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Justin Elze

CTO, Director of Research

EXPERIENCE
Justin Elze is currently serving as Chief Technology Officer at TrustedSec. Over his 8 years with the company as an InfoSec expert, Justin has used his vast expertise in enterprise penetration testing, network security, social engineering, and red teaming to identify clients’ vulnerabilities and ultimately, protect their technology infrastructure. Prior to becoming CTO, Justin held the roles of Director of Innovation, Research, and Advanced Testing and Principal Security Consultant for TrustedSec.

With more than a decade of experience in the IT industry, Justin’s expertise is increasingly sought out by others in the field. He has taught at Black Hat and spoken at DerbyCon, where he also served on the CFP Review Board, and is also featured as an industry leader in the published books Tribe of Hackers: Cybersecurity Advice from the Best Hackers in the World and Tribe of Hackers Red Team: Tribal Knowledge from the Best in Offensive Cybersecurity.

Prior to joining TrustedSec, Justin was a Senior Penetration Tester for Accuvant LABS, Optiv, Dell SecureWorks, and Redspin, where he led numerous red team engagements and penetration tests. He has worked across a variety of industries, including roles for ISPs, hosting companies, Department of Defense contracting companies, and consulting companies. Today, he leans on what he learned throughout his roles in various capacities to inform his choices as CTO and further his thought leadership in the industry.

Outside of his work experience and “ethical hacker” persona, Justin is passionate about building, tuning, and racing cars (and, yes, occasionally hacking them) and spending time with his 3 dogs. You can find his latest musings—security-related and otherwise—on his Twitter account, @HackingLZ.

Featured Blogs And Resources

Discover the blogs, analysis, webinars, and podcasts by this team member.

Blog May 18 2023

Walking the Tightrope: Maximizing Information Gathering while Avoiding Detection for Red Teams

Analyze the balance between gaining useful information and avoiding detection, detailing recon techniques that can be employed without compromising stealth.…

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Blog March 17 2023

Critical Outlook Vulnerability: In-Depth Technical Analysis and Recommendations (CVE-2023-23397)

Threat Overview Earlier this week, Microsoft released a patch for Outlook vulnerability CVE-2023-23397, which has been actively exploited for almost an entire…

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Webinars March 15 2023

Ask Me Anything: Penetration Testing Innovations and Insights

Join David Kennedy, Founder & Chief Hacking Officer, and Justin Elze, CTO & Director of Research, for a live webinar in which they’ll answer your questions…

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Webinars December 14 2021

Log4j: Live Update Webcast

During the webcast, we will be joined by David Kennedy, TrustedSec CEO & Binary Defense CTO, Randy Pargman, Binary Defense Vice President of Threat Hunting &…

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Blog August 01 2024

Lapse of Control: Applauding PCI SSC for FAQ 1572

I want to applaud the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) for FAQ 1572 published in March of 2024 for simply and effectively answering a question asked by…

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Blog July 18 2024

What is Your Compliance Kryptonite?

Have you ever felt frustrated about security compliance? Well, you're not alone. We've all got some kind of 'Kryptonite' when it comes to Compliance. I asked…

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Blog July 16 2024

Technical Analysis: Killer Ultra Malware Targeting EDR Products in Ransomware Attacks

This post was written by John Dwyer, Director of Security Research at Binary Defense, and made possible through the contributions of TrustedSec Senior Research…

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Blog July 11 2024

dirDevil: Hiding Code and Content Within Folder Structures

Welcome back to another round of "Hiding in Plain Sight," exploring weird places to stash data or payloads. In our last edition, we explored an easy method of…

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Blog July 09 2024

HackingDave’s Rule of Five

Buckle up! This is a different type of blog that isn’t our normally scheduled technical prowess or superhuman talents we have here at TrustedSec. Each month, I…

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Blog July 02 2024

The Dangers of Transition Mode

With the introduction of WPA3, it is becoming increasingly difficult to successfully exploit a wireless network. One of the main enhancements introduced in…

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