About Me

Here, I list some autobiographical facts and outline a several of my projects and accomplishments. After all, activity suggests a life filled with purpose.

Professional Background

My professional expertise spans business and technological functions in the areas of IT, information security, and risk management. In the recent years I contributed to security assurance efforts at compliance-focused industries.

I lead the security consulting team at Savvis, a leading provider of outsourced IT business solutions. I'm also a Board of Directors member at SANS Technology Institute, a SANS faculty member, and an incident handler at the Internet Storm Center a member of the Board of Directors at SANS Technology Institute and a senior faculty member at SANS.

I frequently speak on information security and related business topics at conferences and private events, write articles, and have co-authored several books. I'm one of the few individuals in the world who've earned the highly-regarded GIAC Security Expert (GSE) designation. I also hold the CISSP certification. I have an MBA degree from MIT Sloan and a Computer Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Publications

One of my most challenging and rewarding experiences was producing and co-authoring the book Inside Network Perimeter Security. Another exciting writing project in which I recently participated was contributing a few chapters to the book Malware: Fighting Malicious Code. I also contributed articles to publications such as the Information Security magazine, and Campus Technology. Many of my articles and papers are available throughout this website.

Professional Certifications

In addition to holding the CISSP certification, have earned the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) designation. Earning GSE was a particularly challenging process, because it required obtaining several other subject-specific certifications as well as passing a 28-hour hands-on and written exam. In general, I find certifications useful motivators for keeping my skills current, as long as the cert's focus is in line with the real-world experience that I'm getting at the time.

Other Activities

I am an incident handler at SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC). ISC processes data from around the world, and acts as an early warning system for Internet-wide security problems. One of the handlers is on duty every day, analyzing data collected from automated sensors and messages that we receive from system administrators and computer users. The handler-on-duty publishes a diary of that day's events, to let our readers know about recent security trends and observations.

Additional Details

For an additional perspective on my activities, take a look at the interview the organizers of the SOURCE conference conducted with me.

For the most recent updates, you're welcome to track me on Twitter.

People I Know Who Have Websites

You are who you know, right? Or is it "you are what you eat"? In any case, here are links to several people's sites, which I'd like to offer for your consideration:

Julia is an illustrator and a partner at Hyperakt Design Group.
Villi is the founder and first violinist of the Ambassadors String Quartet.
Edward is a professional photographer.
Arkady is an amateur photographer.
Slava is a master of many trades.
Michael and his his team created this on-line store to simplify the licensing of IBM software.