Kenneth G. Hartman

Ken’s career sits at the intersection of technology and investigation. He was shaped early by an uncle in engineering and a father who was a detective, then later handled his first criminal forensic case in the 2008 murder trial of Charles Curtis Merriman. Before founding Lucid Truth Technologies, he helped launch and lead Visonex, worked in industrial controls at Kraft Foods, and held cloud and security roles at Shopbop.com, OneNeck IT Solutions, Google, SAP Ariba, and Illumina. He draws on that experience while teaching the labs, helping students connect identity, logging, network controls, compliance, incident response, cloud-focused penetration testing, Cloud Custodian, and automation to the realities of defending cloud environments.

Ken holds a Master of Science in Information Security Engineering from the SANS Technology Institute, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional credential, the GIAC Security Expert credential, and multiple GIAC certifications. Kenneth G. Hartman is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute (SANS.edu). SANS.edu is an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition. Beyond teaching, he maintains forensicate.cloud, an open-source resource for cloud forensics, and has published research on BitTorrent investigations, Amazon EC2 forensics, DevSecOps, and multicloud security.

Ken teaches from a simple mission: make the truth clear. He wants students to understand what to care about, where to focus, and how to use automation to keep pace with cloud scale and constant change. Students should leave able to select practical controls, investigate cloud activity, explain risk clearly, and build safer habits across their organizations without becoming the “cyber policeman.” Students describe Ken as clear, knowledgeable, articulate, and grounded in real-world examples. Away from work, Ken enjoys barbeques, boating, and riding his Harley with friends.

Qualifications Summary

• Master of Science in Information Security Engineering, SANS Technology Institute;
• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Michigan Technological University
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• GIAC Certifications: GIAC Security Expert (GSE); GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA); GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE); GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT); GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH); GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst (GCIA); GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC); GIAC Critical Controls Certification (GCCC); GIAC Certified Project Manager (GCPM); GIAC Cloud Security Essentials (GCLD); GIAC Public Cloud Security (GPCS); GIAC Advanced Smartphone Forensics (GASF)
• Licensed Private Investigator in Michigan
• Key Achievements: Founder of Lucid Truth Technologies; CISO of SampleServe; previously held cloud, security, architecture, compliance, and product roles at Illumina, SAP Ariba, Google, OneNeck IT Solutions, Shopbop.com, Visonex, and Kraft Foods; helped launch and lead Visonex, an early SaaS medical record solution for dialysis patients.
• Courses: Instructor for SEC502: Cloud Security Tactical Defense and has taught SEC510: Cloud Security Engineering
• Tools and Community Contributions: Maintains forensicate.cloud, an open-source cloud forensics education project; runs TorrentialDownpour.net as a technical resource for defense counsel working with peer-to-peer evidence; publishes technical resources through GitHub, including terraform-cloud-workstation, DockerCrashCourse, DifferentialAnalysis, and ec2_inventory.