David Venable

David "Dave" Venable (born January 11, 1978) is a former intelligence officer with the United States National Security Agency, and current cyber security professional and businessman. He is an author and speaker on the topics of cyber security, cyberwarfare, and international security; has developed security-related internet protocols;    is a US patent holder; and has been named as one of the most influential people in security.

Early life and education
Venable was born in and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later attended the University of Arkansas, majoring in mathematics. After college, he joined the United States Air Force and studied Korean at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, a Department of Defense educational and research institution which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the DoD and other Federal Agencies. Venable has also pursued graduate education in mathematics at the University of Texas, and international relations at Harvard University.

Career
Dr. Venable has serve in several intelligence roles with the National Security Agency, including Computer Network Exploitation, Cyberwarfare, Information Operations, and Digital Network Intelligence in support of global anti-terrorism operations. He has also taught about these subjects while serving as adjunct faculty at the National Cryptologic School, a school within the National Security Agency that provides training to members of the United States Intelligence Community.

After leaving federal service Venable founded and served as CEO of Vanda Security, a Dallas-based security consultancy, which ultimately was acquired, and became the security professional services practice of Comcast Business Masergy. Venable went on to serve as Vice President and CISO of Comcast Business Masergy for eight years. Venable regularly speaks at industry and government conferences including Black Hat Briefings and the Warsaw Security Forum, serves as a cyber security expert with think tanks and policy research institutes, serves on The Colony, Texas technology board, and is a cybersecurity expert and speaker with the United States Department of State.