Chris Furtick

Bio: Chris Furtick is a proven information security leader and vCISO with a consultative voice able to bridge the gap between technology and business outcomes. A technically proficient professional, he has experience advising C-level executives and technical engineers in fundamental and advanced information security tactics and strategies. He is a passionate leader accomplished in interpreting business objectives and motivating team members to measure success and meet business requirements.

As Director of Security Engineering & Incident Response for Fortalice Solutions, Furtick manages a team of incident responders and security engineers; leads all incident response and planning activities for Fortalice clients; performs incident triage from a forensic perspective, including determination of scope, urgency, and potential impact; acquires or collect computer artifacts, including malware, user activity, and log files; and provides threat analyses mitigation/countermeasure recommendations, after action reports, summaries, and other situational awareness information in areas such as perimeter defense; malicious software analysis; attack vector analysis; computer network defense; incident handling; risk analysis and readiness; and strategic planning analysis.

Prior to joining Fortalice, Furtick worked as Director of Security Engineering for NorthState Technology Solutions where he served as the primary leader of two security engineering teams, Security Tool Implementation and Staff Augmentations, managed multiple projects valued at $3.6M per year and gained consulting experience in the following sectors: banking/financial, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, education, government, military, insurance, legal, and telecom.

Furtick earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Southern Wesleyan University as well as multiple certificates, including CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional (ISC)², GPEN GIAC Certified Penetration Tester, GSLC GIAC Security Leadership Certification, GCCC GIAC Certified Critical Security Controls Certified Professional, GCPM GIAC Certified Project Manager, GLEG GIAC Certified Law of Data Security Certified Professional and CDE CyberArk Certified Delivery Engineer. He served as Technical Editor for the McGraw-Hill publication, “GPEN All-in-One Guide” as well as Security Leadership Subject Matter Expert for SANS. He is affiliated with multiple professional organizations including FBI InfraGard, ISACA, PMI, SANS Advisory Board.