courtot had begun investing in qualys, a cloud security company, back in 1999, but was named ceo in 2001 after he had left signio. in 2004, sc magazine awarded courtot with the editor's award for his efforts in the network security industry and for founding cso interchange, a forum that allows users to share information in the security industry. in 2011, sc magazine named him as ceo of the year at their european awards ceremony. courtot led qualys to its initial public offering in 2012.