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Ismael Valenzuela

Senior InstructorVice President Threat Research & Intelligence at Arctic Wolf

Specialities

Cyber Defense, Offensive Operations

Ismael Valenzuela

About Ismael Valenzuela

With more than two decades of international cybersecurity experience, Ismael Valenzuela has helped governments, Fortune 500 companies, and critical infrastructure providers defend against some of the world’s most advanced adversaries. Today, as a Senior Instructor at SANS and author of SANS SEC530: Defensible Security Architecture and Engineering: Implementing Zero Trust for the Hybrid Enterprise, he channels those lessons into hands-on training for students worldwide. He also serves as Vice President of Labs, Threat Research & Intelligence at Arctic Wolf, where he leads detection engineering, intelligence, and security innovation for one of the largest commercial security operations centers (SOCs) in the world.

Ismael’s career began in Spain, where he co-founded one of the country’s first IT security consultancies. He went on to hold leadership roles at Foundstone, Intel, McAfee, Trellix, and BlackBerry Cylance, gaining experience across both offensive and defensive security. Along the way, he built SOCs, led digital forensics and incident response efforts, and advised governments and enterprises on strategies to outpace adversaries. The breadth of his experience enables him to design course content and hands-on labs that go beyond merely demonstrating defensive concepts, immersing students in the same scenarios defenders face daily.

He is one of few who hold the prestigious GIAC Security Expert (GSE, #132) certification, alongside multiple GIAC credentials in forensics, incident response, penetration testing, and monitoring. He is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute, which has been designated an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and is a multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition. Ismael currently serves as co-chair of a new advisory panel under the international Counter Ransomware Initiative (CRI), focused on enhancing public-private collaboration to combat ransomware through intelligence sharing, joint disruption efforts, and policy innovation. Beyond the classroom, he fosters a global community of “All Around Defenders” through his blog, open-source tools and projects, and frequent talks at conferences such as RSA, BlackHat, and SANS Summits. Through his teaching, writing, and tools, Ismael has cultivated a global community of defenders who share strategies, lessons learned, and innovations in defensive security.

In teaching, Ismael bridges defensive strategy and zero-trust architectures with tactical detection and response capabilities, giving students both the high-level design perspective and the hands-on skills needed to respond to real-world threats. Students often praise his clear explanations, engaging labs, and ability to connect theory to practice—learners leave class empowered to architect systems that stand up to evolving adversaries. Away from work, Ismael enjoys puzzles, programming, and experimenting in his home lab—reminders of his belief that curiosity and continuous practice are the keys to becoming an effective defender.

Qualifications Summary
  • Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Universidad de Málaga
  • Course Author, SEC530: Defensible Security Architecture and Engineering: Implementing Zero Trust for the Hybrid Enterprise
  • GIAC Certifications: GSE #132, GX-IH, GX-IA, GX-CS, GSP, GDSA, GCWN, GCFA, GCIH, GPEN, GMON, GREM, GCIA, GCUX, GWAPT, GSNA
  • Vice President of Labs, Threat Research & Intelligence, Arctic Wolf
  • Former VP, Threat Research & Intelligence at BlackBerry Cylance
  • Former Senior Principal Engineer/Senior Director – Head of Applied Countermeasures (AC3) Team, Trellix
  • Former Senior Principal Engineer/Senior Director – Head of Applied Countermeasures (AC3) Team, McAfee
  • Former Senior Director and Principal Engineer, Foundstone and Intel Security
  • 3-Time Black Hat presenter
  • 3-Time RSAC presenter
  • Faculty member, SANS Technology Institute
  • Co-founder, TTP0
  • Author of rastrea2r

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