Larry’s security career began in healthcare, where he spent more than a decade at Care New England and served as Manager of IS Security. He later moved into consulting roles, where his work included penetration testing, wireless assessments, vulnerability analysis, and research. That mix of enterprise responsibility and hands-on offensive testing shows directly in the labs. Students work through realistic wireless, Bluetooth, RFID, SDR, firmware, and IoT scenarios, using methods that reflect how devices, networks, and product teams actually fail under assessment.
Larry has earned a GIAC Gold Research Paper credential and holds several GIAC certifications, including GIAC Assessing and Auditing Wireless Networks (GAWN), GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), and Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP). He is also a co-author of Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking and a contributor to Using Wireshark and Ethereal and How to Cheat at Configuring Open Source Security Tools. He has also contributed practical community tools including loc-nogps-ng, BLEPTD, lte-cell-tracker, wifi-dos and the Internet of Things Attack methodology (IoTA). Larry Pesce is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute, which has been designated an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and is a multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition.
Students describe Larry as engaging, knowledgeable, energetic, and skilled at connecting technical material to real-world examples. Outside the classroom, he co-hosts Paul's Security Weekly and contributes hardware and practical challenges to the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Challenge. An Extra Class Amateur Radio operator (KB1TNF), Larry also enjoys tinkering with electronics, wireless systems, and hardware, sometimes at the expense of warranties and multitools. Outside of cybersecurity, Larry describes himself as a serial hobbyist, with activities ranging from woodworking, jewelry making, forging edged weapons, and retromodding antiques, guided by his belief that a wide range of practical skills might come in handy during the zombie apocalypse.
Qualifications Summary
- Executive Director – Research at Secure Ideas
- SANS Senior Instructor; Co-author of SEC617: Wireless Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking and SEC556: IoT Penetration Testing
- More than 25 years of experience across security, disaster recovery, penetration testing, wireless assessment, vulnerability analysis, and hardware hacking
- Consultant and research leader in multiple verticals, including Fortune 500, Healthcare, ICS/SCADA, Software supply chain and IoT hardware manufacturing
- Co-author of Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking; contributing author to Using Wireshark and Ethereal and How to Cheat at Configuring Open Source Security Tools
- Co-host of Paul’s Security Weekly and contributor to community tools including loc-nogps-ng, BLEPTD, lte-cell-tracker, wifi-dos and the Internet of Things Attack methodology (IoTA)
Certifications:
- GIAC Gold Research Paper, and part of the GIAC Advisory Board
- GIAC GSLC (GIAC Security Leadership)
- GIAC GCIA (GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst)
- GIAC GDSA (GIAC Defensible Security Architect)
- GIAC GSTRT (GIAC Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership)
- GIAC GSEC (GIAC Security Essentials)
- GIAC GICSP (Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional Certification)
- GIAC GCIH (GIAC Certified Incident Handler)
- GIAC GAWN (GIAC Assessing and Auditing Wireless Networks)
- GIAC GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst)
