Security Experts

Costin Raiu

Director, Global Research & Analysis Team

Costin joined Kaspersky Lab in 2000 as a leading Antivirus Researcher. Prior to becoming Director of the Global Research & Analysis Team in 2010, Costin was Head of the Romanian R&D group, overseeing research efforts in the EEMEA region. Costin specializes in malicious websites, browser security and exploits, e-banking malware, enterprise-level security and Web 2.0 threats. Costin also has a particular interest in encryption and advanced mathematics. Costin is based in Romania.

Costin has extensive experience in antivirus technologies and security research. He is a member of the Virus Bulletin Technical Advisory Board and a reporter for the Wildlist Organization International. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Costin worked for GeCad as one of their Chief Researchers and as a Data Security Expert with the RAV antivirus developers group.

Aleks Gostev

Chief Security Expert, Global Research & Analysis Team

Aleks founded and led the Global Research & Analysis Team from 2008 before moving to his current position as Chief Security Expert with the team in 2010. Aleks analyzes all aspects of information security, with a focus on new threats and mobile malware. His responsibilities include detecting and analyzing new malware. His research and analytical articles are published both on dedicated IT sites and in the mass media. He has been with the company since 2002 and is based in Moscow.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Aleks worked as CTO for KomiSat and before that as Manager of the ISP department at Komite and as a Systems Administrator for SMZ. In 1996, Aleks founded the Republic of Komi Antivirus Center and in 1998, he acted as Project Coordinator for the Wildlist Russia Project, an initiative which was launched with the aim of collecting and analyzing information about malware outbreaks in the Russian Federation.

David Emm

Senior Regional Researcher, UK, Global Research & Analysis Team

David has been with Kaspersky Lab since 2004. In his role as Senior Technology Consultant David presented information on malware and other IT threats at exhibitions and events, and provided comment to both broadcast and print media. He also provided information on Kaspersky Lab products and technologies. He was promoted to his current position in 2008. David has a particular interest in the malware ecosystem, ID theft, and Kaspersky Lab technologies, and he conceived and developed the company’s Malware Defence Workshop.

David has worked in the anti-virus industry since 1990 in a variety of roles. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab David worked as Systems Engineer, Product Manager and Product Marketing Manager at McAfee; and before that as Technical Support Manager and Senior Technology Consultant at Dr Solomon’s Software.

Marco Preuss

Director, Europe, Global Research & Analysis Team

Marco was appointed Director of Europe for the company’s Global Research & Analysis Team in March 2013. Prior to becoming Director of Europe, Marco served as the Head of Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team in Germany.

Marco brings more than 13 years of IT security experience to his role and is responsible for managing the threat landscape in Europe while specializing in web and social networking threats and Apple OS security. Apart from research, Marco is responsible for maintaining close contact with independent testers and security partners.

Marco began his career with Kaspersky Lab back in 2004 as a Technical Consultant, providing expert knowledge on Linux and Unix-based systems. He has also been involved in corporate sales management, before moving on to become the technical contact for the OEM department, supporting customized solutions. Marco has participated in the development of web-based services and systems for the Marketing and Retail Sales departments and has worked extensively with the Company’s product design teams. Marco joined the research team as a Virus Analyst in 2009.

Christian Funk

Virus Analyst, Central Europe, Global Research & Analysis

Christian joined Kaspersky Lab in 2007 and became a Junior Malware Analyst a year later. His specialist field is social networking sites and Internet fraud. Since 2010, Christian has been a Virus Analyst for the Company and has worked extensively with teams across Central Europe.

Christian has a degree in Computer Science from the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

Nicolas Brulez

Senior Malware Researcher, France, Global Research & Analysis Team

Nicolas joined Kaspersky Lab as a senior malware researcher in 2010. His responsibilities include analyzing malware and carrying out security research.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Nicolas worked as a senior virus researcher for Websense Security Labs and Digital River/Silicon Realms. He is also known for his work on the Software Passport/Armadillo protection system. Here, he served as head of software security and was in charge of the anti-reverse engineering techniques used in the system.

Over the last 12 years, Nicolas has authored numerous articles and papers on reverse engineering. He is a regular speaker at computer engineering schools and international security conferences.

David Jacoby

Senior Security Researcher, Nordics, Global Research & Analysis Team

David joined Kaspersky Lab in 2010 as a senior security researcher for the Nordic region. He is also responsible for technical PR activities for the same region, where he acts as a technical spokesperson. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden. David specializes in vulnerability management, penetration tests, vulnerability research with a main focus on alternative systems such as UNIX, Linux. His research focuses on improving awareness of the threats and vulnerabilities to which Internet users are exposed.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, David worked in vulnerability research, penetration testing and vulnerability management. He held the role of senior security researcher, advisor and consultant at TrueSec AB. Before joining TrueSec AB in 2008, David worked for seven years at Outpost24, an automated vulnerability scanning vendor, starting out as chief hacker and rising to vice president for customer experience by the time he left the company.

Vicente Diaz

Senior Malware Analyst, Spain, Global Research & Analysis Team

Vicente joined Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team in November 2010. He specializes in research on malware and fraud in the European region, including banking Trojans, social networking threats, cybercriminal ‘partner networks’ and mobile malware, as well as leading technical research projects and providing expert customer support.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Vicente worked as a Software Developer for IT&C and Actaris, after which he took up a research position at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). He then entered the field of IT security, working for a number of leading companies for more than 5 years. Vicente is the author of several software tools and is active on the conference circuit, both as an organizer and speaker. He is a member of the advisory board of Source Conference and a cofounder of Edge –Security, a security group dedicated to research and organizing non-profit events such as FIST conferences.

Vicente holds a degree in Computer Sciences from UPC and has studied internationally. He is currently working towards his Ph.D in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Roel Schouwenberg

Senior Researcher, Americas, Global Research & Analysis Team

Roel joined Kaspersky Lab in 2004 as a Senior Research Engineer for the Benelux region. Since 2008, Roel has worked as a Senior Researcher in North America where he is responsible for monitoring the regional malware situation and in-depth analysis of cyber incidents. Roel focuses on targeted attacks and proactive technologies. In addition, Roel also investigates new platforms and technologies.

Roel is a regular presenter at industry conferences. He is also a founding member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) and currently serves as part of AMTSO’s Board of Directors.

Kurt Baumgartner

Senior Security Researcher, Americas, Global Research and Analysis Team

Kurt joined Kaspersky Lab in 2010 and is responsible for monitoring the malware landscape across the Americas and enhancing Kaspersky Lab technologies and solutions.

Kurt joined Kaspersky Lab in 2010 and is responsible for monitoring the malware landscape across the Americas and enhancing Kaspersky Lab technologies and solutions. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Kurt was VP of Behavioral Threat Research at Symantec – PC Tools ThreatFire. Originally joining ThreatFire as a start-up in 2005 as their sole researcher, he built up and led their research efforts through two successful acquisitions. Before Symantec, Kurt was Chief Threat Officer at Novatix and a Threat Analyst at SonicWALL. He is an active blogger and regularly presents on malware issues at international conferences and speaks to interested media.

Ryan Naraine

Security Evangelist, Americas, Global Research & Analysis Team

Ryan has extensive experience in computer security user education. He specializes in operating system and third-party application vulnerabilities, zero-day attacks, social engineering and social networking threats, and issues related to responsible vulnerability disclosure.

He has monitored security and hacker attack trends for over 10 years, writing for eWEEK magazine and ZDNet‘s Zero Day blog. Before joining Kaspersky Lab’s research team, Ryan created and edited Threatpost.com, Kaspersky Lab‘s security news service. He is based in the USA..

Dmitry Bestuzhev

Head, Global Research and Analysis Team, Latin America

Dmitry was appointed Head of Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team for Latin America in 2010 and oversees the anti-malware development work of the company’s experts in the region.

Dmitry joined Kaspersky Lab in 2007 as a Malware Analyst and was responsible for monitoring the local threat landscape and providing preliminary analyses, before going on to become Senior Regional Researcher for the Latin American region in 2008. In addition to overseeing anti-malware development work, Dmitry’s current role also includes producing reports and forecasts for the region and he is much in demand by the media for comment and interview. Dmitry’s wide field of expertise covers everything from online fraud through to the use of social networking sites by cybercriminals and corporate security. Additionally, Dmitry participates in various educational initiatives throughout Latin America.

Dmitry has over 11-years experience in IT security across a wide variety of roles and is currently based in Ecuador.

Fabio Assolini

Malware Analyst, Brazil/Latin America, Global Research and Analysis Team

Fabio Assolini joined Kaspersky Lab as a malware analyst in 2009 to focus exclusively on one of the most dynamic and challenging markets in Latin America, Brazil. Fabio’s work entails researching viruses, web attacks, banker Trojans and other malware threats originating in Brazil. Since 2006, Fabio has been a volunteer member of the Linha Defensiva (Defensive Line) security community. In addition, Fabio is a member of the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals (ASAP). He has a half a decade of experience in the virus analysis field.

Sergey Novikov

Head, EEMEA, Global Research & Analysis Team

Sergey was appointed Head of the Global Research & Analysis Group for the EEMEA region in 2010. His responsibilities include monitoring IT security trends in the EEMEA region, organizing international summits for security researchers and cooperating with educational institutions of different level.

Sergey joined Kaspersky Lab in 2002, working in the Customer Service Department before becoming a virus analyst. Prior to his current position he was a project manager in the Research Center since 2007.

Sergey has a degree in Applied Mathematics from the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering and holds a postgraduate degree in IT Security. He is based in Moscow.

Stefan Tanase

Senior Security Researcher, EEMEA, Global Research & Analysis Team

Stefan joined Kaspersky Lab in 2007 as a regional researcher. He is based in Romania and is responsible for monitoring the local threat landscape. He specializes in web security, malware 2.0, and threats which target Internet banking systems, including phishing. Stefan was appointed Senior Security Researcher in 2009.

Stefan is involved in several innovative research projects, ranging from malware databases or honeypots to web crawlers. He is a regular speaker at major international security conferences, including Virus Bulletin, RSA and AVAR.

Sergey Golovanov

Malware Expert, EEMEA, Global Research and Analysis Team

Sergey started his career at Kaspersky Lab in 2005, joining the company as a Virus Analyst before going on to become Head of the Non-Intel Research Group. He conducts research into data mining and threats that target online games and social networking sites, as well as the technologies and methods used by virus writers and cybercriminal groups. Sergey was appointed Malware Expert for the Russian Research Center in 2009 and is based in Moscow.

Sergey is currently a PhD student and in his spare time, teaches a course on securing computer networks. Prior to joining the Company, he worked at the Moscow Centre for Scientific and Technical Information.

Denis Maslennikov

Senior Malware Analyst, EEMEA, Global Research and Analysis Team

Denis joined Kaspersky Lab at the beginning of 2007. Working initially as a Virus Analyst, he quickly rose to became a Senior Malware Analyst in the Antivirus Lab, and then Head of the Mobile Research Group. Currently, Denis is a Senior Malware Analyst with the company’s Global Research and Analysis Team and is responsible for monitoring the threat landscape, with particular emphasis on mobile malware, attacks on social networking sites, Instant Messenger threats and ICQ spam.

Denis holds a Diploma in Information Security from the Russian State University of Humanities.

Vitaly Kamluk

Chief Malware Expert, Russian Global Research & Analysis Team

Vitaly joined Kaspersky Lab in 2005 as an Infrastructure Services Developer for the Antivirus lab. In 2008, he was appointed to the position of Senior Antivirus Expert before becoming Director of the EEMEA Research Center in 2009. In 2010, Vitaly spent working in Japan as a Chief Malware Expert, leading a group of local researchers. He specializes in threats focusing on global network infrastructures, malware reverse engineering and cybercrime investigations.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Vitaly worked as a software developer and system administrator.

Vitaly is a graduate of the Belarussian State University.

Maksym Schipka

Director, Hosted & Streaming Technology Research

Maksym was appointed Kaspersky Lab’s Director of Hosted & Streaming Technology Research in 2010. Maksym is responsible for running the Hosted & Streaming Technology Department, where the first and the final frontier for stopping Zero-Day corporate threats through reliable managed services and the processing of raw ‘on-the-wire’ data streams is established and expanded. Between 2009 and taking up his present position, Maksym was Director of the European Research Centre for Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team. Maksym is based in the UK.

Maksym started his career as a Virus Analyst for McAfee in 1997, before joining Kaspersky Lab in 1999 as a Senior Developer and later moving to a similar position at Invisimail. From 2003 to 2009, Maksym was a Senior Architect at MessageLabs.

Maksym has a degree in Applied Physics and Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Darya Gudkova

Head of Content Analysis & Research

Darya joined Kaspersky Lab in 2006 as a Spam Analyst, before rising to the position of Head of the Spam Analysts Group. In 2010, Darya became Head of Content Analysis & Research and is responsible for providing information regarding the current spam landscape, as well as future trends in spam and mass mailing techniques. She also writes regular reports on spam evolution.

Darya is a graduate of the Moscow State Linguistic University where she specialized in theoretical and applied linguistics.

Maria Namestnikova

Senior Spam Analyst, Content Filtering

Maria joined Kaspersky Lab in August 2008 as a junior spam analyst and was appointed a spam analyst in March 2009. Maria‘s main responsibilities include analysis of spam in German, preparation of analytical spam reports, and participation in Kaspersky Lab’s educational initiatives. She was appointed Senior Spam Analyst in 2010.

Before joining the company, Maria worked as a translator for a number of IT companies in Moscow. She holds a degree from Moscow State Pedagogical University in linguistics and teaching English and German as foreign languages.

Nikita Shvetsov

Director, Anti-Malware Research Unit

Nikita joined Kaspersky Lab in 2004 as a virus analyst and in 2006 became a senior developer working on emulators for the heuristic engine. He was appointed Director of the Anti-Malware Research Unit in 2009. In his current role he is in charge of developing and implementing the strategy for protecting users of the company’s products from malware, as well as coordinating work with independent test labs. His area of expertise also covers reverse engineering, system programming, proactive protection, heuristic detection, and software copy and modification protection.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab Nikita worked as a developer for software copy protection at StarForce Technologies.

Nikita has a degree in Computing Science from the Moscow State University of Electronics and Mathematics.

Denis Nazarov

Head of Anti-Malware Research, USA

In 2010, Denis was named Head of Anti-Malware Research, USA, and is currently based in the United States. Denis specializes in detection techniques, particularly for polymorphic viruses, detection tests, and proactive technologies.

He joined Kaspersky Lab in 2003 as a virus analyst, becoming a senior virus analyst two years later. He was made head of the Heuristic Detection Group in 2007, and then head of the Anti-Malware Team in 2009.

After graduating from Moscow State University, Denis worked as a system programmer in a number of major Russian companies.

Mikhail Pavlyushchik

Security Expert, Anti-Malware Research, USA

Mikhail rejoined Kaspersky Lab in 2010 as a Security Expert, with a place on the Company’s Scientific Board. It is his second stint at the Company, which he initially joined in 1999 as a virus analyst before rising to the position of senior antivirus research engineer.

Mikhail left the Company in 2008 to take up the position of Senior Software Development Engineer at Microsoft where he was responsible for developing a search index platform for use online and by multimedia.

Mikhail has nearly two decades of experience in IT security. His expertise includes system programming, real-time data processing, multithreaded programming, synchronization, interprocess communication, secure programming techniques, and TCP/IP environments with a focus on computer security. Mikhail has invented several key antivirus technologies which are currently used in Kaspersky Lab’s products. Mikhail is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Oleg Zaitsev

Lead Technical Specialist, Complex Threat Analysis Group

Oleg has been working for Kaspersky Lab since 2007, when he joined the company as a developer in the Complex Threat Analysis Group. He was promoted to Lead Technical Specialist in November 2008, and is responsible for research into new detection and disinfection technologies, investigating and disinfecting remote systems, and analyzing malicious program behaviour.

Oleg graduated from Moscow Energy Institute and combines his work with Kaspersky Lab with work at Smolenskenergo, a major Russian energy company.