Insider Threats The Risk of Endpoint Access by Departing Employees

Professor
West Virginia University

Mark J. Nigrini is an associate professor of accounting at West Virginia University. His research passion for many years has been a phenomenon known as Benford’s Law, which is related to the patterns of the digits in tabulated data. His current research addresses insider threats, and more specifically, the cybersecurity risks posed by former employees. 

Included in his array of academic publications is the lead article in the new premier forensic accounting journal, the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research. His work has been featured in publications including The Financial Times, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His radio interviews have included the BBC in London, and NPR in the U.S. His television interviews have included an interview on a fraud saga for the “Evil Twins” series for the Investigation Discovery Channel. He is a regular presenter at the ACFE Global Fraud Conference and at events overseas such as Brazil’s Interforensics 2023. 

Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity
West Virginia University

Christopher A. Ramezan is an assistant professor of cybersecurity and the coordinator of the Master of Science in Business Cybersecurity Management program at West Virginia University. He has taught numerous courses in networking and cybersecurity at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels. His research interests include security architecture, federated learning approaches for cyber event detection in industrial control systems, cybersecurity workforce development and industry best practices, as well as applying machine learning and deep learning methods on multispectral and hyperspectral satellite imagery to solve remote sensing and geospatial problem sets.  

Ramezan also serves as the academic lead for the U.S. National Team in the NATO Locked Shields cybersecurity exercise with the U.S. Cyber Command, Defense Information Systems Agency, and the West Virginia Army National Guard. Ramezan was also awarded the both the Dean’s Distinction in Teaching and Dean’s Distinction in Service awards in 2023, as well as the WV Educator of the Year (2023-2024) by the West Virginia American Legion. He possesses over 20 industry cybersecurity certifications including the CISSP, CISM, CASP and CDPSE.