CyberScoop 50 reveals 2025 winners; honors Amit Yoran with lifetime award

We are proud to pay tribute to Amit’s life — one filled with excellence, innovation, and resilience — in our 2025 CyberScoop 50 awards.

The cybersecurity world stands immeasurably stronger because of the vision, expertise, and leadership of Amit Yoran. Throughout his distinguished career, Amit fundamentally shaped the field of cybersecurity, setting new standards for excellence, innovation, and resilience. We are proud to honor Amit’s life with our first-ever lifetime CyberScoop 50 award. 

Amit made an extraordinary impact on the field of cybersecurity through his visionary leadership in both the public and private sectors. As the founding Director of US-CERT and the National Cybersecurity Division at the Department of Homeland Security, he built foundational national defense capabilities against cyber threats. In the private sector, Amit led pioneering companies such as Riptech, NetWitness, RSA Security, and Tenable, driving innovations that helped secure countless organizations and critical infrastructure worldwide. His unique ability to bridge both government and industry advanced the entire cybersecurity landscape and set enduring standards for excellence and protection.

Beyond his executive roles, Amit served on the boards of major industry organizations, including the Center for Internet Security, further broadening his impact across sectors. He was a sought-after voice in the industry, offering thought leadership, expert commentary, and strategic insights that helped define the future of cybersecurity.

One of his most inspiring traits was his authenticity and willingness to speak hard truths in an industry often clouded by hype and avoidance of accountability. Amit was unafraid to call out even the largest and most influential technology companies when they fell short in their cybersecurity responsibilities.

Yet, perhaps the most important part of his legacy was his ability to make every colleague, partner, and peer feel like they were the only person that mattered when he engaged with them. Whether at industry conferences, board meetings, or casual conversations, he brought a moment of genuine warmth and connection to an environment that can often feel impersonal and transactional. In an industry that can be demanding and unforgiving, the humanity Amit  showed on a daily basis is the greatest testament to his lasting impact. 

Amit Yoran’s name is indelibly linked to the advancement of cybersecurity across the globe. He leaves behind a legacy of innovative solutions, resilient systems, and empowered professionals—all made possible by his drive, vision, and commitment to making the digital world safer for everyone. We are honored to include him in this year’s CyberScoop 50 winners.  

Below is the entirety of this year’s winners: 

Cybersecurity Visionary 

Al Bowden – Deputy CIO, Cyber Operations Bureau of Diplomatic Technology, Dept. of State

Josh “CoCo” Crisp – CISO, Air Force

Yaki Faitelson – Co-Founder, Varonis 

Tom Hines – AO, Chief Architect Network & Security, Defense Health Agency 

Ami Luttwak – Co-Founder & CTO, Wiz 

Adele Merritt – CIO, NIH 

Brandon Pugh – Principal Cyber Adviser, U.S. Army 

Stephen Schmidt – CSO, Amazon 

Ari Schwartz – Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services, Venable LLP 

Government Leadership 

Gurpreet Bhatia – Principal Director, CIO, Cybersecurity & Deputy CISO, Department of Defense 

Alexei Bulazel – Sr. Director for Cyber, National Security Council 

Cynthia Carpenter – Director, DIB Operations, Department of Defense 

Ryan Higgins – CISO, Dept. of Commerce 

Rep. Morgan Lutrell – Congressman, R-Texas 

Tahira Mammen – Chief, AI Security Center, NSA

Manny Medrano – Director, Cybersecurity Monitoring & Operations, Dept. of State 

Vu Nguyen – CISO, Dept. of Justice

Chris Pymm – Zero Trust Portfolio Manager – Thunderdome Program, DISA 

Dr. Morgan Stern – Technical Lead, Cryptography, Secure Engineering Solutions Group, Cybersecurity, NSA

Industry Leadership 

John Ackerly – CEO, Virtru 

Michael Barnhart – Principal I3 Insider Investigator, DTEX Systems 

Chris DeRusha – Director, Global Public Sector Compliance, Google 

Dave DeWalt – CEO & Founder, NightDragon

Zakir Durumeric – Co-Founder, Censys 

Sean Frazier – Federal CSO, Okta

Ken Kartsen – SVP, Public Sector, Trellix 

Shawn Kingsberry – VP, Cybersecurity, SAIC 

Daniel Kroese – VP, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Palo Alto Networks 

Matt Mandrgoc – Head, Public Sector, Zoom

Wen Masters – VP, Cyber Technologies, MITRE 

Ryan McArthur – Federal CTO, ZScaler 

Adam Meyers – SVP, Head of Counter Adversary Operations, CrowdStrike 

Travis Rosiek – Public Sector CTO, Rubrik 

Scott Smith – Cybersecurity Practice Lead, Public Sector, EY 

Anto Tossounian – GVP, Public Sector, Splunk 

Chris Wysopal – Co-Founder & Chief Security Evangelist, Veracode 

Most Inspiring Up & Comer 

Dakota Cary – China-Focused Consultant, SentinelOne 

Casey Dolen – Sr. Policy Advisor, Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, Office of the National Cyber Director 

Kevin Heaney – Cyber Operations Exercise Planner, OCIO, NNSA

Austin Larsen – Principal Cyber Analyst, Google Threat Intelligence Group 

Innovation of the Year 

Edera Protect – Edera

HQC Post-Quantum Algorithm – NIST

COSMOS: Moving Mission Light Years Ahead – Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific

Constellation – DARPA & U.S. Cyber Command 

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Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure