He previously served in leadership roles at Accenture and TELUS, where he led large-scale offensive security consulting practices across North America, overseeing penetration testing, red team, and adversary simulation engagements across the globe. His work has supported organizations across federal governments, financial services, law enforcement, and Fortune 500 sectors, shaping the practical, real-world scenarios reflected in the courses he teaches.
He holds multiple industry-leading certifications, including the GIAC Security Expert (GSE), and has earned ten GIAC certifications spanning penetration testing, cloud security, intrusion analysis, and management. Karim is also a graduate of the Master of Science in Information Security Engineering (MSISE) program at the SANS Technology Institute. He is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute—an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, and a multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition.
In the classroom, Karim is known for his practical, experience-driven teaching style, translating complex offensive security concepts into actionable skills. Drawing from years of real-world engagements, he equips students to think like adversaries and apply techniques immediately.
Qualifications Summary
- Principal Adversarial Engineer at Okta
- SANS Certified Instructor and SEC665 co-author
- 15+ years in offensive security
- GIAC Security Expert (GSE) with 10 GIAC certifications
- Former North America Offensive Security Lead at Accenture and TELUS
- Instructor for SEC665, SEC565 and SEC588
- Published researcher and speaker
Press and Media Spotlight
- SANS Reading Room publications
- Conference presentations and talks
- Podcast appearances
