I'm William Leonard, and after eleven years at DEF CON — two of them as Director of Training — I started Switchback to bring the instructors I've worked with closer to home. These are the people I trust to teach. I've researched and attended their trainings and consider them exceptional in their areas of expertise.
This is my directory of trainers, available for future Switchback events and for private and corporate bookings. They're working practitioners who teach material that keeps pace with the technology it covers, and I'm always looking for new opportunities to put them in front of a room. Every training listed is eligible for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit.
AI security engineering
Principal Security Engineer in the financial AI space, who has led security for some of the largest companies in the world. Specialises in AI, blue team, SecOps and cloud, and founded Glass Security Consulting to bring world-class instruction to security professionals and hackers alike.
AI Engineering for Security Teams →
Applied cryptography
Security researcher and lead trainer at Neodyme AG. Ten years finding weaknesses in cloud, satellite and medical technology. Holds a doctorate from Radboud University and is a visiting researcher in post-quantum cryptography at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy.
Hacking Cryptography →
Packet analysis and network forensics
Network analyst and Wireshark instructor at Packet Pioneer, a Wireshark University Certified Training Partner. He spends his working life in other people's captures — chasing latency, retransmissions and the traffic nobody meant to send — and teaches the way he troubleshoots: open the file, ask a question, filter, prove it.
RF and SDR exploitation
Trainer at RNS Technology Solutions, teaching software defined radio to cyber security professionals with no prior RF background. Builds his courses around real radios and open-source DSP frameworks rather than proprietary tooling, including a custom wireless target students reverse-engineer and compromise in the capstone.
Detection engineering
Detection engineer specialising in AI/LLM threat detection, agentic system security and SOC modernisation. Over 15 years bridging offensive security research and enterprise-scale defensive operations, currently with the Splunk Threat Research Team at Splunk Cisco.
SOC 101 Bootcamp with AI Integration →
Cloud incident response
Founder of Invictus Incident Response, helping organisations respond to cyber security incidents in the cloud. A trainer at Black Hat and DEF CON and an instructor for the SANS Institute, focused on knowledge sharing and mentoring people new to the field.
Advanced Cloud Incident Response in AWS →Switchback is building a directory of cybersecurity trainers for future events. If you teach hands-on offensive or defensive security and want to run a small, intensive in-person course, get in touch at [email protected].
