Dr. Mustaque Ahamad
Dr. Mustaque Ahamad is a professor of computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a global professor of engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi. His research focuses on areas such as security of converged communication networks and identity and access management, and the deployment of honeypots to address telephony abuse such as robocalls. In addition, he is Chief Scientist and Co-Founder at Pindrop Security, one of our partners for the contest. Since 2012, Dr. Ahamad has served as a technology consultant on telephony issues for the FTC, including consulting on the FTC’s 2012 Robocall Challenge. He was also a judge for the FTC’s Zapping Rachel contest in 2014.
Dr. Matthew Blaze
Dr. Matthew Blaze is a professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, and is well-known among the DEF CON community. His research focuses on computer and network security, cryptographic algorithms, applications of cryptography, and secure hardware. Dr. Blaze also spent over a decade at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a research consultant on cryptology and security in large-scale computing and communication systems. He was also a judge for the FTC’s Zapping Rachel contest in 2014.
Jonathan Curtis
Jonathan Curtis is the Director of Security Architecture for Norse Corporation and the former Director of Solutions and Intelligence within the Compliance and Enforcement Sector at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Mr. Curtis has years of experience addressing telephony abuse, from both public and private sector perspectives. He led the CRTC’s honeypot initiative to work with major Canadian carriers to organize an industry honeypot. Mr. Curtis is also one of the founders of the Messaging, Malware, and Mobile Anti-abuse Working Group — an international organization of experts that focuses on curbing messaging abuse and has now expanded to tackle telephony abuse. He was also a judge for the FTC’s Zapping Rachel contest in 2014.
David Gibson
David Gibson is a Senior Advisor of the Solutions and Intelligence Directorate within the Compliance and Enforcement Sector at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Mr. Gibson has significant experience in telecommunications with a background in network security and international standards. He is working with Canadian service providers on solutions to address telephony abuse related to rogue telemarketing and unwanted calls.
Yair Matas
Yair Matas is Manager of the Systems and Solutions group within the Compliance and Enforcement Sector at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Mr. Matas has over 20 years of experience in telecommunications product development and information security, in both the private and public sectors. Currently, he is managing a team supporting Canada's Spam Reporting Centre and developing analytical tools used to support enforcement of Canada's Anti-Spam Law and the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules.