Dakota Riley

Dakota's passion for technology began at a young age, initially experimenting with console commands and clumsy game modding, eventually leading to running private game servers for friends. What started as playful curiosity quickly evolved into a deep interest in how systems work, setting the foundation for a career in security.

Dakota has worked on security engineering, automation, and cloud security initiatives for a wide range of customers, including startups, large enterprises, the Federal Government, and FAANG companies. His professional journey includes working at Amazon Web Services as a Cloud Security Consultant, serving as a Security Engineer at a Series B startup, and holding the role of Vice President of Cloud Engineering at a boutique consulting firm specializing in cloud and application security for the public sector. Today, Dakota is a Staff Security Engineer at LiveRamp, a cloud-native SaaS company, where he applies hands-on security engineering skills daily to solve complex problems.

In addition to his day job, Dakota actively contributes to open-source cloud security tools, frequently speaks on technical security topics, and shares his expertise as a SANS Certified Instructor Candidate for SEC540: Cloud Security and DevSecOps Automation. Outside of work, he enjoys staying active through regular workouts, unwinding with video games, and spending time with his wife and two cats at home in Northern Kentucky.