Tarah Wheeler

Early career

In 2012, she founded cloud computing company Fizzmint.^[9]

In 2014, Wheeler founded Infosec Unlocked, a diversity non-profit, whose goal is to help bring more diverse voices to infosec conferences across the United States through paper writing events and scholarships.^[10] This was an extension of her YouTube series where she discussed diversity topics, "DEF CON Unlocked." ^[11] This series mostly covered topics relating to diversity at DEF CON, one of the worlds largest hacker conferences.

Current

In 2016, Wheeler was named a Cybersecurity Passcode Influencer by Christian Science Monitor.^[12] In 2016, she spoke to the Federal Trade Commission on information security in tech startups^[13] and published Women In Tech, a book dedicated to teaching women how to succeed in tech careers. She gave advice to women technologists on interview techniques^[14][15] and salary negotiation,^[16] when she was a systems architect at mobile encryption firm Silent Circle.^[17] In the same year, Wheeler had an RFID chip embedded in her left hand.^[18] In the fall of 2016 the University of California, Berkeley taught a class on Wheeler's book and the necessities for overcoming barriers to entry in the technology industry and the requirements for success as a woman trying to enter the field.^[19]

After a record-setting Kickstarter campaign,^[20][21] Wheeler published Women In Tech with several contributors, including Esther Dyson and Brianna Wu, one of the targets of the Gamergate controversy.^[22] She experienced threats for including Wu, but retained her as a coauthor due to Wu's experience in the gaming industry.^[23] Wheeler has experienced multiple death and rape threats for her online activism.^[24][25][26]

She is often quoted in media about active cybersecurity incident response and data breaches, such as the WannaCry incident,^[27] Wifi Krack,^[28] the Equifax data breach,^[29] and speaks publicly about the cybersecurity gap in the United States. Tarah is also a frequent speaker on international policy issues relating to cybersecurity, such as cyberterrorism and cyberattacks.^[30]

In August 2017, Wheeler announced on Twitter that she left Symantec to work on several books.^[31] She is currently Senior Director, Data Trust & Threat and Vulnerability Management at Splunk,^[32] and Cybersecurity Policy Fellow at D.C. policy think-tank New America.^[33][34]