Don C. Weber

Don's career runs from hands-on operations to enterprise leadership in cybersecurity management, incident response, vulnerability management, and assessments across energy, manufacturing, and the public sector. That experience shapes how he teaches ICS410. He grounds core security concepts in engineering workflows, safety, and uptime to bridge the gap between IT and OT. Teams leave knowing how to apply these concepts as part of IT/OT convergence. In ICS613, he shows how to scope and plan safer tests, select techniques that fit the process, gather evidence without disruption, and turn results into fixes teams trust.

At WWT, Don secures enterprise AI and agentic systems through threat modeling, architecture reviews, and adversarial testing. This work builds toward a clear goal: protecting AI model development, deployment, and operations in industrial environments.

A longtime contributor to the ICS/OT community, Don creates and shares cybersecurity tools and techniques. His open-source assessment and data processing tools are available on the Cutaway Security GitHub. These include CHAPS (Configuration Hardening Assessment PowerShell Script) for configuration collection on isolated Windows servers and workstations. Don has presented his research at SANS ICS Summit, Black Hat, DEF CON, S4, NRECA, AFCEA TechNet, B-Sides, and other industrial conferences. Topics range from smart-meter security to practical ICS testing workflows. He also participates in ASTM F24 and ISA/IEC 62443 working groups that align safety and cybersecurity requirements. Don is a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute, an NSA-designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition.

Don is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who brings a mission-first calm to the classroom. He focuses on outcomes students can put to work immediately. He emphasizes safe, purpose-built testing, precise communication with engineers and operators, and improvements that respect safety and uptime. Whether students work in energy, manufacturing, water, government, or the public sector, they leave with repeatable ways to scope and execute assessments, choose techniques that fit the process, and turn findings into fixes teams trust. At the heart of his work is a simple aim: help practitioners protect essential services and the communities that rely on them.

Qualifications Summary

• SANS Principal Instructor
• CEO and Founder, Cutaway Security, LLC
• Security Solutions Senior Consultant, AI Security, World Wide Technology
• Co-author and instructor, ICS613: ICS/OT Penetration Testing & Assessments. Instructor, ICS410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials
• 20+ years of experience across cybersecurity management, assessments, incident response, vulnerability management, and OT security for energy, manufacturing, and public-sector environments
• Created open-source tools and methods including CHAPS (Configuration Hardening Assessment PowerShell Script)
• Standards participation: ASTM F24 and ISA/IEC 62443 (ISA-99) working groups
• Education: Master of Science, Network Security, Capitol College. Bachelor of Science, Computer Science & Mathematics, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
• Certifications: Global Industrial Cybersecurity Professional (GICSP), GIAC Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership (GSTRT), GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), GIAC Cloud Security Essentials (GCLD), and ISA/IEC 62443 Certified Expert
• U.S. Marine Corps veteran (Sergeant, First Force Reconnaissance Company, Fox Co., 2/5)
• Presenter at industry conferences including SANS ICS Security Summit, DEF CON, Black Hat, S4, NRECA, OWASP, B-Sides, AFCEA TechNet, and others
• Co-host, Simply ICS Cyber podcast, and guest speaker on multiple industrial cybersecurity podcasts