Steve Ocepek

Steve leverages over 25 years of experience in threat and vulnerability management, incident response management and security research and innovation to advise and support leading organizations to advance their cyber security programs.

Steve is a seasoned cybersecurity expert with a proven talent for blending technical prowess with an entrepreneurial mindset. Prior to joining Kroll, he worked in threat detection and attack surface management at DeepSeas, a cybersecurity company.

Before that, he worked with IBM to build and establish the first offensive security-led vulnerability management practice, X-Force Red, the company’s global team of hackers hired to break into organizations and identify vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit for personal gain. He led the team as X-Force Chief Technology Officer and Regional Lead for red penetration testing. In recognition of his business and technical achievements, he was honored as an IBM Distinguished Engineer.

Steve’s career also includes leadership roles in digital risk protection services and financial technology companies. In these roles, he led proactive consulting services focused on incident response program development and planning, training incident response teams and conducting investigations alongside federal law enforcement and law firms.

In 2001, Steve co-founded an early network access control (NAC) company, developing what may have been the first full-cycle NAC appliance. When this business was acquired by Trustwave, he joined Spiderlabs and founded SpiderLabs Research, which continues to thrive today.

Steve volunteers at Akron STEM High School, where he works with community partners to provide students with real-world, job-focused cybersecurity experience.