Christopher Hoff, former director of the Security Technology Business Unit of Cisco’s cloud and virtualization solutions business, is the latest executive to leave the company in favor of Juniper Networks. His new position has not been disclosed, but he will be starting on July 5. He himself confirmed this in a blog post, detailing some of the reasons behind his decision.

“OK: Lots of awesome people, innovative technology AND execution, a manageable size, some very interesting new challenges and the ever-present need to change the way the world thinks about, talks about and operationalizes ‘security.'”

It looks like Hoff is most likely to take on a security position like he held at Cisco, Unisys and Crossbeam Systems.  In which case, he’ll have a lot of work on his hands.  The research arm of his new employer recently released a report that found that only 4 percent of all mobile devices are secure from malware and viruses, leaving a  $3.6 billion security opportunity.

Juniper’s shares have seen a decline due to, among other things, shifts in the enterprise cloud.  In recent analysis of Juniper’s current market position, chief executive Kevin Johnson said “I think there is reason to be somewhat cautious in the near term.” According to research by Barron’s this is due to a decline in sales, though Juniper is working aggressively in order to maintain investor confidence. One of the most recent moves is a strategic investment in cloud-based acceleration solutions provider Cotendo. Citrix also participated in the $17 million funding round.

Cisco, Juniper’s main competitor now focusing on restructuring its internal outward strategies, has been also seeing a declining stock. The company is trying to gain back momentum and investor confidence via a number of steps, including the newly launched Cisco High-Performance Trading Fabric, designed specifically to handle transactional and payment data.