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” security research arm. With over 20 years of experience as a security analyst, threat hunter, defender, and Unix plumber, Ryan loves traveling the world and researching the biggest problems for Splunk’s customers. Prior to joining Splunk, he worked at organizations like DARPA, US Navy, UK Home Office, and a variety of 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.