Dr. Mahesh Kalappattil

Dr. Mahesh Kalappattil is a Sr. Principal Engineer at Palo Alto Networks with over 21 years of experience in cybersecurity, spanning software exploitation, reverse engineering, and malware analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in Cyber Operations from Dakota State University and an M.S. in Software Engineering with a Cybersecurity specialization from San Jose State University. Prior to Palo Alto Networks, he spent nearly a decade at Cisco Systems in network security research roles. Dr. Kalappattil has published peer-reviewed research on malware analysis at the 2025 IEEE Cyber Awareness and Research Symposium and the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology. He also serves as a Visiting Professor at DeVry University, teaching cybersecurity and networking with a focus on practical, lab-based instruction.

Speaker / Contributor: This individual participates in SANS events, presentations, written content, or other community resources as an external contributor. They are not a SANS employee, instructor, or affiliate.