The Crypsis Group, a cybersecurity services firm that specializes in data breach response and risk management services, announced the hiring of Bret Padres as Chief Executive Officer, effective today. 

While still a young firm—founded in 2015—The Crypsis Group continues to attract top talent in the industry.  Mr. Padres brings with him 25 years of experience in data breach response, information security, digital forensics, law enforcement and counterintelligence.  Mr. Padres has advised legal teams on some of the most high-profile retail and state-sponsored data breaches in recent times. In addition, he has testified as a digital forensics expert in a number of trials, including an espionage case in federal court. 

“While exploring new opportunities in cybersecurity, The Crypsis Group’s expertise and nimble approach really stood out to me,” said Mr. Padres. “Today, companies need more than technical experts.  They need a team that can help them determine business risks and provide impactful cybersecurity solutions at any size. I am truly honored to join such a talented team.”     

Justin Jordan, Chairman of the company’s Board, said, “Bret is widely recognized as one of the preeminent experts within the digital forensics community. His expertise is highly sought after, as he is equally adept at providing expert witness testimony, advising corporate boards or leading teams of digital forensics investigators within the most complex and challenging data breaches that our country has ever seen. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to be able to attract a leader such as Bret. His personality, leadership style and expertise are a welcome complement to The Crypsis Group team, as we continue to work tirelessly to earn recognition as the standard of excellence within the industry.”

As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Padres will provide strategic vision and oversight into operational execution of the organization.

“I am thrilled to have Bret on board as our Chief Executive Officer.  As a company, we pride ourselves on having the energy and work ethic of a startup but the expertise of a well-established firm, which is exactly what Bret brings to The Crypsis Group,” said Mike Wager, Managing Partner of The Crypsis Group.

Prior to joining The Crypsis Group, Mr. Padres was most recently Managing Director at Stroz Friedberg, where he managed the firm’s execution of its Cyber Resilience practice. In addition to managing a team responsible for intrusion investigations, security risk assessments, penetration tests and data breach response, he maintained an active case load and led a team responsible for authoring several forensic tools.  Mr. Padres was also the Director of Incident Response for Mandiant (later acquired by FireEye) where he responded to and resolved high-risk intrusions for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. 

For more information, please contact Paul Hortenstine, on behalf of The Crypsis Group, at 202.295.8776 or Paul.Hortenstine@harbourgrp.com, or visit www.crypsisgroup.com.

Biography of Bret Padres

Bret Padres is the Chief Executive Officer of The Crypsis Group. He has over 25 years of experience in data breach response, information security, digital forensics, law enforcement and counterintelligence.  Mr. Padres has responded to, investigated, remediated and advised legal teams and boards of directors on issues resulting from some of the highest profile retail and state-sponsored data breaches in recent times.  In addition, he has testified as a digital forensics expert in a number of trials, including an espionage case in federal court. 

Mr. Padres began his career as a computer programmer and later became a Special Agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.  There he was the lead agent on numerous national and international computer intrusion investigations, and conducted computer forensic examinations for criminal investigations involving child pornography, homicide, narcotics and violent crime. A veteran of Operation Desert Storm, Mr. Padres served in Southern Turkey and Northern Iraq.

He went on to serve as the Chief of Research and Development in the Computer Crimes Unit for the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, where he conducted investigations in addition to overseeing the research, development and implementation of new computer crime technologies.  In this capacity, he also acted as the liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency on a national software development project.

In the private sector, Mr. Padres was most recently a Managing Director at Stroz Friedberg, where he managed the firm’s execution of its Cyber Resilience practice.  In addition to managing a team responsible for intrusion investigations, security risk assessments, penetration tests, and data breach response, he maintained an active case load and led a team responsible for authoring several forensic tools.  Mr. Padres was also the Director of Incident Response for Mandiant (later acquired by FireEye) where he responded to and resolved high-risk intrusions for government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.  In addition, he served as the Director of Cyber Operations at Athena Innovative Solutions, where he directed network surveillance and intrusion detection counterintelligence operations for U.S. government agencies along with building forensic and field monitoring capabilities in support of counterintelligence cyber-operations for government clients. 

Mr. Padres holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer information systems from Excelsior College and holds a number of professional certifications.  He has developed a number of open source digital forensic tools and co-hosts a podcast where he interviews industry experts and explores digital forensics, network security and computer crime topics.