Building Cyber Resilience: AI Threats, Mid-Market Risks & Ransomware Trends – Karl Van den Bergh, Tony Anscombe, Eyal Benishti, Nick Carroll, Chad Alessi, Chris Peluso – ESW #409

Eyal Benishti is the CEO and Founder of IRONSCALES, pioneering the world’s first self-learning email security solution to combat advanced phishing, BEC, and account takeover attacks.

With over 15 years in the software industry, Eyal has held roles as a security researcher and malware analyst at Radware and a technical lead for information security solutions at Imperva. He also held R&D positions at Comverse and Amdocs.

Eyal earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and has been passionate about cybersecurity from a young age.

Chris Peluso has been a leader in email security and networking for over 20 years, leading sales and sales engineering teams around the globe. He has been instrumental in launching Libraesva in the United States, overseeing all aspects of operations, sales and marketing. Prior to Libraesva, Peluso held Director roles at Kerio Technologies in the United States and the UK, as well as GFI and Flowmon while living in Germany. Since returning to the US in 2022, he’s built a loyal partner channel and customer base of mid-sized enterprises across the manufacturing, finance, retail, biotech, government and education sectors.

Since 2024, Chad Alessi has been managing director of cybersecurity at CTG, a Cegeka company. Alessi focuses on CTG’s local resources and adapting Cegeka’s proven global cybersecurity offerings to help U.S. clients navigate today’s increasingly challenging security landscape, especially in highly regulated industries.

Previously, Alessi served as Technology and Cybersecurity Solution Director for CTG’s U.S. Energy practice, where he led the implementation of comprehensive cybersecurity measures. His experience also includes senior roles at Gannett Fleming, where he oversaw cybersecurity initiatives, and Capgemini, where he led Intelligent Operations Transformation for North America.
Alessi holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama, as well as an MBA and a Master of Information Systems with Advanced Studies in Information Security from the University of Alabama and Syracuse University, respectively.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he also serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, dedicating his efforts to community impact and mentorship.

Tony Anscombe is the Chief Security Evangelist for ESET. With over 25 years of security industry experience, Anscombe is an established author, blogger and speaker on the current threat landscape, security technologies and products, data protection, privacy and trust, and Internet safety. His speaking portfolio includes industry conferences RSA, Black Hat, VB, CTIA, MEF, Sector and the Gartner Risk and Security Summit.

Karl Van den Bergh is a seasoned technology executive with over 25 years of experience in marketing, product strategy, and business leadership across startups and billion-dollar enterprises. As Chief Marketing Officer at Illumio, he drives global marketing strategy, including brand positioning, demand generation, and go-to-market execution, helping to accelerate the company’s leadership in breach containment and Zero Trust Segmentation. Previously, as CMO at Gigamon, Karl led a comprehensive marketing transformation that established the company as a leader in the deep observability market, significantly increasing growth and brand recognition. His career highlights include leadership roles at DataStax, TIBCO, and Jaspersoft, where he delivered innovative strategies and built high-performing teams. Karl holds a Master’s in Computer Science from Imperial College London, is fluent in multiple languages, and was honored as Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year in 2024.

Nick serves as Cyber Incident Response Manager at Nightwing. In a non-traditional sense, he is a hunter, scouring an evolving threat landscape for dangerous threats, from state and non-state actors, that underscore organization’s most critical systems. Nick and his team support multi-faceted threat hunting and monitoring operations for a diverse range of clients, including government agencies, major healthcare organizations, school systems, and Fortune 500 companies.