Ryan Kovar joined Splunk in 2014 and currently serves as a Distinguished Security Strategist and leader of SURGe, Splunk’s “Blue-collar for the Blue team” strategic security research arm. With over 20 years of experience as a security analyst, threat hunter, defender, and Unix plumber. Before joining Splunk, he worked at organizations like DARPA, US Navy, UK Home Office, and various public/private companies, always in a security practitioner or leader role. Ryan has an MSc in Cyber Security from the University of Westminster, more certifications than he remembers, and has an abject hatred of printers.