Going to the 'Dark Side'

Or you may call it hopping the fence, from hack to flack, or whatever other expression you can come up with.

After about a decade of being a reporter both in Europe and the U.S., I am joining McAfee on May 21 as director of public relations. That means I won't be reporting on security or receiving pitches anymore, instead I will be working behind the scenes at McAfee helping its PR efforts as it enters exciting times under new CEO Dave DeWalt.

I will surely miss being part of the excellent team at CNET News.com and appreciate the many opportunities the company has given me over the past years. I'm happy to say though that I will still be in touch with many of the people I have gotten to know as a reporter, especially the fellow security writers, albeit in a different capacity.

McAfee gave me an opportunity I could not refuse at the right time in my career. I am eager to take on the challenges ahead and working with the ambitious and fun-loving people at McAfee. Also, I will still have a byline on my own blog and perhaps even on a McAfee blog, stay tuned.

To the reporters: Don't hesitate to contact me anytime and I welcome your thoughts on what I could do to improve PR at McAfee from a reporter's perspective. Also, ping me if you happen to know anyone experienced in reporting on security and looking for a new outlet, I'll be glad to pass the details on to the right people at CNET.

For the next two weeks I will still be at CNET, but obviously not covering anything related to McAfee or its competitors.