BIOGRAPHY
Keren Elazari is a cyber security expert specialising in hacking and hacker culture. Through her experience as a hacker and researcher, she has developed unique insights into cyber security and its applications for individuals and businesses alike. Whilst recognising the very significant threats cyber crime poses, Keren’s work demonstrates a nuanced approach, one that is also appreciative of the efforts of hackers as testers, activists, and innovators.
Keren has used her expertise to deliver services and consultations for Israeli security firms, government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and innovative start-ups. She has been featured in publications such as Wired, Scientific American, and the Financial Times.
Keren’s 2014 TED talk, ‘Hackers: the internet’s immune system’, was voted as one of that year’s ‘most powerful ideas’, and the book,Women in Tech, where she collaborated with other women demonstrating expertise in various tech fields, is an Amazon best seller. Keren is currently a senior researcher with the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Centre, and is also a visiting faculty member of Singularity University, a Silicon Valley based think-tank which explores the effects of exponential technologies. Keren founded BSidesTLV, Israel’s largest security community event, in 2016 and in 2017 she was listed by Forbes as one of Israel’s “most influential women” and was featured on the cover of Forbes Israel.
KEREN’S TALKS
Cyber security, and the efforts of malicious hackers and governments, represents a potentially existential threat to businesses. Sophisticated cyber attacks on companies like Netflix and Sony Pictures have shown the increasing need for effective corporate digital security. Keren’s work is pioneering in this field. She highlights the need for an entirely new branch of corporate executive, the ‘privacy professional’, and the employment of ‘friendly hackers’ to act as a digital immune system, strengthening a company’s cyber security infrastructure by exploiting weaknesses in order to fix them.