New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS): Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky on Friday said it has appointed Chris Connell as Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Connell, who is set to be based in Kaspersky's regional office in Singapore, will spearhead the company's APAC business expansion efforts in addition to continuing his role as the Deputy Vice President of Global Sales for the company.

He brings to the new role over 23 years of professional experience in sales and commercial leadership in various companies and across many sectors, including solution selling, consumer, B2B (business-to-business) and channel sales.

Prior to joining Kaspersky, Connell worked at companies such as Ingram Micro Europe and Australia, Tech Data and IBM.

"I am excited to take up this new leadership role in a region where cybersecurity trends are dynamic but also diverse in terms of needs and development," Connell said on his appointment.

In his new role, Connell is expected to lend his expertise to shore up the cyber-resilience of APAC's healthcare institutions.

In addition, he will look to further develop and continue the growth in both commercial and enterprise cybersecurity, with a strong focus on threat intelligence for industry partners in the digital economy, as well as small and medium businesses.

Kaspersky said that the expansion of Connell's role at the company comes at a pivotal moment for the cybersecurity ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific, where sector spending is projected to hit $28.2 billion by 2022.

Data breaches have become increasingly commonplace in the region, with incidents of patient records being stolen from group healthcare institutions, and privacy lapses suffered by tech giants such as online shopping and transportation companies, all occurring over the past year.