Carsten Willems

Carsten Willems is a world-renowned cyber security expert and pioneer in the field of malware sandboxing. Carsten earned a master’s degree in computer science from RWTH Aachen University, and a Ph.D. in cyber security from Ruhr University Bochum. His academic work has been honored with multiple awards, and he continues to lecture on computer science at his former alma mater. Carsten also serves as a cyber security and digitization advisor to the federal state government of North Rhine-Westphalia (Beirat Digitale Wirtschaft Nordrhein-Westfalen).

Entrepreneurial by nature, Carsten founded his first company in 2007 when still at university, developing and taking to market CWSandbox, a radical new approach to malware detection. He successfully sold the company and subsequently engaged in several new ventures.

Today, Carsten is CEO of VMRay, a Germany-based cyber security company that offers industry-leading technologies for advanced threat protection. With Ralf Hund he co-founded VMRay in 2013, turning their academic research into solutions that help organizations protect themselves against sophisticated and targeted cyber attacks. Carsten led the company’s growth from early days to its present expansion into global markets, winning the support of leading VC investors, and successfully closing VMRay’s Series B funding round.