Cisco Blogs
Voice Search is currently unavailable
Powered by Google Web Speech API
We didn't hear that. Try again.
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select
Avatar

Omar Santos

Distinguished Engineer

Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) Security Research and Operations

Omar Santos is a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) security, cybersecurity research, incident response, and vulnerability disclosure. He is the co-chair of the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) and a board member of the OASIS Open standards organization. Omar is also the chair of the OpenEoX and the Common Security Advisory Framework (CSAF) technical committee. His work led the creation of the CSAF ISO standard.   Omar's collaborative efforts extend to numerous organizations, including the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) and the Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet (ICASI). Omar is the co-chair of the FIRST PSIRT Special Interest Group (SIG) and was the lead of the DEF CON Red Team Village for several years.   Omar is the author of over 25 books, 21 video courses, and over 50 academic research papers. Omar is a renowned expert in ethical hacking, vulnerability research, incident response, and AI security. Omar's work in cybersecurity is also recognized through multiple granted patents. Prior to Cisco, Omar served in the United States Marines focusing on the deployment, testing, and maintenance of Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) systems.

Articles

April 16, 2025

SECURITY

The Need for a Strong CVE Program

2 min read

The CVE program is the foundation for standardized vulnerability disclosure and management. With its future uncertain, global organizations face challenges.

January 14, 2025

SECURITY

Advancing AI Security and Contributing to CISA’s JCDC AI Efforts 

1 min read

Discover how CISA's new AI Security Incident Collaboration Playbook strengthens AI security and resilience.

October 10, 2024

SECURITY

Introducing Cisco’s AI Security Best Practice Portal

2 min read

Cisco's AI Security Portal contains resources to help you secure your AI implementation, whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field.

July 18, 2024

SECURITY

Introducing the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI)

2 min read

Announcing the launch of the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) to help securely build, deploy, and operate AI systems to mitigate AI-specific security risks.

June 21, 2024

SECURITY

Enhancing AI Security Incident Response Through Collaborative Exercises

2 min read

Take-aways from a tabletop exercise led by CISA's Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), which brought together government and industry leaders to enhance our collective ability to respond to AI-related security incidents.

May 31, 2024

SECURITY

Introducing the Open Supply-Chain Information Modeling (OSIM) Technical Committee

4 min read

OSIM is a great advancement towards a more secure and resilient supply chain ecosystem.

March 26, 2024

LEARNING

Securing the LLM Stack

7 min read

Learn how to secure the LLM stack, which is essential to protecting data and preserving user trust, as well as ensuring the operational integrity, reliability, and ethical use of these powerful AI models.

December 18, 2023

SECURITY

Securing AI: Navigating the Complex Landscape of Models, Fine-Tuning, and RAG

7 min read

Bad actors leverage AI, escalating the complexity and scale of threats. We need robust security measures and proper monitoring in developing, fine-tuning, and deploying AI models.

August 24, 2023

SECURITY

Akira Ransomware Targeting VPNs without Multi-Factor Authentication

4 min read

Cisco has observed instances where threat actors appear to be targeting organizations that do not configure multi-factor authentication for their VPN users. This highlights the importance of enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) in VPN implementations.