Inside a purple team: Pentesting, vulnerabilities and other key skills | Guest Luke Willadsen

We love red teaming here at Cyber Work, and this week we're excited to explore a topic just few shades down the spectrum: purple teaming! Luke Willadsen of EmberSec dives into the ways combining red and blue team operations can help stress-test your security department — and explains the benefits of a purple team better than we've ever heard it before. He also has some great stuff to say about the importance of soft skills like writing, reporting and, most crucially, empathy, since it may feel like a pentester holds the security team's career in their hands.

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Luke Willadsen currently serves as a security consultant with EmberSec, a By Light company. He began his cybersecurity career in the U.S. Navy, where he trained to conduct offensive security operations for the Department of Defense. He participated in daily computer network exploitation missions in support of national intelligence requirements and protection against foreign nation-state sponsored hackers. After separating from the U.S. Navy, Luke joined the start-up company IronNet Cybersecurity where he conducted penetration tests and vulnerability assessments, while also providing product development support and threat hunting capabilities. Following his time at IronNet, Luke worked as a director at a security consulting firm, where he specialized in red teaming, penetration testing, intelligence gathering, threat hunting, digital forensics and technical writing. Luke has an M.S. degree from Eastern Michigan University and is CISSP, OSCP and CEH certified.

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