Michael Spaling has built his career around cybersecurity in the post-secondary industry. He leads the Information Security team at one of the best research-intensive Universities in Canada and a top 100 in the world. Michael is a recipient of the Queens Platinum Jubilee Medal for his notable contributions to the cybersecurity industry and was recognized as a Top 10 Under 40 by Canadian Security Magazine. He has a handful of published CVEs to his credit, braved the world of startups as the Chief Security Officer for an organization that was first to market offering digitized legal services, and, a little-known fact, is a co-inventor on a pending patent currently working its way through the US Patent and Trademark Office. When he's not working, Michael enjoys time with his wife, kids, and the family dog while making countless trips to the LEGO store or waiting patiently for LEGO deliveries to arrive at his house.

Michelle Balderson is a seasoned professional who is process driven with a technical acumen. She focuses on consulting Enterprise clients on Risk to their Enterprise Operational Environments. She’s known for her knowledgeable approach to security solutions well beyond simple technology discussions. She coaches clients to think beyond the technology, focusing Risk to the business objective, in combination with foundational security principals. She strongly believes it is important for you to understand what assets need to be protected, why they need to be protected, and what Risks in context to Business Objectives. Michelle has supported the deployment of cybersecurity solutions for IT and OT organizations globally. She is known for thinking beyond technology to the people, process and corporate culture that will be impacted with change. She is driven to align projects to the business objective and desired outcome rather than industry hype. 

Jason has been architecting, designing, and deploying security technologies that secure the most complex computing environments for almost 2 decades. His understanding of operational and informational technologies, people, and processes enable him to deliver effective, comprehensive security solutions that align to an organization's security goals and strategic imperatives. Jason is adept at addressing a range of risk profiles across multiple industry verticals; skills he has cultivated as an end-user security practitioner, partner/integrator, and now manufacturer as the FIELD CTO, focused on Cybersecurity for Cisco Systems. Jason is also active in the direct community speaking at BC Aware, Privacy and Security Conference, Cisco Live, and has delivered multiple sessions at BSides. Jason also holds over 75+ designations across a variety of products and technologies including the CCIE designation.

Andrew Campbell's experience include over five years as a professional instructor, over two years of developing and producing Cybersecurity content for YouTube channel, sole proprietor of CyberSecurity business "RedBlue Labs" conducting security assessments and corporate education seminars.

Derran Guinan is an IT Security Specialist who collaborates with clients across Canada, educating and advising on various data protection and security solutions. With over twenty-five years in the IT industry managing networks, architecting solutions, and advising clients, Derran believes in a collaborative, customer-oriented approach to educating and helping clients solve security related situations and challenges.

At Veeam, Derran brings his education and experience to clients, helping them design data protection solutions, with a security first focus, across the enterprise. Derran has worked at some of the most trusted security companies in the world such as Palo Alto Networks and Crowdstrike, where he advised clients daily on both security incidents and proactive security solutions. 

Derran started his career at NAIT in the Telecommunications Engineering program, and has continued his education through SANS, ISC2, ISACA and PMP training and certifications. 

Having worked on macOS internals for a number of years, Mykola has gained a deep knowledge of the inner workings of Apple's platforms. He co-founded Dortania, an open-sourced organization dedicated to the research and documentation of running macOS on unsupported hardware. 

Currently, he leads the OpenCore Legacy Patcher project, which aims to get the latest versions of macOS running on long unsupported hardware to gain features, and security updates while prolonging the useable life of people's machines.

Director Information Security, Manulife

Parul Khanna is a seasoned cyber security professional with specialization in risk management, incident response, cloud security and software engineering. She has a Masters degree in Information System Security Management from Canadian University and holds CISSP, CCSP, CSSLP, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CDPSE and CCSK designations. Previously, Parul has worked as a core team member of Cybersecurity Operations Centre at one of Canada’s Big 5 bank. She is a subject matter expert on risk assessments, security control improvements and security solutions. In addition to her professional career, Parul has published a research paper on Doxing at an International Conference on Information Security, Privacy and Forensics held in Montreal. She has also served as a board member for the ISC2 Toronto Chapter. Parul enjoys mentoring aspiring professionals and is a course instructor for cybersecurity courses at University based in Toronto. She also loves to volunteer her time for the WiCyS (Women in Cybersecurity) community and is a passionate public speaker at cybersecurity conferences.

Sourabh Aggarwal, Senior Consultant of iTED Consultant Inc., is a visionary leader who harnesses technology and innovation to drive sustainable business strategies. He is pursuing a PhD in management from IAE Business School, focusing on technology and entrepreneurship.

With an extensive background in academia, consulting, and cybersecurity education, Sourabh's impact is truly multi-dimensional. He has been actively teaching cybersecurity and developing curricula for over five years, leaving a lasting impression on learners in Canada and the USA. His students have excelled in renowned companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon, GeoComply, and even the US Army.

Sourabh's holistic portfolio showcases his commitment to fostering innovation, nurturing collaboration, and championing forward-looking approaches. His deep-rooted comprehension of technology and his unwavering dedication to empowering individuals and organizations with essential cybersecurity knowledge positions him as a prominent influencer in navigating the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.

Dennis is a cybersecurity executive with over 17 years of Industry and Mgmt. Consulting experience; currently working as vCISO and Cybersec-expert-for-hire for Big-4 consulting firms. Most commonly, Dennis leads and delivers complex projects that assist organizations manage their risks across several domains including Technology & Cybersecurity, Cyber Strategy, Governance, Risk & Control Assessments, Risk Reporting, Operational Risk Management, Vendor Management, and others. Dennis holds CISSP, CRISC, and CTPRP certifications.

Rodolfo is a cybersecurity leader with over 15 years of experience, including IT/OT Offensive Security Operations, SOC, Infosec Mgmt Systems and Frameworks implementations, Security Architecture, Risk, Assurance, Compliance, and Governance. Rodolfo holds OSCP, CISSP, CISA, CRISC, and CISM certifications. Demonstrated technical expertise by leading and delivering several successful engagements for complex organizations among the Fortune 500.

Kyle is a Cyber Security professional with over a decade of experience in a variety of domains including application and network security, identity and access management and security architecture. He resides in Calgary, AB, Canada but his experience spans across the globe, where he has worked with many organizations across every vertical with presence on nearly every continent.  He has experience in the public sector, private sector and beginning in 2014, on the vendor side.

A firm believer in simplifying complex topics, Kyle strives to continually improve his ability to communicate, explain and distill information into its simplest form (or analogy). When not in front of a customer or his computer, you can find him playing ball hockey, reading a book, spending time with his family or binging a new show.

Kevin Chen is a security researcher. He mainly focuses on vulnerability research in wireless and embedded systems. Kevin has spoken at various conferences including BSides, DEFCON and CANSECWEST.

Meet Sam Ezebunandu, a security analyst who's newish and diving headfirst into information security. Sam likes to think about challenges at the intersection of cloud infrastructure protection and application security, and brings a fresh perspective from previous career stints in project management and data analytics.

Sam’s journey so far includes an MBA, which allows him to keep focus on security as an enabler for business. Sam holds a number of certifications in technology, including GIAC Certified Incident Handler and the GIAC Public Cloud Security certifications. He is also an AWS Certified Security Specialist, a recipient of the 2023 Pycon US diversity scholarship and the 2023 fwd cloudsec scholarship grants. He continues to be involved with the cloud security community, particularly at the SANS technology institute as part of his ongoing learning adventures.

Sam currently works as a security Analyst at PayByPhone, as a dad to a three-year old daughter and a husband to an amazing wife. When not learning about and hacking the Cloud, he enjoys listening to podcasts about technology and history and the occasional hike at Kananaskis. He was a volunteer at BSides Calgary 2022 and loves the Bsides community.

Kai is a Senior Security Consultant at EY's Cyber Threat Management team and manages Security Engineering and Machine Learning. He holds multiple certifications and has extensive knowledge in various domains, including Web-App Development, Data Science, Incident Response, DevSecOps and Purple Teaming. He is also an advocate for open source software and data privacy. He dreams of a world where no one clicks on phishing e-mails.

Brechin was a Signals Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces for 15 years, before returning to school to complete a Masters in Information Systems Security Management. While in the army, Brechin led teams from 3-90 people and gained experience in a wide variety of areas such as: networks and NOCs, helpdesks, project and change management, physical line infrastructure, telephony, cryptography, satellite communications and high capacity line of sight systems, and how to do all of the above while camping. 

As the Manager of Systems Engineering at Veeam Software Canada, Rick leads a team of talented and passionate engineers who help customers protect their data and ensure business continuity. He has over two decades of experience in the information technology industry, with a focus on data center solutions, cloud strategies, storage, and virtualization. He holds multiple certifications from VMware, Veeam, and Microsoft, demonstrating his technical expertise and commitment to continuous learning.

He is passionate about data protection, disaster recovery, and his family and personal growth. He enjoys working with organizations from different sectors and regions, learning from their challenges and successes, and sharing my knowledge and insights. Rick also values coaching and mentoring as a leader and learner. Every interaction allows me to expand my horizons, discover new perspectives, and challenge my assumptions. He welcomes any conversation about technology, business, or life, and looks forward to connecting with you soon.

Alexandra Tenney is a Cyber Threat Intelligence and Red Team Analyst at Air Canada. She recently graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. During her tenure at the university, she founded the Information Security Club and has been an active member of the cybersecurity community. She also is currently active in the CTF community and has previously played with her university team, the national Canadian team, and her current team: Script Kitties. In her free time, Alex enjoys bouldering, rock climbing, hiking, cross-country skiing, and reading. 

Isaac is an accomplished professional who graduated from SAIT in 2023, majoring in Information Systems Security. He joined Packetlabs as a highly-skilled Penetration Tester whose expertise is focused on web application security testing, where he has gained a stellar reputation as a proficient practitioner of Burp Suite.

Having completed over 140 practitioner labs, Isaac demonstrates an unmatched proficiency in both practical and theoretical aspects of web vulnerability assessments, making him a tremendous asset to any client engagement. 

Isaac is currently pursuing his Offensive Security Certified Professional certificate through OffSec.

George is a 2000 graduate from Youngstown State University with a Bachelor of Science in computer science. He started in the information technology field in 1995 while working at a local Internet service provider and has been specializing in computer security for the past 20+ years.

After graduating, he has supported a customer base covering the US Government, US Department of Defense, Intel Community, Enterprise, and small to medium size business in the security sector. This has given him a very diverse view of security and the ability to customize a solution that fits the organization. He has worked for various companies ranging from small startups to fortune 100 including IronPort, Cisco Systems, FireEye and is currently a regional sales engineer for CrowdStrike covering Western Canada.

In his free time, George likes to give back to the open-source community with projects like NTP Pool, weather underground, varies coding projects and mentoring up and coming security experts.

As a Microsoft Security Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Eric has held a mix of roles through his 23 plus years in the IT field. He has been a technical manager in the public sector, a Sr. Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft, and a Security and Identity Architect in the Microsoft partner ecosystem. Eric is currently a Product Technical Specialist at the ITDR pioneer Semperis, where his unique history from “different sides of the fence” strengthens and influences his Microsoft identity expertise and his views on the identity and security industry. In support of the professional community, Eric has spoken about identity security topics, participates on the IDPro Body of Knowledge Committee, and blogs about Entra and related cloud security topics.

Stefan is a seasoned security and risk management expert with over 14 experience years in the field. Stefan recently completed a master’s degree in criminology from the University of Leicester. Stefan has a passion for sharing knowledge being a been a guest speaker for MRU, SAIT, and U of C, on topics including cybersecurity, threat analysis, and risk management.

Stefan recently completed an academic project on examining the effectiveness of cybersecurity risk assessments (CRAs) in mitigating risks for small-to-medium-sized businesses. His findings will be presented at the conference to discuss how the community can improve CRA practices.

Damien is a Security Analyst at a local MSP, specializing in the unique security challenges facing SMBs. His areas of interest include cloud security, malware analysis, incident response, and computer forensics. 

(void *)Huxley Barbee is the organizer for BSidesNYC and security evangelist at runZero. Huxley previously worked at Datadog, where he formulated their Cloud Security Platform. Earlier at Cisco, he led a team that automated SecOps and IR playbooks. He holds both the CISSP and CISM certifications.

A.J. is typically available on short notice and comes with a wide background in assorted information security domains, which he is quick to pair with a light hearted and mildly sardonic take on what the experience has taught him. His claim to fame is his incident response game built from the ground up, and designed to make security accessible to everyone from the C-Suite to the Mail Room, while having a lot of fun in the process. His view of putting the human condition back into security has led to a lot of interesting outcomes, all of which benefit security programs and business alike.  

Aarti Gadhia is a changemaker and has dedicated her entire career to breaking down barriers and boundaries to achieve equality for underrepresented groups in STEM and in leadership. She was honored for her contribution to the cybersecurity community by being named as one of the Top 20 Women in Cyber Security in Canada. Aarti founded Standout To Lead to empower women in cybersecurity to join boards and SHE (Sharing Her Empowerment), a resource group with a mission to be a collective voice and accelerate change within the organization.

She currently works at Microsoft and brings 25 years of sales and leadership experience. She has worked at cybersecurity organizations such as Sophos, Trend, VMWare Carbon Black, Bugcrowd and Tines. Aarti actively participates in the cyber security community as a speaker, a mentor and a judge for provincial scholarships. She volunteers her time on the OWASP Vancouver Board, WiCyS Western Canada Affiliate Board, Vigitrust Global advisory board and serves on the ObserveID board.

Aarti is one of the authors of the book "The Rise of the Cyber Women: Volume Two" and was quoted in Canadian Security Magazine as she shared her views on the importance of soft skills to break down barriers in traditional hiring. She is excited to share her involvement as the Sponsorship Chair for the first global herstory in the making “The Women In Security Documentary”.

Due to her international background, she loves to travel and learn different cultures. Her tagline: “Be Authentic, Be Yourself.”

Adam is a multi-decade infosec professional who pays annual maintenance fees on a plethora of security certs. He refuses to take himself too seriously, he has spent his life taking things apart and then making the reassembly someone else’s problem. Adam believes that all security professionals can be exceptional leaders if they want to be, and our unique perspectives on the world are desperately needed at all levels of business.

Doug has been an instructor at SAIT Polytechnic for over 20 years. He has been involved with WorldSkills competitions since 2005 and served as the Expert for Team Canada in the Networking and System Administration Competition for multiple competitions and am now the Skills Competition Manager for the Cyber Security competition. He's a runner, and if you're looking for something super-nerdy... one of only a handful of people who have managed to ascend the Nethack variant "evilhack".

Greg Leah is the Founder of PrecisionSec, a Threat Intelligence startup based in Victoria, British Columbia. Drawing on over 15 years of experience in the security industry, Greg has gained a wide range of expertise ranging from reverse engineering and creating complex malware detections for several top-tier antivirus vendors to leading a professional services team that offered highly-targeted intelligence reporting.

At PrecisionSec, Greg designs and builds automated systems for threat hunting and threat intelligence collections, leveraging his extensive experience with large-scale malware analysis pipelines and malicious infrastructure monitoring. 

A hacker, mentor, and technology innovator, Hank Fordham is one of Canada’s foremost red team cybersecurity specialists. Having appeared on and consulted with different TV shows, as well as in stories on VICE, NPR, and Inside Edition, Hank is an advocate for public cybersecurity education, as well as technologically progressive policies and businesses. In addition to cybersecurity, Hank is also interested in Artificial Intelligence, Neurorobotics, Biohacking, Open-Source Fabrication, and more. Hank recently founded WhatTheHack, a cybersecurity consulting firm that bridges the gap and creates flexible solutions for small and medium businesses with various cybersecurity-related needs. Hank also works at X10 Technologies as a Cyber Security Specialist.

With over 7 years of dedicated experience as an Offensive Security Engineer and Penetration Tester, Harsh Modi has honed an exceptional skill set in identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities. His relentless pursuit of knowledge and mastery in the field has propelled him to become a respected figure in the cybersecurity landscape. Alongside his dynamic role, he has played a pivotal part in shaping the security domain as an Entrepreneur and Lead Security Architect at Bell. His influence extends beyond corporate boundaries, as he also serves as the Director of the ISACA Mentorship Program, nurturing the next generation of security professionals. A sought-after speaker, Harsh Modi has graced prestigious platforms such as VIPSS, BSides Vancouver, OWASP Vancouver, BSides Edmonton, and BSides Calgary, where he shares invaluable insights and contributes to the industry's advancement. With an unwavering commitment to excellence, Harsh Modi continues to champion a more secure digital realm.

Enthusiastic and experienced Application Security Engineer with a deep understanding of cloud computing, AI technologies, including ChatGPT, and a robust academic background in computer science and information technology. Former SAIT and UofC instructor.

Passionate about securing software development through meticulous source code audits, vulnerability remediation, and collaboration with development teams, while employing Static Application Security Testing tools to enhance software security posture. Proficient in addressing the unique security challenges that arise in cloud environments, including ensuring compliance with industry standards and best practices for data protection, privacy, and access control.

Hyma Pandyaram, a Senior Manager in Cyber Security at TechDemocracy, specializes in delivering identity management solutions to clients across various industry sectors in Canada and the US.

Hyma actively contributes as a board member at the (ISC)2 Alberta Chapter and leads their Safe and Secure Online program. Her passion for advocating cyber safety extends to educating seniors, children, and their parents on safe internet practices.

Additionally, Hyma assists small businesses in formulating IT security policies and conducting employee training. Hyma's expertise in the field has been recognized through the (ISC)2 Global Achievement Award she received in 2020 for her outstanding contributions to promoting Cyber Safety in Alberta. Furthermore, she serves as the Vice President of the WiCyS Western Canada Affiliate. Hyma holds a bachelor's degree in engineering and is a CISSP. 

Ian is a cybersecurity professional with OSCP, GWAPT, OSCE, OSEP and CISSP (ongoing) certifications.  Ian has experience in IT support, SIEM content implementation, and security operations. He has worked at Packetlabs for 5+ years, performing penetration testing, application testing, and reconnaissance/intelligence gathering for over 400 clients. 

He now leads a team of penetration testers and ethical hackers committed to thoroughly testing their client's networks and actioning targeted objectives in enterprise networks. 

I am a dedicated professional specializing in Information Security, with over 5 years of industry experience.

My strong interest in security drives me to constantly enhance my skills by actively pursuing relevant knowledge and cross-training across complementary disciplines such as physical security and the like.

I firmly believe in the importance of lifelong learning and staying updated with the latest advancements while also cherishing the timeless principles of classical security concepts. This balance allows me to adapt to the dynamic nature of the field while maintaining a solid foundation.

Prashant has a Bachelors and Masters in IT from India and 14 years of IT experience in Canada across various industry verticals. He works as a Senior Cyber Security Advisor for a Fortune 500. He calls himself a geek with a purpose. He likes to support the budding talent, share his experience and continue to progress the Cyber Security discipline in industry, academia and research fields. He considers himself a problem solver in solving interesting IT problems and not just Cyber Security.

He has numerous research papers in the field of Quantum Computing, Youtube channel and videos on Quantum Research. He has presented in multiple IT and Security conferences over the years such as CIPS, ISACA Edmonton, B-Sides Edmonton, B-Sides Calgary, Public Safety Canada ICS Symposium among others. He also has a passion of teaching Cyber Security courses in NAIT and Concordia University of Edmonton to Bachelors and Master of Information Security Management students.

He likes to play chess, hike and camp in the mountains alone and ponder over the purpose of life and nature.

A passionate and innovative Information Security lead with experience in Network & Cyber Security domains. I am responsible for the assessment and delivery of Web Application Security, Risk Management, Vulnerability Assessment, Penetration Testing, SIEM, Threat Modelling and Opensource vulnerabilities. I have worked on NIST,  SOC2, and FedRamp compliance requirements. I am also interested in enlightening the younger generation folks on the cyber security domain. 

Sean Hittel is passionate about getting into the mindset of an attacker when designing defense strategies and anticipating what they will do next.

As a founding member of both the Symantec and Netskope efficacy teams, Sean understands what it takes to evaluate the efficacy of complex and interwoven security stacks at scale. In this time, Sean has reverse engineered every major ransomware strain since 2006 noting the effective mechanisms used to evade defenses, and has helped guide defense improvements along the way.

Over the past 25 years, Sean has implemented ML and AI-based detections in the areas of IPS, sandbox automation, behavioral/EDR, static/AV, and threathunting/IR automation.

This work culminated in patents in the areas of prevention of browser exploitation and detection of ransomware based on file encryption operations, and the automatic recovery of these damaged files.

Sheik Sahib is a Cybersecurity Architect with the IBM North American Security team. Based in Markham, Ontario, he has extensive experience in Cybersecurity, IT & Enterprise Architecture, and Software development. His focus is to help customers in Canada improve their security posture and defend against emerging cyber threats. His work leverages proven architectural design patterns with state-of-the-art security solutions to produce new or enhanced cybersecurity controls that protect sensitive and mission critical assets.

A graduate of Queens University, Mr. Sahib is a certified CISSP and CCSP from the ISC2. He has received advanced training from RedHat, AWS and Harvard University.  He is also an IBM certified IT Architect and Open Group Master Certified Architect.

Armed with over 20 years of experience in various cybersecurity roles, Stephen is an esteemed security practitioner boasting deep knowledge of system and network internals enabling him to architect, implement, support, and manage a wide variety of security solutions. A strong believer in maximizing existing solutions and capabilities and implementing practical, functional security, Stephen uses all the tools at his disposal to help enterprise clients reduce business risk and improve cybersecurity posture.

His experience leading both operational and architectural security teams while securing and segregating industrial control networks in a sizeable oil and gas environment, combined with his time advising large industrial clients on the same, has given him a strong understanding of the real-world security challenges in these environments. With many additional years of experience responding to breaches and performing security assessments and penetration tests, Stephen understands both the challenges and the opportunities inherent in securing complex networks.

A GIAC Security Expert (GSE #282) and Certified Instructor for SANS ICS Stephen will leverage his experience and knowledge to propose practical ways to tackle ICS cybersecurity in today's organizations.

I am Swar Shah, currently pursuing Offensive Cyber Security Post-Graduate course in York university. I have worked for 2 years as security consultant in SecureLayer7 in India. Also, I have pursued Bachelors in Computer Science.

Upon professional experience I have also worked with communities like null, cloud village, google developers group, during which have been active volunteer, speaker and organizer. As, I am always excited to join a communities for networking and personal growth. I have passion for Red Teaming and Pentesting Application.

Lastly, I do hunt bugs at Synack as an Synack Red Teamer.

My name is Syed Zaidi. I have over fifteen years of experience working in DFIR (Digital Forensic and Incident Response), and IT (Information Technology). My bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in engineering with an emphasis in computer systems, network security and telecommunications. I hold multiple incident response, digital forensics, and threat hunting related certifications. I work as a Senior Incident Responder for Sophos and have extensive working experience as a security analyst, consultant, and engineer. I genuinely love my chosen career path and take great pride in mentoring like-minded individuals.  

Dr. Vincent Chiew, Ph.D.,MACM, SMIEEE, ITIL, CISSP, CSSLP, I.S.P., ITCP/IP3P, PMP, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.)

His Ph.D. research focused on the most powerful computing system in the world, human cognition, and human intelligence. He first implemented automated intelligence system over 30 years ago. Currently, he is teaching AI (Artificial Intelligence) in various courses for Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. He also teaches AI to corporations and secure their AI systems. As an official trainer, he is also teaching (ISC)2 and CompTIA security courses at his own company, Axis Cogni-Solve Ltd. (www.axiscognisolve.com ).