The SANS Institute is a private U.S. for-profit company founded in 1989 that specializes in information security, cybersecurity training, and selling certificates. Topics available for training include cyber and network defenses, penetration testing, incident response, digital forensics, and auditing. The information security courses are developed through a consensus process involving administrators, security managers, and information security professionals. The courses cover security fundamentals and technical aspects of information security. The institute has been recognized for its training programs and certification programs. Per 2021, SANS is the world’s largest cybersecurity research and training organization. SANS is an acronym for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security.
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud, identity theft, data breaches, computer viruses, scams, and expanded upon in other malicious acts. Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive information, disrupt services, and cause financial or reputational harm to individuals, organizations, and governments.
Bitdefender is a multinational cybersecurity technology company dual-headquartered in Bucharest, Romania and Santa Clara, California, with offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
Cyberwarfare by Russia includes denial of service attacks, hacker attacks, dissemination of disinformation and propaganda, participation of state-sponsored teams in political blogs, internet surveillance using SORM technology, persecution of cyber-dissidents and other active measures. According to investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, some of these activities were coordinated by the Russian signals intelligence, which was part of the FSB and formerly a part of the 16th KGB department. An analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2017 outlines Russia's view of "Information Countermeasures" or IPb as "strategically decisive and critically important to control its domestic populace and influence adversary states", dividing 'Information Countermeasures' into two categories of "Informational-Technical" and "Informational-Psychological" groups. The former encompasses network operations relating to defense, attack, and exploitation and the latter to "attempts to change people's behavior or beliefs in favor of Russian governmental objectives."
Kaspersky Lab is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, Natalya Kaspersky and Alexey De-Monderik. Kaspersky Lab develops and sells antivirus, internet security, password management, endpoint security, and other cybersecurity products and services.
A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts. Common activities at hacker conventions may include:
Jeffrey Carr is a cybersecurity author, researcher, entrepreneur and consultant, who focuses on cyber warfare.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The core product is a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security. The company serves over 70,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100. It is home to the Unit 42 threat research team and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference. It is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum.
Dmitri Alperovitch is an American think-tank founder, author, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think-tank in Washington, D.C., and a co-founder and former chief technology officer of CrowdStrike. Alperovitch is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Russia who came to the United States in 1994 with his family.
Pavel Olegovich Vrublevsky is a Russian, owner and general manager of the processing company ChronoPay. He is also the founder of investment company RNP and a Russian Forbes contributor on matters relating to blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and cybersecurity. He was also implicated in a range of criminal cases related to hacking.
Positive Hack Days (PHDays) is an annual international cybersecurity forum. It has been held by Positive Technologies since 2011. PHDays brings together IT and infosec experts, government officials, business representatives, students, and schoolchildren. The forum hosts talks and workshops on the most interesting information security topics, The Standoff cyberexercises, practical competitions in which participants analyze the security of industrial control systems, banking and mobile services, and web apps.
Keren Elazari, also known as k3r3n3, is an Israeli cybersecurity analyst, writer, and speaker. She is a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv University Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.
Ilya Sachkov is a Russian cybersecurity expert and founder and CEO of Group-IB, a cybersecurity company specialising in the detection and prevention of cyberattacks. He received an award from Russian President Vladimir Putin for his work in 2019. In September 2021, he was detained by the Russian government's Federal Security Service on treason charges.
During the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, multiple cyberattacks against Ukraine were recorded, as well as some attacks on Russia. The first major cyberattack took place on 14 January 2022, and took down more than a dozen of Ukraine's government websites. According to Ukrainian officials, around 70 government websites, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the National and Defense Council (NSDC), were attacked. Most of the sites were restored within hours of the attack. On 15 February, another cyberattack took down multiple government and bank services.
The IT Army of Ukraine is a volunteer cyberwarfare organisation created at the end of February 2022 to fight against digital intrusion of Ukrainian information and cyberspace after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The group also conducts offensive cyberwarfare operations, and Chief of Head of State Special Communications Service of Ukraine Victor Zhora said its enlisted hackers would only attack military targets.
Yury Vladimirovich Maksimov is a Russian hacker, cyber-entrepreneur, programmer and one of the only three Russian high-tech billionaires to make their fortunes on software.
In 2024, cyber-specialists working as part of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) initiated several cyberattacks on Russian technology and infrastructure, including attacks on Russia's banking sector, Russian internet providers, regional and municipal administration web resources, Russian airports, several Russian state institutions, and private companies. The operations were conducted as means to impede Russian military operations and uncover classified documents that could be taken into account by the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as to destabilize Russia's institutions. Cyberattacks began to intensify in scope in June and July 2024.
ThriveDX is a global cybersecurity education provider. The company partners with educational institutions and organizations to deliver online training bootcamps teaching cybersecurity, software development, information technology, AI coding, and various digital skills.
Seemant Sehgal is a Dutch entrepreneur of Indian origin, a cybersecurity expert and author in the tech industry. He was the former head of cybersecurity at ING Bank. He is the founder and CEO of BreachLock Inc.
