Choudhary will lead efforts to make the Trusted Data Format (TDF) an international standard and advance new OpenTDF project
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Virtru, a global leader in data security and inventor of the Trusted Data Format (TDF), today announced the hiring of Mishi Choudhary as senior vice president and general counsel. Choudhary will assume several critical responsibilities, including leading all legal and compliance activities at the company, setting up internal processes to continue to accelerate growth, helping shape Virtru and open source strategy, and activating global business development efforts.
A technology lawyer with over 17 years of legal experience, Choudhary has served as a legal representative for many of the world's most prominent free and open source software developers and distributors, including the Free Software Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Linux Foundation, Debian, the Apache Software Foundation, and OpenSSL.
“Our expertise in data privacy and momentum to date has empowered us to recruit the very best talent in the world,” said Virtru CEO John Ackerly. “Mishi will play an integral role in our efforts to move TDF from primarily a government spec to a true international standard that is capable of helping the world realize the benefits of zero trust data control and enhanced data privacy.”
Last month, Virtru launched the OpenTDF project, an open source initiative that developers can leverage to encrypt and protect sensitive data flowing in and out of their applications while applying data policies to enable Zero Trust data control. Originally invented within the National Security Agency by Virtru’s co-founder, Will Ackerly, TDF has long existed as an open specification hosted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"With OpenTDF poised to become the standard method for sharing sensitive data securely, I am looking forward to working with John, Will and the team on growing its adoption within the open source community," said Choudhary. "This is an incredibly exciting time to be joining Virtru as more developers turn to TDF for governing sensitive data."
Throughout her career, Choudhary has advised technology startups, established businesses, and governments around the world on intellectual property matters regarding open source software licensing and strategy, export control compliance, diversity and inclusion, data protection and content moderation. In 2010, she founded the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) in India, serving as its president and executive director until 2017. Under her direction, SFLC won numerous awards while becoming the premier non-profit organization representing the rights of internet users and free software developers in India. As of 2017, Choudhary was the only lawyer in the world simultaneously to appear on briefs in the U.S. and Indian Supreme Courts in the same term. Choudhary has an Executive MBA/PLD from Harvard Business School, an LLM from Columbia Law School, and an LLB degree and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi.
About Virtru
At Virtru, we empower organizations to easily unlock the power of data while maintaining control, everywhere it’s stored and shared. Virtru is trusted by more than 7,000 global customers to power their Zero Trust strategies and safeguard their most sensitive data in accordance with the world’s strictest security standards. Creators of TDF (Trusted Data Format), the open industry standard for persistent data protection, Virtru provides encryption technology for data shared through email, collaboration tools, cloud environments, and enterprise SaaS applications. For more information, visit https://www.virtru.com or follow us on Twitter at @virtruprivacy.
Media Contact:
Phil Tortora
REQ for Virtru
ptortora@req.co
