Trainer Bios

As a Cyber Security leader, John Haley is a technical subject matter expert in many areas of Information Security with the greatest interest in the areas Detection, Incident Response, Cloud Security, Digital Forensics, and Security Engineering. John currently leads a global information security organization as the Engineering Manager of the Detection Engineering, Incident Response, and Cloud Security teams at Lyft Inc. Previously, John provided cybersecurity expertise for organizations like Netflix, Capital One, IronNet Cybersecurity, and Verizon. In his free time, John enjoys traveling the world to experience different cultures.  John is currently a PhD Candidate in Information Technology at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Brandon Rochat is the District Sales Manager at Palo Alto Networks architecting Next Generation Network Security Operating platforms. Brandon joined a rapidly expanding Palo Alto Networks in 2013 bringing more than 30 years’ experience in various aspects of Information Technology. For the past 5 years he has been at the forefront of securing a vast range of organizations in the public and private sectors with the African territory.

Included in these organizations are the top universities in South Africa like University of Pretoria, University of Cape Town and University of the Free State. He also delivered an education security framework for the Western Cape Government on how to “safely enable digital access for tertiary schools”.

Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks Brandon performed a similar role at Expand Networks in South Africa.

Hélder Veiga has a Master degree in Electronic and Telecommunications by Aveiro University – Portugal. Has performed research in Telecommunication Networks and Traffic engineering. Has been a collaborator of NOSi since 2009, where he has performed several functions such as responsible of the technological component of e-Gov Upgrade Project, Project Manager of many projects, Manager of the Government Private Technological Network and recently as IT Internal Security Auditor. He is specialized in Telecommunications and Security.

Tapiwa Gumindoga is the Cyber Security focal point for the Ministry of ICT and Cyber Security in Zimbabwe. He is responsible for advising and representing the Ministry on technical, policy, legislative and regulatory matters relating to Cyber Security. He has represented Zimbabwe on several occasions including being Head of ICT for the 20th General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, International Conference on AIDS and STI’s in Africa (2015), SADC Heads of State and Government Summit (2014) among other regional and international events. Tapiwa has played a significant role in the setting up of Community Information Centres, Development of Government websites, formulation of National ICT and Cyber Security Policies, ICT Research and Development and Training of Civil Servants and Citizens on ICTs in Zimbabwe. He is a Master of Commerce in Strategic Management candidate and is also studying towards attaining an Ethical Hacking certification. He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) Degree in Information Systems (MSU, Zimbabwe), Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Computing (CDAC, India), Certificate in Information Security (Fujitsu, Japan), and Certificate in e-Government implementation (Singapore) among other qualifications.

Adriaan Joubert is a Systems Engineer at Palo Alto Networks architecting Next Generation Network Security Operating platforms. Adriaan joined a rapidly expanding Palo Alto Networks in 2013 bringing more than 15 years’ experience in various aspects of Information Technology Security. He has architected, engineered and delivered on some of Africa’s most advanced next generation network security solutions as well as endpoint solutions at a vast range of organisations in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks Adriaan performed a similar role at McAfee in the United Kingdom as well as South Africa.

Elina Viksne joined Latvian Ministry of Defense in 2013 where she works at the National Cyber Security Policy Coordination Section. In her positions she has been responsible for cooperation with main cyber security stakeholders on a national, regional (Baltic states) and international level. She also has been heavily involved in drafting legislation and advancing new policy initiatives, cooperating with private and non-governmental sector and providing support to the National Cyber Security Council. Elina Viksne has a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Latvia; in her Master’s thesis she compared cyber security development in Latvia and Estonia.

As a Cyber Security practitioner John Haley is a technical subject matter expert in many areas of Information Security with the greatest interest in the areas Threat Detection, Digital Forensics, and Reverse Engineering. John currently leads an international team charged with threat detection through alert and signature development for Capital One Financial in McLean, VA. Previously, John provided cybersecurity expertise for organizations like IronNet Cybersecurity, Verizon, and Booz Allen Hamilton. John spends a lot of free time currently working on his dissertation research as he is a PhD Candidate in the area of Information Technology at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. John also has interest in the areas of data analytics and how it applies to sports injury analysis. John will participate in the Splunk .conf2018 conference as a featured speaker presenting a talk on Data Analysis and Athlete health.

Silas Everett M.A. Candidate, Data Science, University of California, Berkeley, School of Information Silas Everett has worked in international development for over twenty years including the Balkans, South Caucasus, Mongolia, and over 10 years in South and South East Asia. He has designed, managed and represented a range of multi-year programs in the areas of community policing, legal aid, peace and reconciliation, civil society strengthening, local governance and access to employment information. A specific area of interest for him is exploring social media to gain insight on what matters to different groups of people and to amplify public opinion on pressing civic issues. He is currently a student at U.C. Berkeley School of Information in the Masters of Information and Data Science program. He holds a masters in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.