CISO Forum | 2024

Adam Ely is the Chief Information Security Officer at Fidelity Investments. Adam was previously the Chief Information Security Officer of eCommerce and Deputy CISO across all companies and business lines globally at Walmart, where he spanned the global information security organization to drive strategy, execution, technology, and priorities across stores, corporate, eCommerce, health and wellness, and the global portfolio of companies.

Adam held CISO and senior security positions at Salesforce, TiVo, Alvarez & Marsal (at Lehman Brothers post-bankruptcy), The Walt Disney Company, and TRX (a publicly traded SaaS provider now a part of SAP). Adam is also an entrepreneur, having founded Bluebox Security, a mobile app security and analytics solution that was acquired by Lookout in 2016. 

Adam serves as an advisor to several companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies on operations, go-to-market strategy, and technology. Adam is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Florida State University. 

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and a journalist and cybersecurity strategist with more than 20 years experience covering IT security and technology trends. Naraine joined SecurityWeek from Intel Corp., where he most recently served as Director of Security Strategy and leader of the chipmaker’s security community engagement initiatives. He is the host of the Security Conversations podcast and a regular speaker at cybersecurity conferences around the world.

Ryan’s career as a journalist includes bylines at major technology publications including Ziff Davis eWEEK, CBS Interactive’s ZDNet, PCMag and PC World. Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanaraine.

Jason Williams Jason is a product marketing manager for Prisma Cloud at Palo Alto Networks, helping customers secure their cloud native environments. Previously, he held technical product positions focused on software defined networks, zero trust, and micro-segmentation at Cisco and Illumio.

Ryan Darst is Torq’s Director of Security Automation, where his team takes common use-cases and turn them into easy-to-use templates in the Torq template library. Ryan has almost 30 years of experience across the cybersecurity space, including experience working in both financial and healthcare environments. Over the past decade, he has assisted customers in solving complex security challenges, as well as delivering automated solutions in cloud, network, and other security technologies.

Andrew has 25+ years' international experience providing cyber and cloud security advisory services​. He is currently the Cybersecurity Advisor for ProcessUnity's Cybersecurity Program Management service offering​. Certifications: CISSP, CCSP, CCSK, CISM, CRISC

Mukul Hinge is a full stack engineer turned Product Manager with fifteen plus years of experience working with startups and enterprises in B2B and B2C roles. His interest areas include cybersecurity and cloud security with a focus on identity and access management, endpoint security, device trust, and mobile commerce.

Okey has over 20 years of information security and compliance expertise, including 10 years in the highly-regulated financial services sector. Okey is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Skillsoft and has held similar roles at Codecademy and Justworks, a payroll provider, where he built the company’s security program from the ground up. Before Justworks, Okey spent a decade managing technology risk at Goldman Sachs as Vice President of Cyber Security. Prior to Goldman, Okey served as a Criminal Forensics Investigator with the New York State Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force where he worked alongside federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies conducting digital forensic investigations to prosecute criminal activities. Okey earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Brooklyn College and an MBA from Gabelli Business School at Fordham University. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), in addition to other security certifications.

As LastPass’ first Chief Secure Technology Officer, Christofer Hoff brings nearly 30 years of experience in high-profile global roles in network and information security architecture, engineering, operations and management. He leads the integrated Product Engineering, Development and Security teams, driving innovation, security and privacy into everything LastPass does. Previously, Hoff led the “Never Down” program at Bank of America, as well as their Global Cybersecurity Technology and Operations teams, where he was responsible for innovation and architecture, engineering, development, deployment, operations and support of information technology security controls.

Kathy Wang is Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Discord. and a recognized thought-leader in information security with a strong background in research and security leadership. She has worked in government, commercial, and technology startup environments, and currently advises security services/products startup companies.

Wang is also an internationally recognized malware expert, who has researched, developed, evaluated, and operationalized various solutions for detecting and preventing client-side attacks used by advanced persistent threats (APT), as they target common platforms. She has spoken at many conferences and panels, including RSAC, DEFCON, and REcon. Wang has co-authored a book, Beautiful Security, and holds a BS and MS in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Aanchal Gupta is Vice President at Microsoft and leads Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), the front-line defense for millions of Microsoft customers around the world. Previously, as Chief Information Security Officer for Novi at Facebook, she led a team responsible for assessing and mitigating security risks across Facebook's cryptocurrency initiative.

Gupta joined Facebook in 2016 after serving as CISO at Microsoft for Skype and Skype for Business. Prior to Microsoft, she led Yahoo's Global Identity team. Gupta was named one of Business Insider’s “Most Powerful Female Engineers of 2018”. She serves on the board of Silvergate Capital Corporation (NYSE:SI), Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), and Silicon Valley CISO Investments (SVCI).

Silas Cutler is Senior Director for Cyber Threat Research and Analysis at the Institute for Security and Technology, a non-profit dedicated to solving critical international security challenges through better technology and policy.

Cutler was previously a Principal Reverse Engineer and resident hacker at Stairwell and threat intelligence practitioner at CrowdStrike, Google, Chronicle and Dell Secureworks. He specializes in hunting advanced threat actors and malware developed and nation states and organized cybercrime groups.

Juan Andrés is a Principal Threat Researcher at SentinelOne and an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Juan Andrés was Chronicle Security’s Research Tsar, founding researcher of the Uppercase team. Prior to joining Chronicle, he was Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky’s GReAT team focusing on targeted attacks and worked as Senior Cybersecurity and National Security Advisor to the Government of Ecuador. His joint work on Moonlight Maze is now featured in the International Spy Museum’s permanent exhibit in Washington, DC.

Allison Wikoff is Global Threat Intelligence Lead at PwC United States. She has nearly 20 years of experience working as a network defender, incident responder, intelligence analyst and threat researcher. The focus of the latter half of Allison’s career has been hunting and researching nation-state cyber activity with a focus on Iran. Her other research interests include emerging threats and threat actor mistakes. She holds numerous industry certifications and an advanced degree from Columbia University where she frequently guest lectures for several information security-focused graduate courses.

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and a journalist and cybersecurity strategist with more than 20 years experience covering IT security and technology trends. Naraine joined SecurityWeek from Intel Corp., where he most recently served as Director of Security Strategy and leader of the chipmaker’s security community engagement initiatives. He is the host of the Security Conversations podcast and a regular speaker at cybersecurity conferences around the world.

Ryan’s career as a journalist includes bylines at major technology publications including Ziff Davis eWEEK, CBS Interactive’s ZDNet, PCMag and PC World. Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanaraine.

Bob West joined Palo Alto Networks after more than 20 years in leadership roles with banks, product companies and professional services organizations. He now serves as Chief Security Officer, where he is responsible for evangelizing how Prisma Cloud facilitates the transition to the cloud. Bob provides counsel to Palo Alto Networks’ customers, prospects, governments, regulators and partner ecosystem.

David Weston is Vice President of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft. David has been at Microsoft working on penetration testing, threat intelligence, platform mitigation design, and offensive security research since Windows 7. He has previously led Microsoft's Windows Device Security and Offensive Security Research teams. David has presented at security conferences around the world, including Black Hat, CanSecWest, and DEF CON.

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and a journalist and cybersecurity strategist with more than 20 years experience covering IT security and technology trends. Naraine joined SecurityWeek from Intel Corp., where he most recently served as Director of Security Strategy and leader of the chipmaker’s security community engagement initiatives. He is the host of the Security Conversations podcast and a regular speaker at cybersecurity conferences around the world.

Ryan’s career as a journalist includes bylines at major technology publications including Ziff Davis eWEEK, CBS Interactive’s ZDNet, PCMag and PC World. Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanaraine.

Crane Hassold is the Director of Threat Intelligence at Abnormal Security, where he leads an intelligence team responsible for researching enterprise-focused cybersecurity threats. Prior to moving to the private sector in 2015, Crane served as an Analyst at the FBI for more than 11 years, spending most of his career in the Behavioral Analysis Units, providing support to intelligence community and law enforcement partners against national security adversaries and serial criminals. In 2012, Crane helped create the FBI’s Cyber Behavioral Analysis Center, which takes an asymmetric approach to examining cyber threats by combining the traditional behavioral concepts used for decades in the violent crime world with technical expertise to gain a holistic understanding of threat actor TTPs.

Will is a Managing Director and a founding team member at Forgepoint Capital, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on cybersecurity investments. He has been an avid technology enthusiast for decades: building his first computer in elementary school and starting online businesses while completing his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Focusing on security startups for a decade, he has worked with more than 20 cybersecurity companies to date. In his spare time he’s a foodie with friends, enabling serendipity and building communities.

Patrick Heim is a Managing Partner of the General Partner and the Investment Advisor. He is also a Partner and the Chief Information Security Officer of ClearSky Security. Mr. Heim is a senior security executive with over two decades of experience working in the security sector, spanning Fortune 500 enterprises, cloud providers as well as early-stage security technology companies. Prior to joining SYN Ventures, Mr. Heim was Head of Trust and Security at Dropbox. He also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Trust Officer at Salesforce.com. Mr. Heim has also held Chief Information Security Officer roles at Kaiser Permanente and McKesson Corporation. In the startup world he was Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at eNetSecure (a subsidiary of Applied Signal Technologies/Raytheon).

Sunil Kurkure is a Managing Director based in the Bay Area. He joined Intel Capital in 2015. Sunil invests in cloud-native infrastructure, applications, developer tools, data platforms and security. Sunil currently serves as the director or observer for Eclypsium, Fortanix, Helpshift, Kyndi, SecurityScorecard, Synack, and ZeroFox. Prior to Intel Capital, Sunil worked as an enterprise-focused investor at Mirador Capital, Greenspring Associates and Charter Ventures where he held board and advisory roles with companies including Ellie Mae (NYSE: ELLI), Deem, Sumo Logic (NASDAQ: SUMO), Snowflake Computing (NYSE: SNOW), Xensource (NASDAQ: CTXS), Clear Standards (NYSE: SAP), Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK), DATAllegro (NASDAQ: MSFT), Solidcore (NASDAQ: INTC), TeleNav (NASDAQ: TNAV), and Winery Exchange. Previously, Sunil spent several years at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse in M&A and equity financing. Sunil holds a BS from the University of California, Berkeley. He is an ardent sports fan and enjoys attending sporting events with his family.

Sidra joined Munich Re Ventures as an Investment Principal in 2019, focusing on insurtech, cybersecurity, and digital health opportunities globally. Sidra brings over 12 years of global venture capital experience and currently serves as a Director on the Board of DayForward and an Observer / Investor in Ghost Security, Sepio Systems, Air Doctor, and Azos. Sidra had an unconventional route to cybersecurity investing. Prior to Munich Re Ventures, Sidra was with the VC arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDBI). Sidra led the San Francisco office for EDBI and played an integral role in identifying investment opportunities in enterprise tech companies in North America. While at EDBI, she served on the boards of Gobalto (acquired by Oracle), Shape Security (acquired by F5), Livongo (NASDAQ: LVGO; acquired by Teladoc) and Metricstream. Her other key portfolio companies included Velocloud (acquired by VMware), Moderna Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MRNA), and Pindrop Security. Sidra joined EDBI from Nanostart, supporting investments in nanotechnology companies globally. Sidra started her technology-focused career in intellectual property at the National University of Singapore, where she played an instrumental role in identifying key technologies for patenting and licensing. Sidra received her degree in biomedical science at the National University of Singapore and is currently based in San Francisco.

Katie Moussouris is Founder/Chief Executive Officer at Luta Security. She is a bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure expert and scholar as well as a well-known hacker. Moussouris also holds the title of MIT Sloan and Harvard Belfer Visiting Scholar. Luta Security specializes in the deep business management of vulnerability disclosure programs and bug bounty programs for governments and complex organizations. After launching Microsoft’s and the US Department of Defense’s first bug bounty programs, the industry’s first vulnerability coordination maturity model, and helping many others realize the benefits of working with hackers, she helps even more people and governments worldwide in policy, vulnerability coordination and bug bounties.

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and a journalist and cybersecurity strategist with more than 20 years experience covering IT security and technology trends. Naraine joined SecurityWeek from Intel Corp., where he most recently served as Director of Security Strategy and leader of the chipmaker’s security community engagement initiatives. He is the host of the Security Conversations podcast and a regular speaker at cybersecurity conferences around the world.

Ryan’s career as a journalist includes bylines at major technology publications including Ziff Davis eWEEK, CBS Interactive’s ZDNet, PCMag and PC World. Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanaraine.