Speakers

Ira Winkler, CISSP, is the Chief Security Architect for Walmart and author of the books, You Can Stop Stupid and Security Awareness for Dummies. He is considered one of the world’s most influential security professionals and was named “The Awareness Crusader” by CSO magazine in receiving their CSO COMPASS Award. Most recently, he was named 2021 Top Cybersecurity Leader by Security Magazine.

Michelle Finneran Dennedy currently serves as Chief Executive Officer at PrivacyCode Inc. and a Partner with Privatus Consulting. She has a passion for developing software for business people, data scientists, analysts, students, all kinds of surfers - and you. Before working at PrivacyCode, Michelle was a VP and Chief Privacy Officer at Cisco. She was responsible for the development and implementation of the organization's data privacy policies and practices, working across business groups to drive data privacy excellence across the security continuum.

Mark Stanislav is currently the Vice President of Product Security for FullStory. He has spoken internationally at over 100 events, including Black Hat, RSA, DEF CON, SOURCE Boston, Codegate, SecTor and THOTCON. His security research and initiatives have been featured by news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CNET, Good Morning America and Forbes. Stanislav holds a PhD in Cyber (Security) Operations from Dakota State University, as well as Bachelor & Master of Science degrees from Eastern Michigan University. During his time at EMU, Stanislav also taught as an adjunct lecturer for two years. He holds CISSP, Security+, Linux+, and CCSK certifications. Stanislav is the author of the book, "Two-factor Authentication."

Sunny Jamwal is a DIrector of CyberSecurity at Dash Hudson. With over 15 years of experience, Sunny has extensive knowledge of information security, networking, and related information technologies allowing him to quickly and knowledgeably inspect system architectures, identify vulnerabilities, assess risks and recommend safeguards to reduce and mitigate risk to information assets. Sunny has acted as the primary technical lead and subject matter expert on numerous Cyber Security Assessments for various private and public organizations in government and industries such as retail, finance, insurance, manufacturing, computer, communication, utilities, healthcare, and business services.

Bryan Beard is a security specialist who delivers easy-to-understand presentations and demonstrations that challenge his audience to reconsider their security strategies. Using real-world examples, he sheds light on current findings in the cybersecurity world. Bryan moved to Halifax and received his computer engineering degree from Dalhousie
University in 2019. With a strong sense for learning and a love for
solving puzzles, he developed a talent for computers as well as a knack for breaking things. Naturally, Bryan went on to become a penetration
tester and received his OSCP in 2021. Since then, he has conducted hundreds of penetration tests for clients in all sectors - from 2-person
start-ups to big-name banks. Bryan mentors with passion, guiding his clients to effectively strengthen the security strategies they need to succeed no matter what their marketplace does.

Julien is an OSCP, CRTP, CISSP, CISA, CCSP, CRISC, GCP-CDL, Pentest+, and CEH(Master) certified IT security professional with 20+ years experience. In the last few years, he has performed 100s of cybersecurity/penetration testing engagements on a wide range of targets such as network infrastructure, web/mobile applications, IoT devices, and cloud infrastructure for clients such as provincial governments, online casinos, national telcos, large municipalities, police departments, health care providers, and much more. He is the founder of the Atlantic Cybersecurity Collective, a local non-profit organisation focusing on giving cybersecurity professionals a place to share, learn and give back to their community.

Azhar is the Founding Managing Director for two consulting firms: Castellan Information Security Services Inc., which specializes in providing end-to-end services, products and personnel related to Information / Cyber Security, and InScope Project Management & Consulting Inc. which specializes in Project Management, Analysis, Change Management and Quality Assurance services.
Azhar is a results-oriented Senior Consultant with extensive expertise in Project / Program Management, Business and Systems Analysis, Technology Portfolio Assessment and Recommendation, Business Process Review & Redesign, Systems Implementation, and Cyber Security Programs. He has nearly 30 years of experience working in the Information Technology field, and over 20+ years of experience in successfully delivering complex and critical projects across several industries including Academia, Agriculture, Financial Services, Telecommunications, Insurance, and Healthcare. He has successfully led projects with teams of up to 30 people. Over the last 10+ years, Azhar’s focus has been on delivering Information / Cybersecurity programs.
As a management consultant, Azhar draws upon his strong and thorough analytical skills. His experience in diverse industries enables him to look at a problem from different perspectives; enabling him to provide recommendations that may not be immediately obvious. He is comfortable and confident in working with all levels within an organization, be it at the team, management, or executive level.

Tarek is a Senior Manager in KPMG’s Cybersecurity practice and specializes in business resilience, information security and privacy. Tarek’s experience includes helping clients design and implement end-to-end business resilience programs in various sectors, including government, financial services, natural resources and manufacturing/industrial.
Tarek is an active speaker on the topics of cybersecurity and business resilience, providing insights into current trends and practical approaches for businesses of various sizes and non-profits to protect themselves against cyber-attacks and significant business disruptions.

Paul leads the Mariner's strategic growth, overseeing all business and technical operations.
With over 30 years’ experience in the communications, advanced media technology and cybersecurity fields, and in leadership positions at IBM, Harris Corporation and Leitch Technologies, Paul brings an energetic global business perspective to the Mariner team. As President of Mariner, he was successful in leading Mariner’s entry into the high-growth market of information security services and products.

Paul holds a Master of Business Administration from The University of New Brunswick, a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial) from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science from Acadia University. He is also a graduate of the Darden School of Business (University of Virginia) Executive Development Program.

Ian MacMillan is a co-founder of Beauceron Security Inc., one of Canada’s leading technology companies focused on the human aspects of cybersecurity.
As the Chief Evangelist for Beauceron, Ian provides advice and expertise on how to build world-class cybersecurity awareness and education programs that engage and motivate employees in organizations of all sizes. Ian helps clients develop initiatives and leverage technologies that deliver meaningful experiences for individuals, and measurable impact in the security of their organizations.

Ian’s professional passion has always been about creating individual-focused experiences. A graphic designer and user experience (UX) architect by trade and an information security professional by choice, Ian has led projects in higher education, at global technology companies, and now at Beauceron Security that empower individuals to be in control of the technology they use. Ian regularly works with household national and global brands in the development and execution of their cybersecurity awareness and education efforts.

In his past, Ian has worked at the University of New Brunswick as a Software Developer in Information Technology Services, at IBM on their flagship security product, QRadar, and led the development of Beauceron’s industry-leading personal cyber risk dashboard for individual employees.

In his spare time, Ian is an outdoorsman and gearhead, spending his off-days exploring the outdoors and turning wrenches on projects at home.

Darryl MacLeod has over 20 years of experience in the IT security sector, having been responsible for optimizing service delivery to all levels of enterprise and government level organizations.
Darryl has presented at the Atlantic HTCIA IT Security Conference, Halifax Area Security Klatch (HASK), Security B-Sides St. John’s, ISACA Atlantic Provinces Chapter Information Security & Risk Conference, GoSec and the Texas Cyber Summit. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Atlantic Security Conference and was the Lead Organizer for the Security B-Sides Cape Breton conference.

Allan has over 20 years of experience in Network and Security Architecture. He has worked with organizations in verticals such as Finance, Utilities, Public Safety, manufacturing and healthcare to build highly available, highly segmented networks. He spent much of his career helping organizations build out architectures that allow them to best operationalize tools such as IPS, DNR and DDOS. Between Digital Transformation and fundamental shifts in network design from technologies such as SASE he thinks this is the most interesting time in Networking and Network Security since Ethernet came around!

Brian is an Enterprise Architect for McAfee’s North America business unit helping
customers navigate a transformational IT Security landscape. A focus on Information
Security Program Strategy and Enterprise Security Architecture using the SABSA
method is the core of his approach. As a former Information Security Manager and
Director of Security Operations in healthcare Brian grounds his approach with the
background of a practitioner. His experience spans security for devices, networks,
cloud technologies and data.

Brian’s multi-disciplinary background as a 27 year IT professional and architect is
complemented by membership in ISACA, SABSA and the IASA Global Architect
community to assist clients with strategy and technology integration.

Allan McDougall has over 30 years experience across the Asset Protection and Infrastructure Assurance domain. This spans military (Canadian Armed Forces - combat engineers), public service (Senior Security Policy and Projects at DFO, Compliance Auditor for the Canadian Coast Guard, Senior Inspector for Marine Facilities at Transport Canada, and Manager for Physical Security at Canada Border Services Agency), and private sector with both the security (senior consultant) and maritime (corporate leadership roles) domains. Within the volunteer community, he has held both leadership (ARVP Region 6 Certification, Certification Chair) and supporting roles involved in assisting individuals working through their efforts towards certification in a number of association.
In addition to multiple certifications across several domains (Professional In Critical Infrastructure Protection, Certified Master Anti-Terrorism Specialist, Computer and Information System Security Professional, Certified Protection, Professional, Physical Security Professional, and others in the maritime space), he has assisted in the conceptualization and implementation of maritime security education programs at the graduate level (Coventry University, UK and currently working with Acadia University's Professional Certificate in Maritime Security). He has four co-authored published works focusing on Transportation Systems and Critical Infrastructure with the latest editions still being used in several universities world-wide. He is currently working on a fifth edition of the Critical Infrastructure work due to be out in April of 2023. While contributing in this way, Allan also continues his own professional development and continuous learning through a range of technical courses and academic programs, the most recently being the master's program at American Military University.

Michael Wylie, MBA, CISSP is the Director of a 24/7/365 global managed threat hunting team - CrowdStrike's Falcon OverWatch Elite. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Cybersecurity Services at a top 100 CPA firm where he built the offensive and defensive security service practices. Michael has developed and taught numerous courses for the U.S. Department of Defense, DEFCON, Universities, and for clients around the world. Michael is the winner of numerous SANS challenge coin and holds the following credentials: CISSP, CCNA R&S, CCNA CyberOps, GPEN, GMON, GCFE, TPN, CEH, CEI, VCP-DCV, CHPA, PenTest+, Security+, Project+, CNVP, Microsoft Azure

I started my career after I hit rock bottom being a single mom who moved back to live with my parents. This was after dropping out of computer science in university, my professors told me I would not be good enough to get a job in computers. I had lost all passion for what I loved and hoped for the future. I worked with my case worker (social assistance program) and they helped me gain the confidence to try computers again. I was able to tech myself programming and other computer science concepts on my own time (online courses). With this, I was able to regain my confidence regarding computers. I then became really interested in offensive security and applied to work at a cyber security company. I started as an entry-level analyst and worked my way up to starting my own threat research and detection department. I taught myself how to reverse engineer malware from scratch along the way and have not looked back since. If I can train an English teacher to reverse engineer malware, I have the confidence I can train anyone to get the task done. If you are looking for someone to lead your threat research and detection team who has done each job on the way up to the top, I might be the one you are looking for. Since then, I've presented research all across North America, appeared on TV as an expert twice and have not looked back. I love reverse engineering, malware analysis, detecting threat actors, the thrill of the hunt, mentoring other women who want to get into cyber security and most importantly, my family and the wonderful people on my team who have grown so much in their careers.

Robert Fritz brings 30 years of experience of security leadership to the individuals and organizations he works with. He served his country as a US Air Force officer, including assignments at Langley AFB and at the Pentagon, and has served as a leader in public and private companies ever since. At Hewlett-Packard, he led research and development of security technology. As an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, he served as Canada CISO. He then served as Director of Cyber Security at Emera and at Irving Oil. His last 5 years have concentrated on board and executive level cyber security and privacy governance advice and reporting, as well as cyber security operations. Robert received his Bachelor’s in Computer Science at the US Air Force Academy, and his Master’s in Computer Science: Software Engineering, from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He serves his Atlantic Canada security community as a frequent speaker and as the Vice President of the Atlantic Canada Chapter of ISC2

Patrick Moubarak is a Cybersecurity Expert part of the Sales Engineering team at CrowdStrike Canada. With over 14 years of experience in Network, Endpoint Security, Identity and Access solutions, Patrick helps customers adopt next generation technologies to accomplish CrowdStrike’s mission of Stopping Breaches. Patrick holds a Bachelor in Computer Engineering from McGill University.

Ben Shelston heads the Solutions Engineering group for Netskope Canada. In the past 6 years in the role, Ben has been involved in the largest SASE and SSE deployments in Canada. Ben is a subject matter expert on improving user experience of SaaS applications, and data protection.

Sule Tatar is a Product Marketing Manager at Arctic Wolf, where she does research on security trends and brings groundbreaking cybersecurity products and services to market. She has extensive experience in the B2B cybersecurity space and holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and an MBA.