David Venable

David "Dave" Venable 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

David "Dave" Venable was born on January 11, 1978, in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he also grew up. He attended the University of Arkansas, majoring in mathematics. Following college, he joined the United States Air Force and studied Korean at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, a Department of Defense institution that provides linguistic and cultural instruction to federal agencies and the intelligence community. Venable has also pursued graduate-level education in mathematics at the University of Texas and in international relations at Harvard University.

Career

National Security Agency

Venable served in multiple intelligence roles with the National Security Agency (NSA) and its Tailored Access Operations unit. His work encompassed Computer Network Exploitation, Cyberwarfare, Information Operations, and Digital Network Intelligence, with a focus on supporting global anti-terrorism operations. During his federal service, he also served as adjunct faculty at the National Cryptologic School, an NSA institution that provides training to members of the United States Intelligence Community.

Private Sector

After departing federal service, Venable founded Vanda Security, a Dallas-based security consultancy, and served as its CEO. The firm was subsequently acquired and became the security professional services practice of Comcast Business Masergy. Venable then served as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Comcast Business for eight years.

Current Roles

Venable currently serves as chairman of the Institute for Strategic Risk and Security. He is also a board member of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure and functions as a cybersecurity expert, speaker, and public diplomat with the United States Department of State.

Notable Work

Venable holds US patent 10469482, titled "Encrypted data retrieval systems and methods to provide access to encrypted data," issued November 5, 2019, and assigned to Masergy, Inc. He has also been involved in developing security-related internet protocols.

He is a frequent contributor to and appears in publications including Forbes, BBC, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Businessweek, InformationWeek, IDG Connect, and The Cipher Brief, addressing topics related to cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, and international security.

Recognition and Public Engagement

Venable has been named among the most influential people in security. He regularly speaks at prominent industry and government forums, including the G20 Summit, the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, NATO forums, Black Hat Briefings, the Munich Security Conference, and the Warsaw Security Forum. He also serves as a cybersecurity expert with think tanks and policy research institutes.