Bronwen Aker is a BHIS Technical Editor who joined full-time in 2022 after years of contract work, bringing decades of web development and technical training experience to her roles in editing pentest reports, enhancing QA/QC processes, and improving public websites, and who enjoys sci-fi/fantasy, Animal Crossing, and dogs outside of work.

Corey Ham has been with Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) since 2021 delivering red teaming and OSINT services. Currently, Corey leads the ANTISOC team at BHIS, providing subscription-based continuous red teaming to BHIS clients. Outside of his time at BHIS, you can find him out in the woods or up on a mountain somewhere.

Hayden Covington joined Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) in the Summer of 2022 as a SOC Analyst. He chose BHIS after hearing many great things over the years and seeing the quality of work, as well as finding people who have the same passion for the field as he does. His favorite part of the job so far has been the community. Previously, Hayden worked in a SOC for a Naval contractor, where he also served as their SOAR project manager and SME, as well as insider threat lead. When he’s not working, Hayden can be found doing anything athletic (like triathlons!), as well as enjoying video gaming and Formula 1.

John Strand has both consulted and taught hundreds of organizations in the areas of security, regulatory compliance, and penetration testing. He is a coveted speaker and much loved SANS teacher. John is a contributor to the industry-shaping Penetration Testing Execution Standard and 20 Critical Controls frameworks.

Ralph is a U.S. Army veteran and former DoD contractor who supported the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) with information security challenges and threat actor simulations. Over the past decade, he has provided offensive security services at Optiv Security and Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) across various industries. His expertise spans network, physical, and wireless penetration testing, social engineering, and advanced adversarial emulation through red and purple team assessments. Ralph has developed several tools, including Bitor (set to release in January 2025) and Warhorse, which enhance efficiency in penetration testing infrastructure and operations. He has spoken at numerous conferences, including DEF CON, Black Hat, Hack Miami, B-Sides Tampa, and Hack Space Con.

Wade Wells has been working in cybersecurity for a decade, focusing on detection engineering, threat intelligence, and defensive operations. Wade currently works as a Lead Detection Engineer at 1Password, where he helps build and mature scalable detection programs. Outside of his day-to-day work, Wade is deeply involved in the security community through teaching, mentoring, podcasting, and running local events

Aisling nic Lynne is a cybersecurity practitioner with strong interest in privacy and forensics, all the way back to setting up GPG inside her AOL IMs in college. Her broad technical background includes being a sysop for a top-20 supercomputer, high-energy particle physics experiments, and aero engine engineering. She is a second-generation ttrpg player, handyma'am, and would collect more Star Wars LEGO sets if only she had a place to put them. Some people want to see the world burn; she wants to see people's eyes alight with understanding.

Alex Minster is a cybersecurity professional with a passion for Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) , and a desire to use his technical skills to make a meaningful impact on society. With nearly twenty years of experience in cybersecurity, and a current role in Threat Intelligence for a global financial corporation, Alex remains very active in numerous cybersecurity groups including DC608 and Black Hills Information Security. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Alex is an avid oldschool gamer who enjoys arcades, retro gaming, and tabletop games. He brings his passion for adventure and his commitment to helping others to everything he does, both in and out of his professional career.

Andy Pettit is a cybersecurity practitioner and lifelong builder with a hacker’s mindset, driven by deep curiosity and a desire to understand how systems truly work. He began coding in C at age 12 building custom MUDs and has been pulling systems apart ever since, focusing on gaps between design and real-world behavior. Andy brings a whole-business perspective from over a decade as managing partner of Clown Shoe Motorsports, shaping his views on risk, reliability, cost, and people. He volunteers with Black Hills Information Security and Antisyphon Training as a Nerd Herder and is a top 5% MetaCTF competitor, endurance racer, and HPDE instructor with NASA Texas Region.

Cameron Cartier joined Black Hills Information Security as a Consultant in 2023. She holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Utah where she studied Tor and other privacy enhancing technologies. Currently, Cameron works in the ANTISOC and specializes in Social Engineering, Physical Security Testing, and Web Application Exploitation. Outside of work, she is an amateur cage fighter, and rock climber.

David Blandford joined Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) in the spring of 2024 as a Security Consultant. In this role, he evaluates the security of web applications, mobile applications, cloud environments, and networks through the eyes of an attacker, working with companies to ensure their networks are secure. Previously, David has worked in many security roles such as a network engineer, software developer, and penetration tester, and he is currently a member of the Michigan National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team. He chose BHIS for the opportunity to work with “some of the brightest minds in the industry.” He thinks the best part is the people, as well as being able to contribute to the community through classes, webinars, presentations, tooling, etc. Outside of work, David can be found going on adventures with his family, weightlifting, and trying to listen to all of the albums in Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums (Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” is his favorite so far!).

I’m a security researcher focused on the intersection of threat hunting and agentic AI. I do research at Active Countermeasures and instruct at AntiSyphon, teaching threat hunting and offensive security tooling. I’m also currently building aionsec.ai, an open-source platform to make elite threat hunting accessible to everyone.

Kent Ickler has been a Security Consultant and Systems Administrator for Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) since 2017. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology Management and a Master’s in Business Management. Kent’s education and management background allow him to be realistic and practical when aiding customers with evaluating risk on their networks. Kent enjoys being a part of the BHIS team because he gets to make a difference in not only the customers’ cybersecurity but also in the Information Security industry as a whole by contributing to the available resources; he has developed frameworks and open-source tools along with building and administering CTFs. When he is away from work, Kent enjoys woodworking and medieval architecture.

MaryEllen Kennel has held numerous roles in CyberSecurity, and is currently ranked top 1% in MetaCTF. MaryEllen has spoken at several conferences, including Magnet Forensics, KringleCon, and most recently, Wild West Hackin’ Fest in Deadwood, SD. MaryEllen grew up Mennonite, and treasures spending time with family.

Shecky, as he is commonly called, has been in the professional world of IT for nearly 30 years the last 11 as a blue team security engineer. He is focused on detection engineering, threat intel and analysis. Outside of his day to day he is involved in Bsides312, Hak4Kidz and Burbsec (Chicago's cybersecurity meetup conglomerate).

Ryan Poirier began his time at Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) as the Video Producer and Editor in August 2020. Ryan polishes and perfects every webcast, podcast, and workshop on the BHIS, ACM, and WWHF YouTube Channels. Prior to Ryan’s time at BHIS, he worked for one of the largest public schools in the United States, conducting their video production and live broadcasting. He joined the BHIS team because he felt like it would be a great group of people to work with, and he couldn’t pass up the perfect next step in his career. Outside of his time with BHIS, Ryan does freelance photography, attends Cars & Coffee events, and expands his knowledge of audio and videos.