12 Speakers
INFOSEC ILLUMINATION
Malcolm W. Nance
MSNBC counterterrorism analyst, NYT bestselling author & former US Navy/NSA Cryptologist.
Malcolm Nance was a U.S. Intelligence specialist with a career as a Naval Cryptologic Intelligence codebreaker, field interrogator, and master of Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. He is MSNBC’s counterterrorism chief expert and a four times NYT bestselling author.
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Seba 19
Future Hacker
Seba 19 is a middle school student who is beginning his hacking career early. His interests include video games, robotics, coding, architecture, and Legos. He has helped with the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media, which helps teachers incorporate Design Thinking and Arts Integration into the classroom. He also enjoys mountain biking, swimming, Taekwon-Do, and other martial arts.
Daria Phoebe Brashear
Cofounder, Auristor, Inc.
Daria has been creating, packaging and distributing secure network file sharing software for longer than she cares to admit. An alumna and former employee of Carnegie Mellon University, she got her start with the school's Andrew computing system and has carried the things she learned into the world. In her spare time, Daria is a social justice advocate, recreational cyclist and railfan. She shares responsibility for two cats with her partner, Marie.
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Dr. Allan Friedman
Director of Cybersecurity Initatives, NTIA
Dr. Allan Friedman is Director of Cybersecurity Initiatives at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the US Department of Commerce. He coordinates NTIA's multistakeholder processes on cybersecurity, focusing on addressing vulnerabilities in connected systems and across the software world. Prior to joining the Federal Government, Friedman spent over 15 years as a noted cybersecurity and tech policy scholar at Harvard's Computer Science Department, the Brookings Institution and George Washington University's Engineering School. He is the co-author of the popular text 'Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know,' has a degree in computer science from Swarthmore College and a PhD in public policy from Harvard University. He's known to be quite friendly for a failed-professor-turned-technocrat.
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Dr. Susan Ferebee
More Degrees than an Arizona Summer
Dr. Susan Ferebee earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems from Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She is a faculty member in the School for Business and Information Technology at Purdue University Global and has also served as a consultant with more than 25 years of experience working directly with organizations and higher education institutions. Dr. Ferebee started her career as a software developer, then branched into business administration and systems analysis. She has extensive experience in corporate America performing business and information system analysis and research related to systems and business process engineering at Intuit, Lucent Technologies, and America on Line (AOL). Dr. Ferebee has successfully analyzed and improved business processes and system designs both within these companies and as an outside consultant. Dr. Ferebee now focuses on academic research and teaching.
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Dr. Rhonda Chicone
Professional Beach Bum, Bruce Springsteen Enthusiast, and Madonna Apologist
Dr. Rhonda Chicone is a Professor at Purdue University Global teaching Masters students Cybersecurity and Information Technology. Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Chicone spent 28 years in the software industry holding many positions to include CSO, CTO, Director of Engineering, Product Engineering Manager, and Software Engineer. Software development remains as one of her passions. Dr. Chicone enjoys time with her daughter and son-in-law, music, and being a beach bum.
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Madison Oliver
Putting the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent back into cybersecurity one day at a time
Madison Oliver is a vulnerability coordinator in the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) at the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. She has been coordinating vulnerabilities for just over two years. Before joining the CERT/CC, she studied cybersecurity at both the Pennsylvania State University and Carnegie Mellon University. She has previously presented at ShmooCon, FIRST, and other local conferences. When she is not busy trying to make the Internet a safer place, she serves on the alumni board at the Pennsylvania State University mentoring young women studying cybersecurity.
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Kwadwo Burgee
Professional Antagonist
Kwadwo Burgee is an information security professional who specializes in vulnerability management and disclosure, and has previously worked as a member of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) with the release of and response to software/hardware vulnerabilities such as, but not limited to: Meltdown and Spectre; Bluekeep; GLitch; and EternalBlue. In his spare time he serves as a church elder, musician and Christian Apologist striving for racial equality. Kwadwo is currently a Senior Customer Advisor at Rapid7, helping customers improve their cybersecurity posture.
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Alexandra Parisi
A Gen Z Without TikTok
Ally is a second-year graduate student in the Information Security Policy & Management program at Carnegie Mellon University and a Threat Intelligence Graduate Research Assistant at the Software Engineering Institute's CERT/CC. Her background in international relations and international security gives her a dynamic perspective in the threat intelligence community. In her free time, Ally explores craft beer, learns OSINT tools, and is routinely disappointed by the Buffalo Bills. To answer your question: yes, bleu cheese is the only acceptable dip for chicken wings.
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Karen Miller
Bachelor of making things, Master of breaking things
Karen Miller is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate from the Information Security, M.S. program and currently works full-time as a penetration tester at the Software Engineering Institute. Karen also received a B.S. in Computer Science from Southern Utah University where she frequently participated in cyber defense and capture the flag competitions, which sparked her interest in penetration testing as a career. Although still early in her career, Karen works to help underrepresented individuals develop their security skills, recognizing the important and unique perspectives that people of different backgrounds can bring.
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Alison Falk
Founder, WITPGH & Cybersecurity Professional
Alison is a self-proclaimed digital pest control service and a recent GWU Master's grad in cybersecurity engineering policy and compliance. She is an organizer with both WITPGH and co-lead of Women of Sex Tech.
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Kat Fitzgerald
Rnbwkat by day, Evil Kat the rest of the time.
Based in Kirkland, WA and a natural creature of winter, you can typically find me sipping Grand Mayan Extra Añejo whilst simultaneously defending my systems using OSS, magic spells and Dancing Flamingos.
Honeypots, Refrigerators and IoT (Internet of Threats) are a few of my favorite things!
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TC Johnson
Oddball Among Geeks
After graduating high school with a GPA lower than 2, TC went into the military as an aircraft mechanic. At some point the Air Force decided to let him try flying satellites which it turns out he was pretty good at. What he discovered in both turning wrenches and chasing missiles was a love for solving complex problems and puzzles.
Like many, the term Certified Ethical Hacker came up in conversation and TC thought, “Ohh that sounds fun!” Since then he’s had opportunities to hack things such as ATMs at one of the largest banks in America to main battle tanks for the US Army while employed by one of the DoD’s Red Teams.
TC’s main passions are teaching and passing knowledge while growing and learning from new opportunities and experiences.
