Jason Cromes
Identity Security Manager
Southern Company
Jason Cromes is the Manager of the Identity Security organization at Southern Company. Over the past 2 years, he has built a high-performing team with considerable knowledge of on-premises and cloud identity including Auth & MFA, PAM, PKI, SOX, CIAM, mainframe identity and identity risk detection.
Jason brings to his role 20 years of IT and OT experience across a broad range of infrastructure, telecom, cloud, application development, and security domains. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Alabama and a Masters of Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
About Jason Cromes
Follow Jason Cromes
Identity Security Manager
Southern Company
Alex Trafton
Senior Managing Director
Ankura
Alex Trafton is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura based in Irvine, focused on national security, trade, and technology. He has over 15 years of experience in finance, risk management, and cybersecurity. He leads the NSTT information security services function and serves as a subject matter expert in cybersecurity program design, implementation, and assessment with a focus in foreign investment control and oversight (CFIUS), Defense Industrial Base (DIB) cybersecurity requirements, international trade control compliance program support (ITAR/EAR), and artificial intelligence (AI). He was named one of the top 50 cybersecurity consultants and leaders of 2023 by the Consulting Report.
About Alex Trafton
Follow Alex Trafton
Senior Managing Director
Ankura
Eric Floyd
Director of Industrial Solutions & Alliances, Network Visibility
Keysight Technologies
Eric has 25 years of experience in global business development, strategic partnerships, and consulting in the Industrial and Carrier markets, with lengthy stints at Samsung in Korea, Cisco in the Asia-Pacific region, and Microsemi in the US. Now based in Silicon Valley, Eric is responsible for building Keysight’s Industrial cybersecurity and network visibility business through technology partnerships, new solutions development, and strategic account engagement with utilities, manufacturing, and transportation organizations. Eric completed his MBA at UC Berkeley and his BA in Economics at the University of Virginia.
About Eric Floyd
Follow Eric Floyd
Director of Industrial Solutions & Alliances, Network Visibility
Keysight Technologies
Dan Harkness
Group Leader, Secure DevOps
Argonne National Laboratory
Dan joined Argonne National Laboratory in 2009 and is currently group leader of Secure DevOps in the Strategic Security Sciences division. He and his team focus on proactively improving the state of cyber operations, creating better and more rapid cyber situational awareness, ensuring the security of critical infrastructure, evaluating the cyber impacts of emerging technologies, and protecting the security and prosperity of our national and global communities.
https://www.anl.gov/profile/daniel-j-harkness
About Dan Harkness
Follow Dan Harkness
Group Leader, Secure DevOps
Argonne National Laboratory
Morgan King
Senior Technical Advisor, CybersecurityWE
WECC
At WECC, Morgan’s role as a Senior Technical Advisor, Cybersecurity is to assist registered entities in their security, compliance, and reliability efforts. He has also served as a NERC CIP Auditor for 11 years. Prior to these roles he was a Senior Network Security Administrator for EG&G Defense at the U.S. Army Chemical Weapons Depot, responsible for network security and maintaining DoD DIACAP accreditation.
About Morgan King
Follow Morgan King
Senior Technical Advisor, CybersecurityWE
WECC
David Bernstein
Principal Consultant
BSI Consulting
David Bernstein has over 15 years of experience in emergency response, emergency management, and business continuity and resilience planning. He has supported clients in developing and overseeing enterprise resilience strategies with local and global footprints. In addition to strategic program development, David has also developed facility recovery plans and acted as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support COVID-19 safety and recovery efforts. Prior to being a consultant, he was an Emergency Manager in healthcare, leading initiatives spanning individual hospitals to multi-facility health networks. He has also acted as a strategic advisor on multi-agency initiatives at the local and regional level, including coalitions and consortiums ranging in size and scope. David holds internationally recognized credentials in Emergency Management and Business Continuity and brings significant experience in leading teams to develop corporate emergency response and business continuity programs, often from a ground zero start point.
About David Bernstein
Follow David Bernstein
Principal Consultant
BSI Consulting
Ryan Ferran
Manager, Senior Penetration Tester
BPM Cyber Security and Assessment Services
Ryan holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science, which has provided the basis for his career in multiple technical fields, including over 10 years in IT system administration. After moving to offensive security in 2016, Ryan has specialized in several facets of cyber security. As a senior penetration tester Ryan has worked to complete hundreds of highly technical penetration tests across a wide variety of industries including government, utilities, financial, healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education. He leads the physical security team and performs in-person social engineering testing and rigorous physical security audits. Ryan also has a focus on Operational Technology (OT) assessments and he has spent years mastering a thorough and delicate methodology to safely test organizations with OT considerations such as power companies, water treatment facilities, waste water facilities, and industrial manufacturing. These areas of specialization are his passion, helping to secure critical infrastructure that supports the everyday lives of all people provides the largest impact for the skills he has developed throughout his career.
About Ryan Ferran
Follow Ryan Ferran
Manager, Senior Penetration Tester
BPM Cyber Security and Assessment Services
Karl Perman
Board Member
EnergySec
Mr. Perman has held security leadership positions in the energy sector including Exelon Corporation and Southern California Edison. Karl developed a security practice during his service as the first Director of Security for the North American Transmission Forum. He served in law enforcement roles at the municipal and federal levels prior to entering the private sector. He also served in military intelligence and military police units in the U. S. Army Reserves.cMr. Perman has a Master’s Degree in Public Safety Administration from Lewis University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Law and Government from Eastern Michigan University.
About Karl Perman
Follow Karl Perman
Board Member
EnergySec
Stacy Bresler
Vice President
EnergySec
Stacy Bresler is a founding director of EnergySec. Mr. Bresler has served as cybersecurity manager for PacifiCorp, with previous experience at U.S. Bancorp, Hewlett-Packard, Conoco Oil and Chevron. He was also part of the team of NERC CIP auditors that helped establish the regional reliability audit program. He has devoted the past 15 years to the electric sector cybersecurity profession.
About Stacy Bresler
Follow Stacy Bresler
Vice President
EnergySec
Kevin Morrison
Manager, Security Services
EnergySec
Kevin is not new to EnergySec, having served an internship with us in 2014. Since then, he has gained more than 6 years experience working in Security Operations Centers. He has worked with various fields including public and government utilities, schools, health care, commerce, transportation, and state/local governments. He served in various roles starting as an analyst and working up to his last role as the Director of Security Operations where he managed upwards of 25 analysts.
About Kevin Morrison
Follow Kevin Morrison
Manager, Security Services
EnergySec
Dennis Skarr
IT Instructor/Industrial Cybersecurity
Everett Community College
Dennis is tenured faculty at Everett Community College (EvCC). Currently, Dennis is spearheading the development of an Industrial Cybersecurity Program at EvCC. Dennis brings over 10 years of experience from performing critical system assessments for the National Guard. His work covered diverse domains, including electrical utilities and voting systems.
Dennis Skarr recently created Inductive Solutions, a dynamic company specializing in content creation and gamified learning platforms for industrial cybersecurity. With a passion for education and technology, this effort also aims to bring educational videos and learning to a younger audience on digital literacy.
About Dennis Skarr
Follow Dennis Skarr
IT Instructor/Industrial Cybersecurity
Everett Community College
Kyle Jones
Professor
Sinclair College
Short Bio,
With a 15-year IT background, Kyle Jones transitioned to education, holding various roles, including Sr. Security Infrastructure Administrator. He possesses multiple CompTIA certifications and degrees in Network Engineering, Business and a Master in Information Assurance and Security. At Sinclair College, he's a Principal Investigator and a noted cybersecurity speaker in Ohio. His recognitions include IT Leader of the Year and Dayton's top 40 under 40, and he actively participates in the Ohio Cyber Reserves.
About Kyle Jones
Follow Kyle Jones
Professor
Sinclair College
Matt Downey
Vice President Energy and Supply Chain Sales
Fortress Information Security
Mr. Downey serves as Vice President Energy and Supply Chain Sales with Fortress Information Security and is responsible for Fortress’ overall Sales effort within North American Energy Utility and adjacent markets. Matt has worked within the Energy industry for the past 26 years, having served in Customer-facing capacities with Datamatic, Inc, Elster-ABB, Space-Time Insight, and Nokia prior assuming his current role at Fortress. During this time, he has accrued vital experience listening to his Clients and tailoring specific solutions to their needs.
About Matt Downey
Follow Matt Downey
Vice President Energy and Supply Chain Sales
Fortress Information Security
Sharla Artz
Security and Resilience Policy AVP
Xcel Energy
Sharla Artz serves as the Security and Resilience Policy Area Vice President for Xcel Energy where she manages the company’s national security strategic partnerships with our federal and state government partners. In this role, she works with utilities, government partners, and industry stakeholders to develop strategies that enhance the resilience of critical infrastructures. Previously, she served as the Senior Vice President of Government & External Affairs at the Utilities Technology Council, where she focused on bringing attention to cross sector interdependencies in critical infrastructure protection efforts. Ms. Artz was formerly the Director of Government Affairs at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL), where she established close working relationships with government officials, contributed insight for sound policy decision making, and was an advocate on the role of technology in grid resilience. Prior to joining SEL, Ms. Artz was the vice president of legal and government affairs for Genscape, Inc., developing business relationships for the company with federal entities. Ms. Artz was the assistant general counsel for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, serving the 50 state utility commissioners on energy regulatory matters pending before the federal government. After receiving her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, Ms. Artz spent four years on Capitol Hill, working on energy policy for a former member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Ms. Artz has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two children.
About Sharla Artz
Follow Sharla Artz
Security and Resilience Policy AVP
Xcel Energy
Matt Caves
V.P., Legal & Regulatory Compliance
Western Farmers Electric Cooperative
Matt Caves currently serves as the Corporate Compliance Officer and Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Compliance for Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), a generation and transmission cooperative located in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Prior to joining WFEC, Matt spent almost 15 years as a state regulator and in private practice handling a wide variety of regulatory compliance, permitting, enforcement and litigation issues.
Matt is a member of the Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC) and Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and serves on the Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Advisory Council (CMEPAC). He also serves on the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Advisory Council (AQAC). Matt obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology from Oklahoma State University and his Juris Doctorate degree from The University of Oklahoma, College of Law.
About Matt Caves
Follow Matt Caves
V.P., Legal & Regulatory Compliance
Western Farmers Electric Cooperative
Nate Evans
Senior Cyber Researcher
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Nathaniel Evans is a senior cybersecurity researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He currently works on a variety of proactive cybersecurity projects involving critical infrastructure including the development of DOE’s Energy Threat Analysis Center. Nate created a cybersecurity assessment for critical infrastructure that is used heavily by DHS and has three R&D 100 awards for his research in proactive cybersecurity. Nate graduated with his PHD from Iowa State University and has had a variety of positions within industry and the National Labs.
About Nate Evans
Follow Nate Evans
Senior Cyber Researcher
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Steve Parker
President and Founding Director
EnergySec
Steven Parker, CISA, CISSP, is a founding director of EnergySec. He has been engaged in critical infrastructure protection within the electric sector for more than 22 years, including eight years as a senior security staff member at a large west coast utility. He was also one of the original NERC CIP auditors for the WECC region. He has been with EnergySec full-time since 2010.
About Steve Parker
Follow Steve Parker
President and Founding Director
EnergySec
Pierre Janse van Rensburg
Senior Consulting Expert, ICS Cybersecurity
BBA Engineering, presentation on behalf of ICS4ICS (ISA GCA)
With a keen will to continually deepen his knowledge, Mr. Janse van Rensburg’s career history highlights expertise and demonstrated skill sets in areas such as system security, support, administration and management, system / process development and implementation, team leadership, project management, consulting, training and mentoring.
He has played key roles in the development of multiple organizations' Compliance and Cybersecurity Programs (NERC CIP, NIST CSF, IEC-62443), as well as ongoing maintenance. He provides consulting service in a wide range of cybersecurity projects including working with large industrial utilities such as BC Hydro, AltaLink, and ENMAX Power. Prior to joining BBA he was responsible for the day-to-day operational security of a large municipal utility T&D SCADA network. His proven ability to quickly grasp and master new technical concepts and technologies and responsibility in managing multi-level projects to fruition effectively make him a great asset to every team.
About Pierre Janse van Rensburg
Follow Pierre Janse van Rensburg
Senior Consulting Expert, ICS Cybersecurity
BBA Engineering, presentation on behalf of ICS4ICS (ISA GCA)
Manuel Carlos Maestas
Idaho National Laboratory / Distributed Energy and Grid Modeling Integration
Power Systems Engineer
Control Systems Engineer skilled in the art of installing and programming control systems. I bring hands-on expertise, having successfully navigated concept-to-scale testing and commissioning projects. I'm skilled in grid modeling and simulation with RTDS's RSCAD FX, focusing on using data to implement advanced fault identification methods in the evolving power generation landscape. Some of my work includes configuring and testing hardware in-the-loop, which includes the installation and configuration of SEL devices (3555, 351, 735, 2488), Megger Amplifiers, inverters, and PLC systems. I also have experience with testing automated response methods and conducted vulnerability assessments on customer provided testbeds. I have helped mentor over 30 interns at a national laboratory.
About Manuel Carlos Maestas
Follow Manuel Carlos Maestas
Idaho National Laboratory / Distributed Energy and Grid Modeling Integration
Power Systems Engineer
Brian Pauling
Sr. Operations Compliance Consultant
Archer
Brian has served in a variety of executive, management and consulting capacities for over 25 years utilizing his expertise to create, assess, and implement change across numerous industries and organizations, with a focus in the gas and electric utility industry. Most notably, his experience includes establishing
and managing top tier NERC and corporate compliance departments, providing end to end compliance support (i.e., program development, program management, process design and implementation, RSAW
documentation/review, internal controls program development and implementation, mock audits, audit support, penalty/sanction resolution, etc.) to small and large utilities, and managing regulatory processes and relationships.
About Brian Pauling
Follow Brian Pauling
Sr. Operations Compliance Consultant
Archer
Gregory Hale
Editor & Founder
Industrial Safety And Security Source
Gregory has been the Editor/Founder of Industrial Safety and Security Source (ISSSource.com) for 14 years, reporting on Safety and Security in the manufacturing sector. He is also the founder of ICSSTRIVE, a manufacturing industry cybersecurity incident database. Prior to ISSSource, he was InTech magazine’s Chief Editor for 10 years.
https://isssource.com
About Gregory Hale
Follow Gregory Hale
Editor & Founder
Industrial Safety And Security Source
Rees Machtemes
Director of Industrial Security
Waterfall Security
Rees is a professional electrical engineer with 20 years of industry experience. He’s designed power generation and transmission substations, automated a food and beverage plant, worked on private and government telecom projects, and supported data centers and OT hardware vendors. This led him to champion cyber-safe systems design and architecture.
About Rees Machtemes
Follow Rees Machtemes
Director of Industrial Security
Waterfall Security
Monta Elkins
SANS Instructor and Author of the new Hardware Hacking Essentials Training
SANS
EnergySec Cyber Security Professional of the Year 2018
SAN ICS Cyber Security Principal Instructor
Hardware Hacking Essentials Training Course Author
Supply chipping attack feature at wired.com
60+ Security presentations at conferences including, DEFCON, RSA, EnergySec, S4 CS3STLM, Bsides LV, GridSecCon, Hack the Capitol and many others
About Monta Elkins
Follow Monta Elkins
SANS Instructor and Author of the new Hardware Hacking Essentials Training
SANS
Mark Cooper
President & Founder - PKI Solution
PKI Solutions
Mark B. Cooper, president and founder of PKI Solutions, has been known as “The PKI Guy” since his early days at Microsoft. Mark has deep knowledge and experience in all things Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), including Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), PKI design and implementation, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile security, and encryption. PKI Solutions provides consulting, training, professional services, and assessments to help ensure the security of organizations now and in the future. At PKI Solutions, Mark and his team have implemented PKI solutions at enterprises, many of them Fortune 500 companies, in industries including energy, IoT, technology, healthcare, and financial services, as well as federal, state, and local government. Mark has also led hundreds of PKI trainings, including private trainings, across the country, and around the world—from Scotland to Buffalo, from Sweden to Washington, D.C.—and everywhere in between. He is also the primary instructor for our online PKI training courses. Prior to founding PKI Solutions in 2014, Mark was a senior engineer at Microsoft, where he designed, implemented, and supported ADCS environments for Microsoft’s largest customers and became the leading subject matter expert for ADCS and identity management. Mark developed and managed the Microsoft PKI Health Check to analyze and report on the design and management of PKI components and created Microsoft’s first consolidated set of PKI best practices. He authored several Microsoft whitepapers, including the specifications and deployment of ADCS on Microsoft Windows Failover Clusters. Mark has been working with Microsoft technologies since 1992 when he achieved his first MCP certification with Microsoft exam #001. He has subsequently earned the MCSE accreditation for every Microsoft operating system since Windows NT 3.51, and is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Security MVP, and Charter Microsoft Certified Master—Directory Services (MCM). In fact, for those with Microsoft MCM-Directory accreditation, Mark developed and most likely delivered the PKI portion of the training.
About Mark Cooper
Follow Mark Cooper
President & Founder - PKI Solution
PKI Solutions
Andrew Ginter
VP Industrial Security
Waterfall Security
At Waterfall Security, Andrew leads a team of experts working with the world's most secure industrial sites. He is the author of three books on industrial security, co-author of the IIoT SF and the UITP Guide to CyberSecurity in Tendering, and co-host of the Industrial Security Podcast.
About Andrew Ginter
Follow Andrew Ginter
VP Industrial Security
Waterfall Security
