Cybersecurity Veteran Simon Ractliffe Tapped to Lead Rapid7 Across APJ

Customers becoming wary of security siloes, now looking for simpler, more connected solutions

Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 has appointed Simon Ractliffe as general manager of its APJ business.

He has over 30 years’ experience in the cybersecurity game, most recently serving as regional managing director, ANZ and SEA, at Secureworks.

He has also worked as regional general manager, ANZ, at Qualys, as well as general manager, Australasia, at IBM.

Ractliffe emphasised the importance of working with the channel in his new role, saying partners are central to Rapid7’s operations in Australia and across APJ.

“Partners have the closest relationships with customers, and understand their local environments, regulatory requirements and business pressures,” he said.

Rapid7 has recently expanded its partnership with Microsoft, intended to advance pre-emptive detection and response capabilities across Microsoft environments.

According to Ractliffe, Rapid7’s MDR for Microsoft combines Rapid7’s SOC expertise with the Microsoft security ecosystem to “anticipate attacks earlier, strengthen resilience and maximise return on organisation’s Microsoft Defender investments, all the while reducing operational complexity.”

Working with partners

Ractliffe said Rapid7’s role is to work with partners around accountability, consistency and transparency.

He said the organisation will provide the technology, support and commercial models to help partners deliver secure, compliant services while running sustainable businesses.

“That means focusing on integration, scalability, and practical enablement, rather than just product sales. We want partners to see Rapid7 as a long-term platform they can build services around,” he said.

He also observed Australia has a relatively mature cybersecurity market, with the caveat many organisations are reassessing their current security investments.

Customers, Ractliffe said, are beginning to question whether complex, siloed tools are improving their security posture. This is leading them to investigate simpler, more connected approaches designed to deliver measurable outcomes.

“This creates an opportunity for Rapid7 and our partners to help organisations modernise their security operations, improve visibility across their environments, and better align security with business priorities,” he ended.