Karen Worstell began her cyber career 30 years ago when her Programming professor in grad school encrypted the final and unique code breaking tools were required to be used in order to decrypt and read each question.

She has provided cybersecurity support for programs like the Advanced Tactical Fighter prototype and B2 Bomber, developed the first computer security manual for the Boeing Company, and led research in secure distributed computing for Boeing’s Research and Technology Division in the 1980s and 90s. From there she had senior and C-level roles in security and IT Risk Management for companies like Union Carbide, SRI Consulting, Bank of America, AT&T Wireless, Microsoft and Russell Investments. She was the CEO for AtomicTangerine, the SRI International spinoff focused on security that served international Fortune 100 companies in security strategy and major technology implementations. She co-chaired major security events for SRI International, Forbes.com, and Georgetown University Law Center.

She held positions at NIST for OSI security architecture, the security subcommittee of the Aerospace Industries Association, US Department of Commerce Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and the security subcommittee of NSTAC and has been a featured speaker at events for SecureWorld, IIA, ISSA, ISACA, AusCERT, Security Conference Israel, and RSA.

She is the author of “Governance and Internal Controls for Cutting Edge IT” published by ITG, the chapter "The Role of the CISO" in the Computer Security Handbook 5th and 6th editions (Wiley) and co-author of "Evaluating the E-Discovery Capabilities of Outside Law Firms” by Pike & Fisher.

Her technical expertise spans Identity and Access Management, Intrusion Detection and Response, and integration of security into IT and business processes for “seamless security.” She is a huge fan of "not putting steel doors on grass shacks.” Today she focuses on changing perceptions about security to reduce the growing gap between emerging technology and security and pursues her passion for matching cyber talent in leadership roles for enterprises who are serious about cyber security.

Karen tweets at https://twitter.com/karenworstell and blogs at karenworstell.com.