulnerability signatures for Cisco IDS; built DNS decoding engine in C/C++
Community and Giving Back
Community and Giving Back
Two causes close to my heart — one rooted in music, one in service.
Co-founder & Director · antarnaada.org · Austin, TX · Est. 2017
Antarnaada nurtures the Carnatic music tradition in Central Texas — through house concerts and recitals by local artists, workshops and lecture demonstrations by renowned gurus, and annual celebrations of the Carnatic Trinity composers (Tyagaraja Aradhana, Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri days). The organisation also recognises outstanding local Carnatic music teachers and supports emerging talent through the ASYA (Austin Student and Young Artist) programme.
Sadananda
Co-founder & Director · sadananda.org · Austin, TX
Sadananda is a registered US 501(c)(3) non-profit supporting the needy and underprivileged in India through its partner Anandam in Chennai — providing free homes for senior citizens, education support, and community care. Founded in Austin with the belief that prosperity carries a responsibility to give back.
Blossom Foundation
Retreat Volunteer · blossomfoundation.com · Graham, TX
An entirely volunteer-led foundation offering Kriya Yoga retreats, Upanishad study retreats, and yoga and Sanskrit programmes at Sacred Grove — a center for Yogic studies and exploring consciousness in Graham, TX, guided by spiritual teacher Sri M.
Dr. C.D. Rao Memorial Endowed Scholarship · Austin Community College
Established by Rohit Dhamankar · In perpetuity
Dr. Chandragiri Dinaker 'CD' Rao came to the US from India in 1972, earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from UT Austin, and spent decades teaching engineering at UT Austin and ACC. He had a special affinity for his ACC students — motivated, hard-working, often older learners returning to education as he himself had done. He was a mentor, a father figure, and a beloved teacher. After his passing on September 5th, 2020, I established this endowed scholarship in his memory to support ACC engineering students with financial need — in the hope that his spirit of patient, generous teaching lives on in every student it helps.
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