Russell Dean Vines

Russell Dean has been active in the prevention, detection and remediation of security vulnerabilities for international corporations, including government, finance and new media organizations, for many years. He is a specialist in cyber counter-terrorism, recently focusing on energy and telecommunications vulnerabilities in New York State. He is also former president and founder of The RDV Group Inc., a New York-based security consulting services firm.

Russell holds high-level certifications in Cisco, 3Com, Ascend, Microsoft and Novell technologies, and is trained in the National Security Agency's ISSO Information Assessment Methodology. He has headed computer security departments and managed worldwide information systems networks for prominent technology, entertainment and nonprofit corporations based in New York. He is the author of nine best-selling information system security publications and is a consulting editor for John Wiley and Sons for its information security book series.

Russell's early professional years were illuminated not by the flicker of a computer monitor but by the bright lights of Nevada casino show rooms. After receiving a Down Beat magazine scholarship to Boston's Berklee College of Music, he performed as a sideman for a variety of well-known entertainers, including George Benson, John Denver, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. Russell composed and arranged hundreds of pieces of jazz and contemporary music recorded and performed by his own big band and others. He also founded and managed a scholastic music publishing company and worked as an artist-in-residence for the National Endowment for the Arts in communities throughout the West. He still performs and teaches music in the New York City area and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local #802.