Jason Larkin

Jason began his technology career in 1999 in IT operations and infrastructure, then moved into cybersecurity in 2014. That path matters because he has worked across the seam between how systems are designed, how they are operated, and how they behave under pressure. He considers himself an engineer at heart, always looking under the hood to understand how technology works and how to achieve the right outcome. He previously served as Cyber Security Manager for an NHS organisation, a role he considers one of his proudest career achievements. There, he helped build the security function, improved security posture, and enabled the organisation to withstand the WannaCry outbreak while supporting wider NHS incident response efforts. Those experiences help him connect the course’s focus on secure defaults, identity controls, logging, segmentation, vulnerability assessment, and practical cloud defence to the realities students face at work.

Jason holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional credential and nine GIAC certifications, along with professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, NetApp, and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. Jason Larkin is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute. SANS.edu is designated as a NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition. His work also extends into practitioner community channels, including external conversations on how Tesco security teams think about identity, platform security, architecture, and reducing risk at scale.

Jason teaches from the belief that strong defenders need both technical depth and judgment. He frames career growth in three stages: Inclusion, Influence, and Impact: getting into the field, earning the trust to shape decisions, and eventually making a meaningful difference for an organisation, community, or industry. In class, that means helping students leave with skills they can use assessing cloud risk, hardening identity and network paths, collecting useful telemetry, explaining tradeoffs, and responding with clearer signal. Outside of work, Jason spends time with his wife and three daughters, stays active through running, bodyweight training, and martial arts, and keeps a close interest in health science, especially how modern diets affect short- and long-term well-being. He is also a hardware enthusiast, enjoys riding Italian motorcycles on rare sunny days in England, and finds perspective in Stoicism, particularly its ancient Roman focus on resilience, calm, and knowing what is within your control. Useful traits for life, and for blue teamwork.

Qualifications Summary

• GIAC Certifications: (GSEC), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), GIAC Certified Forensics Analyst (GCFA), GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT), GIAC Public Cloud Security (GPCS), GIAC Cloud Security Essentials (GCLD), GIAC Cloud Threat Detection (GCTD), GIAC Cloud Security Architecture and Design (GCAD)
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Professional certifications across Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, NetApp, and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
• Key Achievements: Principal Enterprise Security Architect at Tesco; previously served as Cyber Security Manager for an NHS organisation, where he helped improve the organisation’s security posture, enabled it to withstand the WannaCry outbreak, and supported wider NHS incident response efforts during the crisis.
• Courses: Instructor for SEC502: Cloud Security Tactical Defense and SEC549: Cloud Security Architecture
• Community Contributions: GIAC Advisory Board member; Kent and Medway Cyber Cluster membership, and Kent and Medway Cyber Schools Network Ambassador.