Alan Shimel

Throughout his career spanning over 25 years in the IT industry, Alan Shimel has been at the forefront of leading technology change. From hosting and infrastructure, to security and now DevOps, Shimel is an industry leader whose opinions and views are widely sought after.

Alan’s entrepreneurial ventures have seen him found or co-found several technology related companies including TriStar Web, StillSecure, The CISO Group, MediaOps, Inc., DevOps.com and the DevOps Institute. He has also helped several companies grow from startup to public entities and beyond. He has held a variety of executive roles around Business and Corporate Development, Sales, Marketing, Product and Strategy.

Alan is also the founder of the Security Bloggers Network, the Security Bloggers Meetups and awards which run at various Security conferences and Security Boulevard.

Most recently Shimel saw the impact that DevOps and related technologies were going to have on the Software Development Lifecycle and the entire IT stack. He founded DevOps.com and then the DevOps Institute. DevOps.com is the leading destination for all things DevOps, as well as the producers of multiple DevOps events called DevOps Connect. DevOps Connect produces DevSecOps and Rugged DevOps tracks and events at leading security conferences such as RSA Conference, InfoSec Europe and InfoSec World. The DevOps Institute is the leading provider of DevOps education, training and certification.

Alan has a BA in Government and Politics from St Johns University, a JD from New York Law School and a lifetime of business experience. His legal education, long experience in the field, and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality that is always in demand to appear at conferences and events.

CISO Talk

CISO Talk: Security Challenges During COVID-19

| | CISO Talk, COVID-19, Pandemic
In this inaugural episode of CISO Talk on TechStrong TV, Alan Shimel and Unisys CISO Mat Newfield talk about the results of the 2020 Unisys Security Index as well as cyber challenges in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The video of the conversation is below, followed by the transcript ... Read More
Security Boulevard
multi-vector EDR

Black Hat Conference: Multi-Vector EDR, With Qualys

| | Black Hat USA 2020, cloud-based security, Endpoint security, video
Black Hat USA went virtual this year, thanks to COVID-19. Nonetheless, as always it was chock full of compelling stuff. I had the honor of hosting a session during the weeklong event, speaking with Sumedh Thakar, president and CPO of Qualys, and Ben Carr, Qualys CISO, during which we discussed ... Read More
Security Boulevard
MediaOps

MediaOps Makes the Inc. 5000 List

| | company growth, Inc., website
Here at MediaOps we have two big announcements today. The first is that we have earned a place in the Inc. 5000 annual ranking of the fastest-growing companies in America. We didn’t just make the list—we came in at 1,622, well in the top half of companies on the list ... Read More
Security Boulevard

Digital Anarchist – Watch What’s Next in Tech

| | Digital Anarchist, Digital Transformation, IT news, on-demand webinars, Tech News, TechStrong TV, virtual events
Today, we announce the launch of the next version of Digital Anarchist, our next-generation video platform, at digitalanarchist.com. The content is also available on the DevOps.com mobile app and OTT channels on Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Boasting more than 1,400 videos and featuring 1,000-plus guests, the Digital ... Read More
Security Boulevard
Hope

An Open Letter From MediaOps

| | charity, COVID-19, inequality, relief organizations, TechStrong Con, virtual event
On behalf of all of us at MediaOps, we are so deeply troubled by what is going on in the world around us. As we continue to battle a deadly pandemic and the effects of racial injustice, the idea of devolving into factions and hurting one another cuts to the core ... Read More
Security Boulevard
passwords

DevOps Chat: Specops Makes Password Auditor Free To Help WFH

| | Active Directory, Authentication, COVID-19, identity management, password auditor, password manager, passwords
With so many working from home (WFH), security is being tested perhaps like it never has before. The good folks at Specops have made their password auditor product free during this trying time. We spoke with Darren James of Specops about this release and some other tools the company has ... Read More
Security Boulevard
Qualys DevOps Chats

DevOps Chats: Free Remote Endpoint Protection From Qualys

| | cloud-based, Cybersecurity, Endpoint Protection, mobile devices, Qualys
Many companies are responding to the large number of people working from home as a result of the public health situation. Qualys has rolled out a totally free 60-day version of its cloud-based security and compliance solution at no charge. We spoke with Sumedh Thakar about the free release and ... Read More
Security Boulevard
open source security

DevOps Chats: Open Source Security, With WhiteSource

| | Code, DEVOPS, DevSecOps, open source, Open Source Security, Podcast, Vulnerabilities, WhiteSource
WhiteSource, one of the leaders in the software composition analysis space, recently released its annual report, “The State of Open Source Security Vulnerabilities.” It is chock full of good data and findings on the current state of open source security and how things are trending. In this DevOps Chats, I ... Read More
Security Boulevard
COVID

DevOps Chats: Route Intelligence From Contrast Security

| | Application Security, AppSec, DevSecOps, Podcast, route intelligence, RSA Conference
Contrast Security has released the first “Route Intelligence” functionality in the latest version of its next-generation security platform. In this DevOps Chats, we speak with Contrast’s CTO/co-founder, Jeff Williams, about what route intelligence is and why you should have a look at it. Contrast continues to set the bar in ... Read More
Security Boulevard
cloud

DevOps Chats: Tufin SecureCloud Secures Hybrid Cloud Environments

| | Cloud Security, Cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, Mobile Security, multi-cloud
Tufin Technologies has announced SecureCloud,  which combines and builds on Tufin’s Orca and Iris offerings to offer one product for comprehensive cloud security policy. In this DevOps Chats, we had a chance to catch up with Tufin CTO and Co-founder Reuven Harrison to chat about this and the state of ... Read More
Security Boulevard