Hi, I'm Joe South.

I've spent over a decade in cyber security. I have helped organizations of every size, Fortune 500 enterprises included, build practical, resilient security programs. Today I lead cloud and AI security.

I found my way into IT at a college help desk and fell in love with it. I never left. Along the way I earned my Security+, then a Master's in cyber security. That degree covered reverse engineering, malware analysis, red and blue team work, IAM, and cloud security. I worked across several disciplines after that. Cloud security is the specialty I landed on.

Before my current role I was lead engineer and architect at Volkswagen Financial Services. I spearheaded a cultural shift toward proactive vulnerability management. I also led a global AWS WAF deployment across 40+ applications with 150+ developers. We finished with zero downtime and no drop in performance. I care about security that is honest. It has to be hands-on, and it has to live in the way a team actually ships.

I also host the Security Unfiltered podcast. It is an unfiltered look at cyber security. I write a widely-read blog. It documents my journey and my certification study process. It also covers how to build a successful career in the field. I create hands-on content for the Infosec Institute. I'm currently pursuing a PhD. The research asks whether the zero-trust framework can be deployed onto communications satellites, so they are ready for post-quantum encryption.