Terry Willis is a managing director in the Cyber Risk practice of Kroll, based in the Los Angeles office. He leverages over 24 years of experience as an expert incident handler, computer forensics practitioner, investigator, expert witness, author, instructor and speaker. In his current role, Terry helps clients resolve myriad computer-related concerns—from malicious intrusions to theft of intellectual property—through a wide range of complex technical and investigative activities.
Prior to Kroll, Terry worked with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for 21 years, serving most of his career as a detective investigating white-collar crimes. For five years, his investigations focused on corporate and financial fraud, including internal thefts, embezzlements, bank fraud and identity theft. In 1996, he was promoted to Detective III - Officer-in-Charge Computer Crimes Unit, where he established and designed the LAPD’s computer forensic function to address the full lifecycle of digital evidence for all criminal, administrative and internal investigations. He also managed LAPD’s resources and investigations as a supervisor in the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force and the Southern California High Technology Crime Task Force.
In his court experience, Terry has been associated with the following cases: Robert Blake Civil Trial, Burbank Superior Court; People v. Robert Blake and Earle Caldwell, Los Angeles Superior Court; People v. Henry Hayes, Los Angeles Superior Court; and People v. Chance Webberman, Los Angeles Superiors Court.
He has been involved in teaching and giving presentations on various topics, which include “Computer Forensics and Digital Evidence in the Courtroom” at the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Training Day; “Computer Forensics and Digital Evidence” at the California Department of Justice; “Managing an Intrusion Investigation” at the U.S. Secret Service, Los Angeles Electronic Crimes Task Force; “Computer Forensics and Digital Evidence” at the Southwest Law College, Los Angeles; “Cybercrime Investigations” at the Southern California Regional High Technology Crimes Task Force; and “Unix as a Forensic Platform” at the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Training Seminar.
Terry’s article titled, “Criminal Liability in Cyberspace” has been published in GPSolo Magazine (a publication of the American Bar Association), and his article titled, “Starting a Computer Crime Unit” has appeared in The Informant (a publication of the National White Collar Crime Center).
Terry is a PCI Forensic Investigator (PFI) and an EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE). Additionally, he holds the following certifications: SANS Global Information Assurance Certification – GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) Incident Handling; UNIX Systems Certification; and Computer Crime Certification, California Peace Officer Standards of Training (POST). Recently, he also completed training in SANS Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting and Digital Forensics.
Cyber Risk
Incident response, digital forensics, breach notification, managed detection services, penetration testing, cyber assessments and advisory.
24x7 Incident Response
Enlist experienced responders to handle the entire security incident lifecycle.
Data Recovery and Forensic Analysis
Kroll's expertise establishes whether data was compromised and to what extent. We uncover actionable information, leaving you better prepared to manage a future incident.
Cyber Litigation Support
Whether responding to an investigatory matter, forensic discovery demand, or information security incident, Kroll’s forensic engineers have extensive experience providing litigation support to help clients win cases and mitigate losses.
Payment Card Industry Services
Kroll offers a wide range of services for both merchants and payment processors, from audits to incident management services, to pragmatic approaches for strengthening your cyber defenses.