Dave Merkel is Vice President of Product Development at MANDIANT, based in the corporate headquarters in Virginia. Dave has worked in the information security and incident response industry for over ten years. His background includes service as a federal agent in the United States Air Force and over seven years experience directing security operations at America Online (AOL).

During his tenure at AOL, Dave led a team of technologists in protecting corporate systems and network infrastructure. His department was responsible for the design, implementation, and operation of technical security defenses throughout the organization. He established AOL's first incident response team and led the formation of a company wide program for managing security incidents across Time Warner's diverse business units. Dave also played a key role in establishing AOL's security assurance program, providing technical risk assessment services for systems, networks, internal applications, and products. As a primary security stakeholder, he authored significant portions of both AOL and Time Warner information security policy, and led efforts to establish an information security management framework for the corporation. In line with his policy and information security management responsibilities, he was instrumental in corporate Sarbanes Oxley and Payment Card Industry compliance efforts. 

In addition to his security operations and management work, Dave managed AOL's internal security infrastructure software development initiatives. His team provided innovative solutions for protecting data centers and transit networks at scale, including technologies for intrusion and anomaly detection, incident response management, automated countermeasures deployment, and authentication and authorization. 

Prior to Dave's experience at AOL, he was a Special Agent with the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, focusing on computer crime and digital forensics. He conducted numerous criminal and counterintelligence investigations, ranging from trafficking in digital contraband to the pursuit of international felons responsible for attacks against Department of Defense networks. Dave has participated in countless forensic examinations and has been a qualified expert witness in federal and state proceedings.

Dave has held security clearances at Top Secret and higher levels, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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