20 Top Security Influencers

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By Erin Lee and Jessica Vartabedian

With so much going on in the enterprise security space, it can be hard to keep up with the flow of information and to know where to turn for actionable advice. This list of security experts, selected by eSecurityPlanet, is a good place to start.

All are active bloggers and even more active as Twitter users. These thought leaders have a variety of backgrounds, numerous years of experience and unique viewpoints. The list contains founders, CEOs, CTOs and more. Companies these individuals are, or have been, associated with include Kaspersky Labs, BT, WhiteHat Security, Juniper Networks and Cisco. 

For the latest news and trends in security, be sure to keep an eye on the following individuals:

AlanWoodAlan Woodward was the CTO of Charteris plc from 1997 to 2014. He has worked with the Department of Computing in the University of Surrey since 2011. Professor Woodward is known for his ability to communicate and has many publications in various magazines and journals.

Follow him on Twitter, @ProfWoodward.

AntonCAnton Chuvakin is a research vice president at Gartner for its Technical Professionals Security and Risk Management Strategies team. A recognized security expert, he is the author of several books. His areas of interest cover intrusion detection, data loss prevention and much more.

Follow him on Twitter, @anton_chuvakin.

BrianKrebsBrian Krebs’ blog is full of posts about all aspects of security from Microsoft patches to Adobe critical fixes for Shockwave Player and more.

Krebs started focusing on Internet security after his home network was hacked in 2001.

Follow him on Twitter, @briankrebs.

BruceSBruce Schneier is the CTO of Resilient Systems.

He has written multiple books regarding security and has been publishing the popular monthly Crypto-Gram newsletter since 1998.

Follow him on Twitter, @schneierblog.

ChrisHoffChris Hoff is a VP of Strategy and Planning at Juniper Networks.

Hoff has 20 years of IT experience, including past roles as director of cloud and virtualization solutions at Cisco and chief security architect at Unisys.

Follow him on Twitter, @beaker.

CodyBroCody Brocious is a senior security consultant at Accuvant LABS and founded PyMusique. Using his knowledge of security vulnerabilities, Brocious recently demonstrated how to break into four million hotel rooms in seconds.

Follow him on Twitter, @daeken.

DanGoodDan Goodin works at Ars Technica as an IT security editor. He covers malware, computer espionage, botnets and hardware hacking. In addition to his work at Ars Technica, he is a reporter for the Associated Press and The Register, where he writes about white-hat, grey-hat and black-hat hackers.

Follow him on Twitter, @dangoodin001.

DanKamDan Kaminsky has been a security researcher for over 10 years. During his career he has advised Cisco, Avaya and Microsoft. Kaminsky is famous for finding a critical flaw in the Internet’s Domain Name System. He then led what has become the largest synchronized fix to the Internet’s structure.

Follow him on Twitter, @dakami.

DaveShDave Shackleford is the founder and principal consultant at VooDoo Security.

He is passionate about security as a discipline and his areas of interest of IT include malware, virtualization security, log management and more. He also wrote a book on virtualization security.

Follow him on Twitter, @daveshackleford.

DaveWDave Whitelegg is the group head of security and payments at Capita.

He has over 15 years of diverse experience in information and cyber security improvement, leadership and management.

Follow him on Twitter, @SecurityExpert.

EugeneKEugene Kaspersky is the CEO of Kaspersky Labs.

His blog covers everything from IT security news to industry development. He has been part of the IT sector fighting malware for the past 25 years.

Follow him on Twitter, @e_kaspersky.

GrahamCGraham Cluley is an award-winning security blogger, researcher, and public speaker.

He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and more.

Follow him on Twitter, @gcluley.

JackDJack Daniel is a co-founder of Security BSides, which was founded in 2009. BSides is a community for security-driven individuals to start conversations and build events around information security.

Daniel is also a strategist at Tenable Network Security.

Follow him on Twitter, @jack_daniel.

JGrossJeremiah Grossman is the founder and CTO of WhiteHat Security and co-founder of the Web Application Security Consortium (WASC). Prior to founding WhiteHat Security, he was at Yahoo!, where he was an information security officer. Grossman has been published numerous times and often speaks at industry conferences.

Follow him on Twitter, @jeremiahg.

KevMitKevin Mitnick founded Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm which helps businesses protect their assets. Mitnick has over 20 years of experience in information security systems. His consulting firm addresses clients’ security concerns without any interruptions to the business.

Follow him on Twitter, @kevinmitnick.

MartyMMartin McKeay is a security advocate at Akamai Technologies and was previously a host on a network security podcast. He has over a decade of experience in the IT and security fields and has been writing a security blog since 2003.

Follow him on Twitter, @mckeay.

MattBMatt Blaze currently directs the Distributed Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on multiple areas, including the architecture and design of secure systems as well as the analysis of secure systems against practical attack models.

Follow him on Twitter, @mattblaze.

MikkoMikko Hypponen is a chief research officer at F-Secure, where he has worked since 1991. Hypponen has written for various magazines, including Scientific American, Wired and Foreign Policy. Hypponen has assisted law enforcement in the U.S., Asia and Europe.

Follow him on Twitter, @mikko.

MoxieMoxie Marlinspike is a computer security researcher. He was the CTO and co-founder of Whisper Systems, which was acquired by Twitter in 2011. Marlinspike is also a member of the Institute for Disruptive Studies. In addition to being a security blogger, Marlinspike has dabbled quite a bit in sailing and has his Master’s mariner license.

Follow him on Twitter, @moxie.

RichBRichard Bejtlich is a chief security strategist at FireEye, Inc.

He often blogs on his own blog, TaoSecurity, which focuses on digital security, as well as Mandiant’s blog. Bejtlich is also a Black Hat instructor.

Follow him on Twitter, @taosecurity.

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