The NEbraskaCERT Conference is very fortunate to get some of the best speakers to present at our conference.  Here is the Class of 2009:

Ashbaugh, Douglas

Douglas A. Ashbaugh, CISSP, CISA is the Manager of Information Assurance for Software Engineering Services (SES) where he leads a team of dedicated information security analysts in providing security strategy and solutions, evaluation and assessment services, application security services and security remediation services to both corporate as well as various federal, state and municipal government clients.  A dedicated information security professional, Mr. Ashbaugh has extensive experience in Project Management, Software Development and Testing, and Information Security.  His 18+ years of Information Systems experience in both government and commercial environments provides a solid foundation to achieve outstanding results in various environments.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Operations from Iowa State University.  He served eight years in the United States Air Force as an acquisition project officer performing project management duties on a number of different development projects ranging in size from $50,000 to $3 Billion.  He has also worked as a software developer/analyst/tester for the financial services industry for a period of more than six years.  For the past five years, Mr. Ashbaugh has been providing information security services to a number of clients for SES.  SES provides leading-edge IT solutions to DoD, government, state agencies and the private sector.

Baldi, Robert

Robert Baldi is a CISSP, ISSEP, CEH and CIW Security Analyst with ten years of experience in Information Assurance with the Department of Defense. He is currently a security engineer for USSTRATCOM and NSA, employed by Booz Allen Hamilton.  He is a graduate of Bellevue University and previously worked for the US Air Force and Raytheon in security engineering positions.  Robert is also an adjunct instructor for information security courses at ITT Technical Institute in Omaha, NE and a network defense analyst in the USAFR.

Bender, Jonathan

Jonathan Bender is the Systems Programmer for NUCIA. Jonathan works with NUCIA faculty and students on research projects that require development of technical systems. He was worked on projects in academia and industry in the areas of Bioinformatics, Information Assurance, Web/Service Oriented, Visualization, and Gaming. Jonathan has lead NUCIA's participation in the Capture the Flag (CTF) exercises.  He has developed an in-house Capture the Flag exercise for use during the International Cyber Defense workshop in 2008 and 2009.

Jonathan has a BS in Computer Science from University of Nebraska and is an Associate of ISC2.

Churchill, Matt

Matt Churchill is the Director of Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations for Continuum Worldwide.  Matt is a former member of the FBI's Cyber Crimes Task Force and former Deputy Douglas County Sheriff of ten years, where he conducted digital forensic examinations.  Matt is a graduate of UNO and has earned the professional designations of Certified Forensic Computer Examiner (CFCE), Certified Computer Examiner (CCE), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).  Matt is a founding member and current President of the Nebraska Chapter of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) and he is a member of the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS), the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners (ISFSE)and Infragard.

Clauff, Robert

Robert Clauff is a graduate of the CNSS Information System Security bachelor of science program at ITT Technical Institute in Omaha, NE.  He is a network security administrator with CAS in Omaha.  Robert has been the lead penetration analyst on IA tiger team audits in addition to working with small and medium businesses to help intiate information security programs from the ground up.

Dixon, Bill

Bill is a Managing Consultant for Continuum Worldwide.  He has over 7 years of experience, in the field of information security and risk assessment.  Bill has worked with clients in the insurance, financial services, banking, manufacturing, software development, and higher education industries.  Bill has assisted clients with development and assessment of risk management programs, technical controls review, policy development, and regulatory compliance with focus on PCI, HIPAA, GLBA, FISMA, and SOX 404.  Bill also has experience in information security risk assessment, application security assessment, system architecture and design, and project management.

Johnson, Leighton

Leighton is the COO and senior security consultant for Information Security and Forensics Management Team (ISFMT), a provider of computer security and forensics consulting & certification training. He most recently was the CIO for a 450 person directorate within Lockheed Martin IT covering 7 locations within the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the U.S. He recently served as Security Operations Program Manager for a DOD Field Agency, based in Arlington, VA. He has over 30 years experience in Computer Security, Software Development and Communications Equipment Operations & Maintenance. Primary focus areas have included computer security, information operations & assurance, software system development life cycle focused on modeling & simulation systems, systems engineering and integration activities, database administration, business process & data modeling. He holds CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), CIFI (Certified Information Forensics Investigator), CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor), CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) and CMAS (Certified Master Anti-Terrorism Specialist) credentials.

Kohtz, Don

Don Kohtz is the Managing Director of Legal Solutions at Continuum Worldwide.  He was formerly an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Nebraska, the Fraud Bureau Chief at the Nebraska Department of Insurance, and provided legal counsel and litigation services to insurance companies and financial institutions while practicing with the law firm of Locher Cellilli Pavelka & Dostal.

Don has presented and/or published on the topics of electronic discovery (eDiscovery) and electronically stored information (ESI) matters; digital/computer forensics; best practices for first responders collecting electronic evidence; cell phone forensics; insurance fraud; risk mitigation; and compliance matters.  He has investigated and consulted on matters involving insurance fraud; theft; impersonation; other white collar crimes; and unethical behavior.

Don holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Doctorate of Jurisprudence, and is certified as a HIPAA Professional (HIPPAP).  He is a member of the Nebraska and Missouri state Bar Associations.  He is also licensed and practices in the state and federal U.S. District Courts in the states of Nebraska and Missouri, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Don is a founding member of the Nebraska Chapter of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA).  He is a former executive board member of the Nebraska Crime Stoppers, Inc., and the Heartland Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners for his efforts in the fight against fraud.

Marsh, Matthew

The computerization of our daily lives drives the interactions and mechanisms that underpin our economy and society. This discordant clash between human logic and technical logic creates the vast rifts in knowledge and understanding exploited daily. As a highly certified security and computing professional I saw the ramifications of not thinking through the inherent soft structure wherein people and technical methods collide and decided to complete my approach using Law.

I remain fascinated with both the logic of human interactions and the logic of science. Early in life I pursued disparate courses of action, publishing a book of Poetry, becoming sound engineer for several types of band, and starting several service businesses. A growing fascination with the logic of science I obtained a degree in electronic technology followed a few years later by a Bachelors in Experimental Physics. Graduate school in GeoPhysics led me to discover my dislike for locking down into a solitary thread of thought. Experiences with early ARPAnet, BITnet, and related interconnection systems at school led me into computer networking. Knowledge is not complete without the ability to destroy and so I developed an interest in the vulnerability of systems, at first from a technical standpoint and then the human aspects. I came to realize that the true nature of vulnerability lies less in arcane technical manipulation than in the way such manipulation ultimately compromises a human being.                                                                                                              

I founded the NEbraskaCERT and then spent a decade as their Chief Scientist. Coming from a technical and scientific background, I firmly believed that security problems rarely required negotiation and that the intent of a policy was never separated from execution. But thinking about and working through intention versus
 technical reality in InfoSec opened a new vista regarding the importance of negotiation and policy in support of the hard technical reality of implementation. Seeking an understanding of the "soft structure" led me to realize that "Law" encapsulated the methods of manipulating this structure. I realized the legal point of view dealt with the human logical realm that I struggled to integrate into my work in security. And so I became a student of Law and in May of 2009 I received my JD. Now complete in both viewpoint and training, I seek to integrate human logic and scientific logic.                                                  

Metzler, Greg

Greg Metzler is a Lead Systems Engineer for The MITRE Corporation where he supports US Strategic Command in the execution of its cyberspace, space and deterrence mission areas. A retired Naval Officer, he has spent over 17 years in network warfare operations, mission continuity and application development. He has served in numerous technical and leadership roles to include Navy Reserve’s Deputy CIO for Information Assurance as well as Deputy Director for Command, Control, Computers and Communications (C4) for the US FIFTH Fleet in the Middle East. Before retiring, Greg authored the Cyberspace Challenges section of the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Roles and Missions Review (QRM), a forward-looking study enumerating the defense challenges facing the Nation. Greg is a graduate of Boston University, the Naval Postgraduate School and National Defense University and holds numerous technical certifications. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His research interest areas include adversary attribution, assured design and persistent access (development, deployment, detection and mitigation).

Nelson, David

Mr. Nelson is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional with 15 years of experience.  He has lead technology organizations in both the public and private sector.  Mr. Nelson most recently was the Chief Information Security Officer for a leading Health Informatics company.  Prior to that he managed an information security group for a top 5 U.S. banking organization, was the CIO for a higher education institution and served as the information security officer for one of the largest municipal governments on the east coast.  Mr. Nelson received his Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Computer Information Systems from Excelsior College.  He has also taught and developed information technology curriculum at the post secondary level, is a published author and speaker at national conferences.  Mr. Nelson is the founder and current president of the Des Moines chapter of the ISSA.  He lives in the Des Moines, IA area with his wife and 4 children.

O’Gorman, James

 James O'Gorman is a consultant with Continuum Worldwide. In his over 10 years of working in information technology, James has worked in consulting, support, and managerial positions at companies across a spectrum of industries. Specializing in information security, James has made contributions in to the industry in the way of speaking engagements, papers, tool and process development that have been made available to the community. A member of the GIAC advisory board and the Omaha ISSA chapter, James holds OSCP, CISSP, GCIA and GCFA certifications

Riggins, Kevin

Kevin leads the team responsible for performing risk assessments and providing information security consulting services to the diverse set of business units that make up Principal Financial Group. He has 20+ years experience in information technology and over 9 years experience in the information security field. He a member of ISSA and Infragard and maintains a blog called InfoSec Ramblings at http://www.infosecramblings.com

Wentz, Lucas

Lucas Wentz received his Bachelors degree from University of Nebraska in May 2007. After graduating, Lucas was hired on as NUCIA's Lab Manager and Systems Administrator. His responsibilities as Systems Administrator include maintaining NUCIA's file server, e-mail server and web servers. As Lab Manager his responsibilities include maintaining and creating images used within the lab for classes. Along with creating the images for classes, he is also responsible for creating any special images need for research projects, special projects, and demonstrations. He is also responsible for the day to day operations of the labs.

Woerner, Ronald

Ron Woerner is a CISSP, IAM, CEH and CHFI with over 17 years experience in multiple industries. He graduated from Michigan State and Syracuse Universities and has worked for the US Air Force, State of Nebraska, Mutual of Omaha, ConAgra Foods, and AmeriTrade. He has spoken at the RSA Conference, the CSI Conference, CERT, Infotec and Information Security Decisions.  He is also on the Information Security Magazine Advisory Board.

Work, Joshua

Joshua Work leads iSIGHT Partners' threat intelligence efforts. He has more than a decade of service in both the government and private sector, including six years overseas experience throughout Europe, Russia, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. His assignments have covered a variety of transnational issues and homeland security areas, including information operations, terrorism, narcotics, organized crime,
transportation security, and critical infrastructure protection accounts. Mr. Work has also developed and taught analytic tradecraft on behalf of a number of academic and government institutions.