Current Handlers
Volunteer incident handlers donate their valuable time to analyze detects and anomalies, and post a daily
diary of their analysis and thoughts on the Storm Center website. Below you will find Handler details
including personal pages, additional scripts or papers, or whatever the respective handler is interested in
offering. All content is owned by the respective handler.
Interested in becoming a handler? A roadmap is available to learn how.
John Bambenek
Guy Bruneau
Jim Clausing
Scott Fendley
Jan Kopriva
Jesse La Grew
Renato Marinho
Russ McRee
Xavier Mertens
Manuel Humberto Santander Pelaez
Didier Stevens
Yee Ching Tok
Johannes Ullrich
Rob VandenBrink
Rick Wanner
Tom Webb
Bojan Zdrnja
John Bambenek

John Bambenek is President of Bambenek Labs, a threat intelligence and digital investigations firm. He has spent 20 years in the industry helping research emerging threats and leading large-scale intelligence sharing communities to engage in targeted disruption of criminal activities online. He has developed a variety of techniques to conduct digital surveillance that is used to monitor domain generation algorithms and malware configurations which are used by thousands of organizations world-wide. In addition, he tracks financial transactions of various neonazi and supremacist individuals and organizations. He has spoken at conferences around the world, has published two books in addition to several book chapters and articles, and he once appears on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Twitter: | @bambenek |
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Recent Diaries:
- Prophetic Post by Intern on CVE-2023-1389 Foreshadows Mirai Botnet Expansion Today
- Writing Yara Rules for Fun and Profit: Notes from the FireEye Breach Countermeasures
- Hunting for SigRed Exploitation
- VMWare Security Advisory on DoS Vulnerability in ESXi
- MSFT July 2019 Patch Tuesday
Guy Bruneau

Guy has a B.A. (IT) from University of Quebec and holds the prestigious GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification as well as the GIAC GSEC(G), GCIA(G), GCIH(G), GCUX(G), GCFA, GPEN certifications.
Twitter: | @guybruneau |
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Click to View Handler Created Tools
Recent Diaries:
- Decoding the Patterns: Analyzing DShield Honeypot Activity [Guest Diary]
- CVE-2023-1389: A New Means to Expand Botnets
- Routers Targeted for Gafgyt Botnet [Guest Diary]
- Spam or Phishing? Looking for Credentials & Passwords
- Domain Name Used as Password Captured by DShield Sensor
Jim Clausing

Twitter: | @jclausing |
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Mastodon: | @clausing@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Wireshark releases 2 updates in one day. Mac users especially will want the latest.
- New tool: le-hex-to-ip.py
- Check out a couple of my older posts
- Wireshark 4.0.2 and 3.6.10 released
- Is this traffic bAD?
Scott Fendley

Twitter: | @itsecuritygeek |
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Recent Diaries:
- July 2023 Microsoft Patch Update
- Warranty Repairs and Non-Removable Storage Risks
- Apple May 2021 Security Updates
- Critical Vuln in vCenter vmdir (CVE-2020-3952)
- Oracle Critical Patch Update Release
Jan Kopriva

Twitter: | @jk0pr |
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Mastodon: | @jkopriva@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Phishing page with trivial anti-analysis features
- Are typos still relevant as an indicator of phishing?
- A new spin on the ZeroFont phishing technique
- The low, low cost of (committing) cybercrime
- From small LNK to large malicious BAT file with zero VT score
Jesse La Grew

Jesse La Grew has been an IT professional within higher education for over 20 years. He holds a variety of GIAC certifications including the GDSA, GCCC, GCFA, GCFE, GCIA, GPYC, GSOC, GCIH, GSEC, GISF, GCTI, GCPM and GSTRT and is also a CISSP. He recently received his Bachelor's Degree at SANS Technology Institute and is progressing through his Master's program at the same institution. Jesse's background in IT started in a desktop support role. This transitioned into a cyber security focus when becoming involved in building and supporting environments meeting PCI and FISMA compliance standards. He currently works as Chief Information Security Officer at Madison College.
Twitter: | @stealthcrane |
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Mastodon: | @stealthcrane@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Overflowing Web Honeypot Logs
- Hiding in Hex
- DShield and qemu Sitting in a Tree: L-O-G-G-I-N-G
- Common usernames submitted to honeypots
- What is the origin of passwords submitted to honeypots?
Renato Marinho

Renato Marinho is Chief Research Officer at Morphus Labs. His journey in the area began in 2001, when he created Nettion, one of the first firewalls to use the contemporary UTM (Unified Threat Management) concept. Experienced in cyber security, Marinho was internationally recognized in 2016 by his research that unveiled Mamba, the first full disk encryption ransomware. At Morphus Labs, he oversees research, innovation and development of new products. Master and PhD candidate in Applied Informatics, he is also professor at University of Fortaleza teaching Computer Forensics in the post-graduate course. He is also a speaker having presented at Ignite Cybersecurity Conference, BSides Delaware, BSides Vienna, WSKS Portugal and Brazilian CSIRTs Forum.
Twitter: | @renato_marinho |
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Mastodon: | @renatomarinho@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Microsoft September 2023 Patch Tuesday
- Microsoft August 2023 Patch Tuesday
- Microsoft May 2023 Patch Tuesday
- Guildma is now abusing colorcpl.exe LOLBIN
- Microsoft April 2023 Patch Tuesday
Russ McRee

Twitter: | @holisticinfosec |
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Recent Diaries:
- Sandfly Security
- Exploratory Data Analysis with CISSM Cyber Attacks Database - Part 2
- Exploratory Data Analysis with CISSM Cyber Attacks Database - Part 1
- Prowler v3: AWS & Azure security assessments
- Chainsaw: Hunt, search, and extract event log records
Xavier Mertens

Xavier Mertens is a freelance security consultant based in Belgium. Xavier's own company (https://xameco.be) offers services like incident handling, forensic, SOC activities, and pentesting. He holds GCIA, GFCE, GCFA, GXPN, GREM, GDAT, GNFA, GCTI, GPYC SANS certifications but also CISSP, and CISA. Xavier is a SANS Certified Instructor (FOR610 - Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering). His blog about security is https://blog.rootshell.be and he is co-organizer of the BruCON security conference (http://www.brucon.org).
Twitter: | @xme |
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Mastodon: | @xme@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Quasar RAT Delivered Through Updated SharpLoader
- Redline Dropped Through MSIX Package
- Visual Examples of Code Injection
- Example of Phishing Campaign Project File
- Malware Dropped Through a ZPAQ Archive
Upcoming Courses:
SANS London February 2024, London
February 05, 2024 - February 09, 2024
Reverse-Engineering Malware: Advanced Code Analysis
SANS Amsterdam February 2024, Amsterdam
February 12, 2024 - February 17, 2024
Reverse-Engineering Malware: Malware Analysis Tools and Techniques
SANS Secure Japan 2024 - Live Online, Online | Japan Standard Time
February 26, 2024 - March 02, 2024
Reverse-Engineering Malware: Malware Analysis Tools and Techniques
Manuel Humberto Santander Pelaez

Mr. Santander Peláez currently serves as the CTO of Transportadora de Gas Internacional in Bogotá, Colombia. His areas of interest are Intrusion Detection, Computer Forensics, Incident Response, SCADA Security, cyber defense, threat intelligence and threat hunting.
Twitter: | @manuelsantander |
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Mastodon: | @manuelsantander@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Noticing command and control channels by reviewing DNS protocols
- Controlling network access to ICS systems
- Management of DMARC control for email impersonation of domains in the .co TLD - part 2
- Management of DMARC control for email impersonation of domains in the .co TLD - part 1
- Security headers you should add into your application to increase cyber risk protection
Didier Stevens

Didier Stevens (Microsoft MVP Consumer Security) holds many certifications from SANS, Microsoft, Cisco, ... He is a Senior Analyst (NVISO https://www.nviso.be). Didier started his own company in 2012 to provide IT security training services (http://DidierStevensLabs.com). You can find his open source security tools on his IT security related blog at https://blog.DidierStevens.com.
Twitter: | @DidierStevens |
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Recent Diaries:
- Cobalt Strike's "Runtime Configuration"
- OVA Files
- Wireshark 4.2.0 Released
- Quick Tip For Artificially Inflated PE Files
- base64dump.py Handles More Encodings Than Just BASE64
Yee Ching Tok

Dr. Tok is currently a Senior Consultant at JT Consultancy & Management Pte. Ltd. and a Research Fellow at ASSET (Automated Systems SEcuriTy) Research Group in Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) under the Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD) Pillar. He was a recipient of the SG Digital (Postgraduate) Scholarship program from Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and won the Cybersecurity Awards in 2019 under the Professional category for his contributions to the Singapore information security industry. Yee Ching is a SANS Lethal Forensicator and also serves as a Co-Opted Committee Member in the Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP). For more information, please visit https://poppopretn.com/aboutme/.
Twitter: | @poppopretn |
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Mastodon: | @poppopretn@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- VMware Releases Security Patches for Fusion, Workstation and Aria Operations for Logs
- A Gentle Reminder: The Evolving Nature of Digital Scams
- DShield pfSense Client Update
- Analyzing a YouTube Sponsorship Phishing Mail and Malware Targeting Content Creators
- Supervision and Verification in Vulnerability Management
Johannes Ullrich

Dr. Johannes Ullrich is the Dean of Research and a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute. In November of 2000, Johannes started the DShield.org project, which he later integrated into the Internet Storm Center. His work with the Internet Storm Center has been widely recognized. In 2004, Network World named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the networking industry. Secure Computing Magazine named him in 2005 one of the Top 5 influential IT security thinkers. His research interests include IPv6, Network Traffic Analysis and Secure Software Development. Johannes is regularly invited to speak at conferences and has been interviewed by major publications, radio as well as TV stations. He is a member of the SANS Technology Institute's Faculty and Administration as well as Curriculum and Long Range Planning Committee. As chief research officer for the SANS Institute, Johannes is currently responsible for the GIAC Gold program. Prior to working for SANS, Johannes worked as a lead support engineer for a Web development company and as a research physicist. Johannes holds a PhD in Physics from SUNY Albany and is located in Jacksonville, Florida. More Details: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesullrich
Twitter: | @johullrich |
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Mastodon: | @jullrich@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Zarya Hacktivists: More than just Sharepoint.
- Apple Patches Exploited WebKit Vulnerabilities in iOS/iPadOS/macOS
- Pro Russian Attackers Scanning for Sharepoint Servers to Exploit CVE-2023-29357
- Scans for ownCloud Vulnerability (CVE-2023-49103)
- Happy Birthday DShield
Upcoming Courses:
SANS Cyber Defense Initiative 2023, Washington
December 11, 2023 - December 16, 2023
Application Security: Securing Web Apps, APIs, and Microservices
SANS Cloud Defender 2024 - Live Online, Online | US Eastern
January 08, 2024 - January 13, 2024
Application Security: Securing Web Apps, APIs, and Microservices
SANS 2024, Orlando
March 24, 2024 - March 29, 2024
Application Security: Securing Web Apps, APIs, and Microservices
Rob VandenBrink

Twitter: | @rvandenbrink |
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Click to View Handler Created Tools
Recent Diaries:
- JQ: Another Tool We Thought We Knew
- Shodan's API For The (Recon) Win!
- Citrix ADC Vulnerability CVE-2023-3519, 3466 and 3467 - Patch Now!
- HAM Radio + Enigma Machine Challenge
- Taking a Bite Out of Password Expiry Helpdesk Calls
Rick Wanner

Twitter: | @namedeplume |
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Mastodon: | @namedeplume@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- New Windows Print Spooler Vulnerability - CVE-2021-34481
- Mitre CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
- Quick and dirty Python: nmap
- Quick and dirty Python: masscan
- Important Apple Updates
Tom Webb

Twitter: | @twsecblog |
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Mastodon: | @tom_webb@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Are Local LLMs Useful in Incident Response?
- Zeek and Defender Endpoint
- IR Case/Alert Management
- Live Linux IR with UAC
- Supersizing your DUO and 365 Integration
Bojan Zdrnja

Twitter: | @bojanz |
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Mastodon: | @bojanz@infosec.exchange |
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Recent Diaries:
- Survival time for web sites
- Some things never change ? such as SQL Authentication ?encryption?
- Importance of signing in Windows environments
- Critical vulnerability in Splunk Enterprise?s deployment server functionality
- Local privilege escalation vulnerability in polkit's pkexec (CVE-2021-4034)
Upcoming Courses:
SANS London February 2024, London
February 05, 2024 - February 10, 2024
Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking
SANS Pen Test Austin 2024, Austin
April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024
Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking