Weaponizing Asset Intelligence, App Sec at ISW – Kevin Johnson, Brian Contos, Stacy Kooistra – ESW #335

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Sevco Security
Full episode and show notes

Guests

Kevin Johnson
CEO at Secure Ideas

Kevin Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer of Secure Ideas. Kevin has a long history in the IT field including system administration, network architecture and application development. He has been involved in building incident response and forensic teams, architecting security solutions for large enterprises and penetration testing everything from government agencies to Fortune 100 companies. In addition, Kevin is a faculty member at IANS and was an instructor and author for the SANS Institute.

Brian Contos
Chief Strategy Officer at Sevco Security

With two IPOs & eight acquisitions, Brian has helped build some of the most successful security companies in the world. He has over 25 years in the security industry as a security company entrepreneur, board advisor, investor, and author. After getting his start with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and later Bell Labs, Brian began the process of building security startups and taking multiple companies through successful IPOs and acquisitions, including Riptech, ArcSight, Imperva, McAfee, Solera Networks, Cylance, JASK, Verodin, and Mandiant.

Brian has worked in over 50 countries across six continents. He authored the book Enemy at the Water Cooler and co-authored Physical & Logical Security Convergence with former NSA Deputy Director William Crowell. He was featured in the cyberwar documentary 5 Eyes alongside General Michael Hayden, former NSA, and CIA Director. Brian writes for Forbes and regularly presents at conferences like Black Hat, RSA, OWASP, and BSides.

Stacy Kooistra
Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel at Dakota State University Applied Research Corporation

Stacy serves as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for the Dakota State University Applied Research Corporation (DSU-ARC). DSU-ARC was founded in October of 2022 to perform and manage applied cyber research on behalf of Dakota State University, and in furtherance of the interests of South Dakota and national security.

Stacy also serves as the State Staff Judge Advocate for the South Dakota Air National Guard and the SD Army/Air National Guard Joint Staff, holding the rank of Colonel. He previously served as City Attorney for the City of Sioux Falls from September 2018 to March 2023.

In his private law practice from 2005-2018, Stacy’s primary areas of practice were civil and commercial litigation including contract/business law, construction law, family law, and general civil litigation matters. Since 2013, Stacy has held a Martindale-Hubble peer review rating of AV, which is the highest rating possible.

Prior to practicing law, Stacy served as a U.S. Army Military Intelligence Officer on active duty and in the South Dakota Army National Guard, and also has experience as an active-duty enlisted soldier, business manager, and professional basketball player in Sweden.

Host

Senior Vice President, Audience Content Strategy at CyberRisk Alliance