SANS Presents: People Who Made a Difference in Security

Celebrates an individual who devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent, increasing inclusion, and uplifting others in the cybersecurity community. Through mentorship, social media presence, or diversity advocacy, this champion actively supports underrepresented voices and helps the entire community thrive. 

Winners:

• Community: Dr. Reem Faraj Al-Shammari
• Committee: Tracy Z. Maleeff

Using unique approaches to succeed through innovation and risk-taking and/or creating an open-source tool of significant value.

Winners:

• Community: SecurityReview.ai, Abhay Bhargav and team
• Committee: NOVA, Thomas Roccia

Newer practitioners contributing in the industry to keep an eye on.

Winners:

• Community: Dr. Anmol Agarwal
• Committee: Shavvon Cintron

Leading practitioner in the Cyber Defense field.

Winners:

• Community: Anna Pham
• Committee: Steven Thomson

Leading practitioner in the ICS/OT field. 

Winners:

• Community: Mike Holcomb
• Committee: Jeff Shearer

Leading practitioner in the Offensive Operations field.

Winners:

• Community: Tata Derek
• Committee: Cory Wolff

Leading practitioner in the Digital Forensics and Incident Response field.

Winner:

• Community: Omkar Nimbalkar

Excellence in media and content that drove thought leadership, innovation, research, or community discussions in the cybersecurity community. 

Winners:

• Community: Chris Hughes - Host of Resilient Cyber podcast
• Committee: Dave Bittner - Founder and Host of CyberWire Daily

Displayed extraordinary leadership skills, dedication to their team and passion for fostering an inclusive, thriving team environment.

Winner:

• Community: Allan Alford
• Committee: Kirsten Davies

A community-minded company that offers high-quality products and services, demonstrates strong ethical standards, and exhibits exemplary leadership within cybersecurity.

Winner:

• Community: Huntress
• Committee: XBOW

Transcends categories; has made substantial contributions to cybersecurity over many years.

Winner:

• Community and Committee: Dan Kaminsky

Published content in book or article form that makes a significant contribution to cybersecurity literature.

Winners:

• Community: Stronger Together: Women in Cybersecurity by David Meece and Emily Zakkak
• Committee: Cyber for Builders: The Essential Guide to Building a Cybersecurity Startup by Ross Haleliuk

Deeply supports the community through mentorship and/or social media presence, provides valuable resources and connections for others in the field. Devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and support those getting into cybersecurity.

Winners:

• Community: Confidence Staveley
• Committee: Lynn Dohm

Devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and increasing representation and participation of under-represented minorities.

Winners:

• Community: Tennisha Martin
• Committee: Lynn Dohm

Using unique approaches to succeed through innovation and risk-taking and/or creating an open-source tool of significant value.

Winners:

• Community: David Bianco, Ryan Fetterman, Sydney Marrone for The PEAK Threat Hunting Framework
• Committee: Mick Douglas – Infosec Innovations – Concierge

Podcast or video of live-streamed content that makes a significant contribution to the industry.

Winners:

• Community: Simply Cyber Daily Cyber Threat Brief
• Committee: Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks

Newer practitioners contributing in the industry – to keep an eye on.

Winners:

• Community: Yaamini Barathi Mohan
• Committee: Rich Greene

A team who has done extraordinary work in the industry.

Winners:

• Community: Black Girls Hack
• Committee: 709th Cyberspace Squadron, Air Force Technical Applications Center’s Cybersecurity Team

An individual who has done extraordinary work in the industry.

Winner:

• Community & Committee: Nikki Robinson

Displayed extraordinary leadership skills, dedication to their team and passion for fostering an inclusive, thriving team environment.

Winner:

• Community & Committee: Kayla Williams

A community-minded company that offers high-quality products and services, demonstrates strong ethical standards, and exhibits exemplary leadership within cybersecurity.

Winner:

• Community & Committee: MITRE

Transcends categories; has made substantial contributions to cybersecurity over many years.

Winners:

• Community: Tony Sager
• Committee: Stephen Northcutt

Published content in book or article form that makes a significant contribution to cybersecurity literature.

Winners:

• Community: The Ransomware Diaries by Jon DiMaggio
• Committee: See Yourself in Cybersecurity by Zinet Kemal

Deeply supports the community and/or social media presence provides valuable resources and connections for others in the field.

Winners:

• Community: Caitlin Sarian
• Committee: David Meece

Devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and increasing representation and participation of under-represented minorities.

Winners:

• Community: Lillian Teng
• Committee: MK Palmore

Using unique approaches to succeed through innovation and risk-taking.

Winners:

• Community: Jones Baraza
• Committee: Bryson Bort

Devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and supporting those getting into cybersecurity.

Winners:

• Community: Tanya Janca
• Committee: Donny Greene

Created an open-source tool that is of significant value

Winners:

• Community: Dependency Track (OWASP) - Steve Springett
• Committee: Caldera for OT - Blaine Jeffries, Misha Belisle. Nick Tsamis

Podcast or video of live-streamed content that makes a significant contribution to the industry.

Winners:

• Community: Phillip Wylie | The Hacker Factory
• Committee: Erika Eakins, Maril Vernon & Amber Devilbiss | The Cyber Queens Podcast

Newer practitioners to keep an eye on.

Winners:

• Community: Dimple Gajra
• Committee: Jasmine Suarez

Displayed extraordinary leadership skills, dedication to their team, and passion for fostering an inclusive, thriving team environment.

Winners:

• Community: Tia Hopkins
• Committee: Robert Wood

An individual or team who has done extraordinary work.

Winners:

• Community: CyberDefenders Team
• Committee: The KC7 Team

Transcends categories; has made substantial contributions to cybersecurity over many years.

Winners:

• Community: Kevin Mitnick
• Committee: Ron Gula

Recognizes individuals whose contributions have added novel and valuable information to the field.

Winners:

• Community: Andy Grant
• Committee: Darren Argyle

Honors those who devote significant time and energy to developing others' careers.

Winners:

• Community: Deidra Phyall
• Committee: AJ Yawn

Highlights newer practitioners to keep an eye on.

Winners:

• Community: Segun Ebenezer Olaniyan
• Committee: Dominique West

Awarded to authors of published content in book or article form that makes a significant contribution to cybersecurity literature.

Winners:

• Community: The Art of Cyberwarfare by Jon DiMaggio
• Committee: Hacking APIs by Corey Ball

Recognizes podcasts or live-streamed content that makes a significant contribution to the industry.

Winners:

• Community: Cloud Security Podcast by Ashish Rajan & Shilpi Bhattacharjee
• Committee: Cloud Security Reinvented by Andy Ellis

Devotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and increasing representation and participation of under-represented minorities.

Winners:

• Community: Talya C. Parker
• Committee: Delisha Hodo

Recognizes individuals whose social media presence provides valuable resources and connections for others in the field.

Winners:

• Community: Dave Kennedy
• Committee: Camille Stewart Gloster

Honors creators of open-source tools that are of significant value.

Winners:

• Community: Arctic Wolf Labs
• Committee: LEAPP by Alexis Brignoni

Recognizes individuals or teams who have done extraordinary work.

Winners:

• Community: Toni Benson, Associate Director Cyber Defense Education and Training (CDET) at CISA
• Committee: Navy Cyber Operations Team, Christina Hicks

Honors security researchers who have contributed significant work to the community.

Winners:

• Community: Sharon Briznov
• Committee: Eugene Neelou

Transcends categories; awarded to individuals who have made substantial contributions to cybersecurity over many years.

Winners:

• Community: Lesley Carhart
• Committee: Sounil Yu