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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

Understanding network reconnaissance without detection is crucial in commercial testing, leveraging tools like BloodHound and scripts to gather valuable…

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Blog March 17 2023

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

Protect your organization from the Microsoft Outlook CVE-2023-23397 vulnerability with expert guidance and a simple remediation script.

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Webinars March 15 2023

Ask Me Anything: Penetration Testing Innovations and Insights

Join David Kennedy & Justin Elze for a live Q&A on penetration testing, tackling the ever-changing tactics used by attackers, and get answers to your burning…

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Webinars December 14 2021

Log4j: Live Update Webcast

Learn how to detect and respond to the Log4j vulnerability with experts from TrustedSec & Binary Defense, including David Kennedy, during our live webcast.

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Blog August 13 2026

AI Offense is Not Noclip Mode

AI doesn't let attackers walk through walls, but it makes finding the cracks more efficient. In this blog, we cut through the hype and explain what AI-driven…

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Blog August 11 2026

A Vault With No Treasure - CMMC Level 2 Compliance for Subcontractors With No CUI

This blog post should not exist, but it does. In this blog, we detail the improper CMMC Level 2 flow-down problem and the most cost-effective path to…

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Blog August 06 2026

The Art of Hunting Azure Cloud Secrets

The difference between a standard cloud test and a subscription takeover? Finding the right secrets. In this blog, we introduce two open-source tools for…

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Blog August 04 2026

TLS Encryption and Compliance

Transport Layer Security: the compliance checkbox that's harder to get right than it looks. In this blog, we cover the most common TLS misconfigurations and…

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Blog July 28 2026

AI Directives and AI Strategy Development

The hardest part of AI adoption isn't the tech, it's the strategy. In this blog, we outline a practical framework covering governance, risk classification,…

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Blog July 24 2026

CCPA Update: Cybersecurity Requirements (Part 2)

Confirmed you're in scope for CCPA? Now comes the cybersecurity audit requirement. In Part 2 of this blog series, we cover what it entails, the phased…

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