Tag: Threat Hunting

RVAsec 15 Speaker Feature: Heather Antoinetti

May 6, 2026
Speaker

Breaking Your Silence: How to Build Influence Without Becoming a “Suit” (<– add to your schedule)

In security, we’re taught to let our work speak for itself. But in the real world, “silent” expertise usually gets ignored, underfunded, or misunderstood. Whether it’s imposter syndrome whispering that your latest exploit wasn’t “elite” enough or the hesitation to share a tool you built, these internal blockers limit your impact. This session is about moving past the “quiet professional” trap and building a reputation that matches your technical depth without losing your soul to corporate

Heather Antoinetti:
Heather Antoinetti is the CEO and founder of Ah-Ha Marketing, a boutique agency specializing in helping technical experts and thought leaders in the cybersecurity and technology sectors amplify their voices and establish authority. With nearly two decades of global marketing experience, Heather has built a reputation for transforming complex technical concepts into clear, compelling stories that build trust and inspire action.

Heather has worked alongside brilliant technical minds throughout her career, partnering with organizations like Elastic, AWS, IBM, and Accenture to help their experts translate deep expertise into impactful messaging. She is passionate about empowering engineers, security leaders, and innovators to overcome communication challenges, build authentic personal brands, and position themselves as trusted authorities.

One of Heather’s proudest achievements is creating a personal branding course tailored for cybersecurity professionals, enabling them to craft their narratives, share their expertise, and redefine their professional presence. Her approach combines storytelling, authenticity, and practical strategies to help leaders and technical contributors achieve bold career aspirations.

Heather’s own journey mirrors the challenges many technical experts face. She stepped into the cybersecurity industry with no prior experience, battled imposter syndrome, and earned the trust of industry leaders by connecting their technical skills to business growth. This experience has become the foundation of her work: helping others overcome similar hurdles and build confidence in sharing their unique value.

Heather believes that every professional’s story is their most powerful tool and that trust is cybersecurity’s most valuable currency. Her mission is to help others navigate their own quests to build authority, amplify their impact, and achieve lasting success.

Come see Heather Antoinetti at RVAsec 15!

RVAsec 15 Speaker Feature: Ryan O’Donnell

May 6, 2026
Speaker

Catching Collection in M365: Outlook and SharePoint Canary Tokens (<– add to your schedule)

After a stolen token grants access to M365, the next move is predictable: search for value before exfiltration. This talk shows how to detect that collection phase using canary tokens built on native telemetry across Outlook and SharePoint/OneDrive. We cover end-to-end implementation and results from live production deployments, including what produced high-fidelity signal and what created noise.

Ryan O’Donnell:
Ryan O’Donnell is a Senior Security Engineer at Microsoft. Over the last 13+ years, he’s been performing Penetration Tests, Red Team assessments, and Incident Response investigations. Ryan has presented at the followinhttg conferences: Wild West Hackin’ Fest, Saintcon, Hack Space Con, Hack Red Con, BSides Las Vegas, BSides NoVa, and BSides Roanoke. Ryan has a Masters in Cybersecurity from GMU and the following certifications: OSCP, OSEP, GCFA, and GREM.

Come see Ryan O’Donnell at RVAsec 15!

RVAsec 15 Speaker Feature: Kyle Flaherty

May 1, 2026
Speaker

Empathy, Not Telepathy: How Embedded Engineering Teams Scale Cyber Response (<– add to your schedule)

The real issue of AI isn’t just the speed of the adversary, but the unprecedented noise they’ve created which makes finding the signal through traditional means nearly impossible. This talk explores how embedding engineers into the cyber lifecycle helps drown out the noise and empowers analysts to focus on high-leverage response at scale.

Kyle Flaherty:
Kyle is based out of Richmond and leads the Cyber Intelligence Engineering function at Capital One, where his teams work directly with Cyber Intelligence Analysts to empower them to respond at scale.

Kyle has spent 7 years at Capital One and has prior security work with the U.S. Navy and NSA. His interest in Cyber is rooted in service: a love for technology combined with a desire to serve, inspired by growing up in a military family. Kyle holds a degree in Computer Science from Wake Forest University.

Come see Kyle Flaherty at RVAsec 15!

RVAsec 15 Speaker Feature: Kim Mahan

April 29, 2026
Speaker

Alert Fatigue Is a Misdiagnosis (<– add to your schedule)

“Alert fatigue” is a misdiagnosis of a deeper problem: the cognitive decay of the human defender. This talk brings the receipts on how a high-consumption information diet hijacks the prefrontal cortex — and why the answer isn’t more automation, but rebuilding the creative muscle that makes humans worth keeping in the loop.

Kim Mahan:
Kim Mahan is the Founding Apprentice at MAXX Potential, a technology consulting firm whose “earn-while-you-learn” model has produced hundreds of engineers—including cybersecurity professionals—now at Capital One, AWS, Google and beyond. A CISSP and Six Sigma Black Belt with 20+ years in enterprise technology leadership at GE and Genworth Financial, Kim specializes in hacking the human element.

She is a contributing author of Lead With Empathy (with Chris Voss), where she coined “Operational Empathy”—the tactical art of building systems around what people actually need to succeed, rather than what credentialing systems say they should know. Her current work, Human Amplified, applies neuroscience to the “Information Diet,” framing passive consumption as a primary driver of cognitive atrophy and a critical vulnerability in the modern workforce. Previously named an “Innovator Changing the South” by Fast Company and Entrepreneur of the Year by NAWBO.

Come see Kim Mahan at RVAsec 15!