Ian Cook

Ian is an internationally respected IT security leader, security researcher, and intelligence analyst. For 30 years, he’s pioneered the application of government intelligence procedures to predict corporate security risks and help security managers to better target security resources and make effective strategic decisions. He’s held senior technical and management positions at Saudi American Bank, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Barclays, and Team Cymru, and received the Cymraeg “Team Cymru Emeritus” title in recognition of his distinguished career. He has helped many start-ups come to market, including Cogenta.

A long-standing FIRST member, he served on FIRST’s Steering Committee, drove its Best Practice Guide initiative, and was Program Chair for the FIRST 2007 Conference. For 15 years, Ian managed an elite, invite-only Security Mailing list of security industry decision-makers. Currently, he provides a Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) Service for SMEs who cannot hire a full-time CISO; mentors large organization CISOs and provides advice, direction, marketing, funding introductions, and PR to security technology start-ups.