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David Kennedy
Founder, CEO
Experience
David is a cybersecurity authority whose mission is to drive the industry forward and make the world a more secure place. In addition to creating two large-scale cybersecurity firms, David has testified before Congress on issues of national security and has appeared as a subject matter expert on hundreds of national news and TV shows.
Education & Certifications
CISSP, OSCP, OSCE, GSEC, MCSE, ISO 27001
Professional Affiliations
Prior to creating TrustedSec, David was a Chief Security Officer (CSO) for Diebold Incorporated, a Fortune 1000 company. As a forward thinker in the security field, David has had the privilege of speaking at some of the nation’s largest conferences, including Microsoft’s BlueHat, DEF CON, Black Hat, and DerbyCon, which he co-created in 2011 and expanded into DerbyCon Communities.
David is a regular contributor and subject matter expert on cybersecurity stories for Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, BBC, and other high-profile media outlets. Further, his tools have been featured on a number of TV shows and movies, and he served as Technical Consultant for the critically acclaimed Mr. Robot TV show.
David served in the United States Marine Corps (USMC), focusing on cyber warfare and forensics analysis activities, including two tours to Iraq. David also served on the board of directors for (ISC)2, which is one of the largest security collectives and offers certifications such as the CISSP.
Industry Contributions
In an effort to advance the industry, David co-authored ‘Metasploit: The Penetration Testers Guide’ and co-founded the ‘Penetration Testing Execution Standard’ (PTES), which is the industry standard for penetration tests and has been adopted by the Payment Card Industry (PCI). David is the creator of several popular open-source tools, including ‘The Social-Engineer Toolkit’ (SET), PenTesters Framework (PTF), Artillery, and Fast-Track. In addition to focusing on research, David has released a number of security advisories, including zero-days.
Passion for Security
David Kennedy’s passion for the information security industry is the reason TrustedSec was born. He wanted to build an organization that helps others in a profound way, serving as technical security experts and advisors to companies of all sizes and industries.
In addition to his formal achievements, David donates his time and wisdom by speaking with civic leaders and students about the importance of security. Bedford High School, David’s alma mater, named its Kennedy Center for Gaming and Leadership in his honor.
Recent Blog Posts
From The Desk of the CEO: Adam Chester Joins TrustedSec as Senior Security Consultant
Today is an exciting day at TrustedSec! It’s not often that we get to announce the addition of a world-class Red Teaming and InfoSec researcher, but today happens to be one of those days. We’re officially announcing that Adam Chester is joining TrustedSec as a Senior Security Consultant on our Red Team. With Adam’s addition...
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From the Desk of the CEO: Eric Girard Joins TrustedSec as Chief Operating Officer
I’m proud to announce an addition to the TrustedSec leadership team – Eric Girard has joined us as the Chief Operating Officer! As TrustedSec continues to grow, I believe that having the right person focused on the company’s vision and innovation is crucial for our continued success. As COO, Girard will provide the leadership, management,...
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One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Penetration Testing Maturity
As the security industry continues to progress, companies are focusing on their own security programs, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. One of the areas of focus that goes to the early days of the security industry is penetration testing. Penetration testing has always been a validation method to identify exposures and...
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Recent Webinars
Answering Tough Questions on the Future of Security
Recorded on January 20, 2021. Do You Have Security Questions That Never Get Answers? A lot of research organizations are putting out predictions for security, but some don’t make much sense. TrustedSec CEO David Kennedy and Advisory Practice Lead Justin...
The Evolution of Red Teaming and Pen Testing: Integrating Adversary Simulation at Every Maturity Level
This webinar was recorded on May 6, 2020. Slides from the webinar can be found here. The security industry continues to evolve in a number of areas all designed to help companies strengthen their ability to respond to attacks. Most...
The Evolution of Pen Testing
Recorded June 20th, 2018 AT 1:00 PM EST Real-world attacks don’t always align with previous pen testing techniques – Tools have caught up! The most challenging aspect of security today is understanding the real-world effectiveness of your existing security controls. With the latest...
Recent Podcasts
Merry Christmas
January 21, 2021
DerbyCon Victory Lap!
January 21, 2021
Intelligence and an End to USB Espionage?
January 21, 2021
