Chris Wysopal — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Testified before the U.S. Senate in 1998 and the U.S. House in 2003 on cybersecurity matters.
Serves as Board Advisor at The Hacking Games (since 2024).
Co-founded Veracode in 2006, which was acquired by CA Technology for $614M in 2017, then by Thoma Bravo for $950M, and later by TA Associates for $2.5B.
Developed L0phtCrack and Netcat for Windows, and was instrumental in transitioning to coordinated vulnerability disclosure.
Serves on the Review Board at Black Hat (since 2012) and as a Board Member at Secure Resilient Future Foundation (since 2024).
Received a BS in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1987.

Biography

Chris Wysopal, known by his alias Weld Pond, is a computer security expert and entrepreneur. He is recognized as a co-founder and former CTO of Veracode, a company he started in 2006 with Christien Rioux. Wysopal began his career as an original vulnerability researcher at the hacker think tank L0pht from 1992 to 2000, where he developed tools like Netcat for NT and L0phtCrack, a pioneering Windows password cracking tool.