BT today announced the appointment of Ganesh K Vanapalli as Chief Security Officer (CSO) for the Asia Pacific region.

Ganesh will join a global team of security specialists focused on the internal protection of BT's corporate infrastructure, with Ganesh's attention specifically on BT's assets in the region. His appointment comes in the wake of BT's regional strategy for strong growth and substantial expansion plans.

Ganesh will work closely with BT's regional customer services BCS&G practice (Business Continuity, Security and Governance) headed by general manager Richard Moss.

Ganesh comes to BT from IBM Global Services where he was responsible for delivering state of the art turn-key solutions in managing and securing critical information and infrastructure in telecom and government sectors.

He has more than 27 years of experience in the fields of Information Security and IT.

Ganesh has held several key assignments in information security serving as security director in the rank of Captain in the Indian Navy from 2002 to 2004.

Allen Ma, president of BT Asia Pacific, said the company is betting big on security so its important to ensure "we walk the talk."

"Today, most of our customers enquire about how secure they are with BT, with a CSO on board we will be able to magnify our focus on security," he said.

In October 2006, BT acquired Counterpane Internet Security, a provider of managed networked security services, as part of its strategy to expand and develop its global professional services capabilities.

The company wants to leverage its acquisition and provide a full range of security services.