TrackBack has appointed Oscar O’Connor as its chief information security officer as another line of defence against data theft and cyber attacks.

The dealer call services provider has appointed O’Connor to draw on more than 25 years of experience in tackling online threats and toughen up against potential threats against customer data

O’Connor is a member of the UK’s Information Assurance Advisory Council, head of assessment for the Cyber Security Challenge UK and a regular speaker at events relating to cyber security, governance, risk and compliance and has a number of publications to his name.

Gareth Thomas, managing director of TrackBack, said: “We have been working with Oscar on an ad-hoc basis for many years, and are delighted to add him to our team in this pivotal role on a permanent basis.

“His appointment strengthens our security provision and provides clients with additional assurance about how seriously we treat the data they entrust to us.”

TrackBack handles millions of leads for dozens of car brands in over 20 markets worldwide, and is responsible for updating lead management and CRM systems with data about dealer call and email activity.

Thomas said that sensitive and precious data needs to be protected not only from being corrupted, mismanaged or targeted by malicious internet users.

He added: “While we have never knowingly thus far been penetrated by a threat, we have decided to appoint a highly experienced person to oversee all our security arrangements to provide our clients and ourselves with the maximum possible confidence that we never will.”