Stephen Northcutt is a graduate of Mary Washington College. Before entering the field of computer security he worked as a U.S. Navy helicopter search and rescue crewman, white water raft guide, chef, martial arts instructor, cartographer, and network designer. He is the author of several books including Incident Handling Step by Step, Intrusion Detection?Shadow Style, and Network Intrusion Detection An Analyst's Handbook, as well as a contributing editor for Securing NT Step by Step published by the SANS Institute. He was the original author of the Shadow intrusion detection system and leader of the Department of Defense's Shadow Intrusion Detection Team before accepting the position of Chief for Information Warfare at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. He currently serves as the lead incident handler for the Global Incident Analysis Center and Director of Training and Certification for the SANS Institute.

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