Dragos Ruiu
Dragos is the organizer of Canada's and Japan's oldest, most technical, information security conferences at CanSecWest and PacSec, for 25 and 21 years respectively. He started out as a computer dinosaur from back when computers used paper tape (PDP11) and along the way has worked on supercomputers used by various government agencies, as well as working on network monitoring systems for HP for 7 years, picking up an Emmy along the way for the MPEG digital video analyzers used for the first HDTV stations. He does security audits for mission critical systems, and has organized infosec conferences in Vancouver, London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Hong Kong, as well as starting the PWN2OWN competition. Post-pandemic among his many focus areas he’s been exploring the boundaries and intersection of LLM security, EW & RF applications, scalable redundant mTLS encrypted cluster meshes, embedded firmware, SMBv3, and IoT networks with a focus on vehicular and EV power network security.
Gohsuke Takama
Gohsuke Takama is based in Tokyo and active internationally. He was involved with Black Hat Japan from its inception until its dissolution in 2008. Following that, he joined the SecWest team in 2009. He's long been an evangelist of cyber security and digital privacy, and is an advisory board member of Privacy International, headquartered in London, UK. He is often found as the MC and audio/visual operator at SecWest events. As a former stage manager (of four) of YMO TokyoDome stadium concert in 1993, he finds infosec conferences are less complicated than rock concert touring with X-Japan, etc, as well as manufacturing of custom stage equipments such as audio mixing consoles, lighting systems, and rigging motor controllers decades ago.
Currently, he runs his own consulting syndicate as a multifaceted consultant. As a tech startup supporter, he has worked with VC incubators and angel investors by helping their portfolio startups improve their products, services and media strategy. He also gave advice from research insight on emerging technology on areas including biotech, AI, and space industry. He worked as a tech journalist for over 15 years and supplied industry reports to Japan's government and major corporations.
Yuriko Kanamori
Yuriko is the prime support contact for our attendees.
Samantha Anderson
Samantha looks after marketing and web engagement for our events and trainings.
Robert Yuen
Robert is our web designer and coder.
Niall Cummings
SECWEST.NET Discord
It’s our backshannel comms and text link during video webinars, meetings, and streams.