A condensed interview with U.S. Air Force Veteran Todd Humes, Synack’s Director of Infrastructure and Security Operations
From Military to Private Sector Cybersecurity
Getting into the armed services wasn’t Todd Humes’ initial plan as a recent high school grad. Todd ended up joining the U.S. Air Force in 2001 in what he expected to be a quick detour from starting a sports medicine degree at Ohio State because, at the time, he was “not mature enough for college,” as he puts it. During his time in the services, he didn’t specialize in cyber ops, but in 2014, he left the military to consult on developing cyber ranges and training infrastructure within the intelligence community. A mutual contact eventually introduced him to Synack’s leadership team. Todd joined Synack in 2018, bringing his offensive cybersecurity skill set to further strengthen Synack’s systems globally.
Connecting with Synack and its mission of better penetration testing
After serving a combined 14 years supporting security and national intelligence efforts, Todd was brought into Synack to utilize his IT and adversarial cybersecurity expertise across the company’s infrastructure. The innovative vision behind Synack and the vision of aligning the power of highly skilled and vetted researchers on a single platform deeply resonated with Humes.
Why Veterans Should Join Synack’s SRT
Drawing on his military background, Todd highlighted several reasons that other veterans should consider joining the Synack Red Team (SRT), including the:
- Mission-focused culture that drives meaningful impact, similar to military cyber protection teams
- Flexibility to expand skills and TTPs beyond tightly defined military approaches
- Opportunities across public and private sector technology through Synack’s diverse customer base
He also noted that Synack aims to integrate offensive capabilities into its security operations center, enabling “purple team” tests.
Preparing for an AI-Powered Future
As innovation in AI changes the cybersecurity landscape, Synack is looking to adopt AI practices to enhance its internal operations while the company is also delivering Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) to customers’ AI/LLM applications, performed by the Synack Red Team. Todd discussed leveraging AI to streamline threat detection and analysis, and how important this will be for the future of vulnerability management and risk reduction. He also noted the potential need for SRT researchers specializing in AI vulnerabilities. With constantly evolving technologies, the ability to keep pace with AI security testing will set Synack’s SRT apart, and military veterans are uniquely matched to the mission of protecting citizens, government agencies and global enterprises organizations.
Are You Ready for Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity?
If you’re a veteran with cybersecurity experience, consider joining Synack’s elite team on the front lines of technology innovation. Apply to the SRT today!
