Paul Kurtz is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity and the Chief Cybersecurity Advisor/Field CTO at Splunk. Paul began working cybersecurity issues on the National Security Council at the White House in the late 1990s. He served in senior positions on the White House's National Security and Homeland Security Councils under Presidents Clinton and Bush and advised President Obama on cybersecurity during his transition into office. During his service, Paul was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Critical Infrastructure Protection on the White House’s Homeland Security Council (HSC). He joined the HSC from the National Security Council (NSC) where he was both Senior Director for National Security in the Office of Cyberspace Security and a member of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. He served on the NSC as a Director of Counterterrorism from 1999-2001, and helped manage the response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Since leaving government, Paul has held numerous private sector cybersecurity positions and co-founded TruSTAR Technology, which was acquired by Splunk. Paul is a regularly sought-after speaker and expert for the media, and served as an on-air consultant for CBS News.

Paul’s work in counterterrorism has long-influenced his approach to cybersecurity. Specifically, it highlighted the need to improve information sharing and collaboration among those involved in detecting and responding to cyber threats. His remarks will be grounded in the past year’s most critical challenges and what we learned from our response to them, including the cyber attacks on the Ukraine power grid and the onslaught of cyber attacks targeting critical health care facilities.