Sam is a certified digital forensics and incident response executive with several years of multi-disciplinary experience spanning cybersecurity and insider-threat investigations, malware analysis, and forensic laboratory accreditation. He has built national-level forensic programs, advised executive leadership at governmental and international agencies, and integrated digital evidence operations into compliance and legal frameworks.
Most recently, Sam served as Director of Digital Forensics at Hive International, where he led digital forensic and incident response operations for the regional laboratory that supports the US State Department’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program in the Caribbean. In that role, he led insider-threat investigations, oversaw forensic infrastructure security, coordinated cross-agency investigations involving cyber-related crime and corruption and ensured compliance with ISO/IEC 17025.
As a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer at MITRE, Sam led research and development initiatives in mobile malware detection command and control traffic analysis and forensic sandboxing in support of federal agencies. He advised executives on enterprise security malware risks and forensic capability integration.
Early earlier in his career, Sam founded and lead US Customs and Border Protection’s (“CBP”) Tier 3 digital forensics laboratory, establishing the first ASCLD ISO 17025 accredited digital forensics lab within the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). He authored forensic policy cited in Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) helping shape national mobile device forensic standards. He directed nationwide insider threat and cyber investigations and oversaw the training and certification of more than 200 digital forensic examiners and thousands of CBP officers.
Sam has served as chairman or co-chairman of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; the Organization of Scientific Area Committees; and the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence. He has also served as a guest scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and has appeared on Court TV as a mobile forensics expert.