http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/12/eEye-founder-calls-it-quits_1.html 

By Robert McMillan
IDG News Service
December 12, 2007

eEye Digital Security founder Marc Maiffret has left the company and 
plans to launch a new venture, developing next-generation mobile phone 
software for the corporate world.

A noted hacker, Maiffret co-founded eEye in the late 1990s with Firas 
Bushnaq and had served as the company's CTO, overseeing a staff of about 
30 engineers. Bushnaq stepped down as CEO in 2006, and Maiffret said 
that he'd started thinking about leaving to pursue other startup ideas 
earlier this year. "I'd been doing it a long time," he said Wednesday. 
"I started the company when I was 17 and had been doing it the last 10 
years."

The 70-person company, based in Aliso Viejo, California, has been going 
through some bumpy times lately. Bushnaq's replacement, Ross Brown, was 
fired earlier this year, and eEye also recently shut down its Orange 
County sales offices.

Maiffret said that this had nothing to do with his departure and that 
he's leaving eEye in good shape, however. "Today, it's pretty much an 
engine that's been running itself," he said. He stopped working for eEye 
in September but didn't announce his departure until this week. eEye 
representatives could not be reached immediately for comment, but 
Maiffret said that the company has not yet found a replacement CTO.

He will be doing some consulting work and developing the new software 
for Windows- and Blackberry-powered mobile phones, which he expects to 
unveil in the first quarter of next year. "Everybody has these miniature 
computers in their pockets, but nobody is doing anything interesting 
with them," he said.

Although the new product will not be security-related, Maiffret said he 
expects to remain involved in the security research community, where he 
also plans to do consulting work as a self-described "CTO for hire."

"I'll probably be more involved in [security research] now," he said, 
"because being CTO of eEye didn't leave me with a lot of personal time 
to do hands-on research."


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