About
Evolve Security

Our primary goal is to leave our customers with a better security posture.
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two decades of experience

Evolve Security

With leadership that has been in the information security industry for more than two decades, Evolve Security is dedicated to deliver real and measurable improvements to your company’s security posture.

Powering the Human Element
of Cybersecurity

Evolve Security is dedicated to improving your security posture through Managed Offensive Security; Continuous Penetration Testing; Vulnerability Management; Application & Cloud Security Validation and Incident Response services. Through our #1 ranked Evolve Academy and by working with customers through our Advisory, Corporate Training and Talent Solutions services, we’re developing and deploying the next generation of cybersecurity talent.

Our values

What We Believe In

Extreme Customer Focus

We believe value comes from a long-term relationship vs. short-term high-cost engagements that end with a lengthy findings report and no remediation.
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We provide the full security project lifecycle, working with your current technology stack, including on-prem and cloud technologies, helping to achieve security excellence and compliance.

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Innovation Through Technology & Talent

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Differentiators

Technology & Approach

One of a kind platform:

  • Darwin Attack® Platform: Provides dynamic reporting - our testers spend more time testing
  • Continuous testing & security validation
  • Remediation support / full lifecycle
  • CyberLAB™: Learning management and access to real-world based labs and scenarios
Talent
U.S. based W2 employees. All application security SMEs are formal developers. All testers carry certifications such as OSCP, ECP, OSCE, CISSP.
Academy
We are the experts in the industry because we train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The top 5% of our academy graduates are recruited into staffing roles through our Talent Solutions service.
Extreme Customer Focus
We are service delivery focused – we appreciate and value your business. Our goal is to ensure you achieve security excellence and compliance.

Equality Drives Innovation

Located in the Chicago Loop, we are building a talented, inclusive, and diverse workforce of Senior Security Engineers, Compliance Specialists, Project Managers, Talent Specialists, Advisors, Instructors and more.
Paul Petefish
Chief Executive Officer
" We truly go above and beyond to deliver the best experience possible to our customers. If we serve our customers well, our own success will follow."
experienced seniority

Our Leadership

Evolve Security is dedicated to delivering real and measurable improvements to our customers' security posture and to helping close the cybersecurity skills gap. With leadership that has been in the information security industry for more than two decades, our experience, our passion for what we do and our complementary skill sets help the company continue to grow while staying true to our Core Values.

Paul Petefish
Co-Founder | CEO
Paul Petefish is the CEO and Co-Founder of Evolve Security and Evolve Academy. With more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience, he is an industry leader, regularly sought out to provide insights on topics such as web application security, attack and penetration testing, cyber training and solutions for filling the global cybersecurity talent gap. Paul is an acknowledged contributor to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) 2010 Top 10 Most Critical Web Application Security Risks. He is a well-known industry speaker and has appeared as a presenter at many information security conferences including ISC2 Chicago, OWASP Chicago, NebraskaCERT's Cyber Security Forum, the Computer Security Institute’s (“CSI”) annual conference, and the Information Systems Security Association’s (“ISSA”) international conference.
Paul Petefish
Co-Founder | CEO
Andrew Hamilton
Co-Founder | COO
Andrew Hamilton is the COO and Co-Founder of Evolve Security and leads financial and strategic operations. Prior to Evolve Security, Andrew spent his career in investment banking and private equity where he collaborated with management teams on various growth initiatives, structured M&A transactions, originated and evaluated potential investments, and performed industry research. Andrew’s cybersecurity experience began in private equity while at Lake Capital, who owned FishNet Security (now known as Optiv Security), a national leader in Information Security solutions, integration, and professional and managed services. Andrew is a graduate of he University of Chicago.
Andrew Hamilton
Co-Founder | COO
Sam Harris
CTO
As a serial entrepreneur, Sam Harris has built and sold two tech startups and grown two more to over $100M in revenue. He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Evolve Security where he leads the Application and Infrastructure teams. Complex database-driven web applications act as the central nervous system of modern businesses, and Sam leverages proprietary management techniques to get teams to build this software faster and more affordably than traditional methods without compromising quality, security, or employee enjoyment. Sam holds a master's degree in Engineering from Columbia University in New York and served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.
Sam Harris
CTO
Leigh Staub
Senior Director, Evolve Academy
Leigh Staub serves as the Senior Director of Evolve Academy, leading the company’s cyber training operation to ensure all students receive the highest quality education to advance their career, upskill their team and close the cybersecurity talent gap. With a background in higher education advancement at some of the country’s most prominent universities, she has strong experience successfully managing projects and people within complex organizations, embracing cross-functional collaboration while fostering effective internal operations. Always up for a challenge, Leigh excels in covering new ground, utilizing her strategic decision-making skills to solve problems creatively, balancing business needs and keeping customers’ interests at the forefront.
Leigh Staub
Senior Director, Evolve Academy
Darrin Hernandez
V.P., Director of Finance
Darrin Hernandez is the Director of Finance at Evolve Security and spearheads its financial and operational initiatives. He specializes in helping firms mature and reach their full potential. Darrin has been a driving force at several growing companies to implement accounting and finance functions and while enhancing processes and organization. When he’s not knee deep in forecasting, negotiating and reporting, he’s reading the fine print. Darrin is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Illinois.
Darrin Hernandez
V.P., Director of Finance
Nina Kuhlman
Director of Marketing
Nina Kuhlman is a B2B and B2C marketing and advertising professional who has worked at top agencies and as a successful consultant. She currently serves as Evolve Security’s Director of Marketing, leading the company’s brand, demand, event, and digital marketing efforts. Nina has successfully managed teams of multi-disciplinary marketers to create impactful and award-winning campaigns and programs in a wide variety of industries including professional services, telecom, financial, automotive, and CPG. Data and results-driven, she is also a content marketing evangelist who enjoys collaborating with other creative marketers to create and disseminate a variety of content that informs, inspires, and drives engagement.
Nina Kuhlman
Director of Marketing
Sarah Thomas
Director, People Operations
Sarah Thomas is a People Operations professional who oversees all aspects of Evolve Security’s organizational development and human resources, including hiring, training and retaining talent, ensuring Evolve customers are served by highly engaged and qualified staff. She enjoys helping others, making work an enjoyable place to be, and finding creative solutions that balance both company and employee needs. Sarah is also future-focused, studying and thinking about how work will be done in the future. She loves the startup world and enjoys being part of a growing organization where questions are continuously asked about how work is getting done and how it can look different. Sarah believes in getting the job done while having a great time doing it.
Sarah Thomas
Director, People Operations
Evolve security

Advisors

Ben Johnson
Nicholas J. Percoco
Steve Hunt

Awards & Recognition

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Awarded Top Academy 5 Years Running

Year after year, Evolve’s Academy is recognized as the top Cybersecurity Academy by Switchup.
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Newsweek's Top Technical Schools of 2019

Evolve was listed among the top schools for learning technical skills.
see our academy reviews
Our culture

Core Values

Our culture and value shape the character of the Evolve brand.
Extreme
Customer Focus

We truly go above and beyond to deliver the best experience possible to our customers. If we serve our customers well, our own success will follow.

Our People
Matter

We know our employees are our greatest asset and we must attract, retain and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives. We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is possible at most other places. Advancement depends on merit and we have yet to find the limits to the responsibility our best people are able to assume.

Do the
Right Thing

We believe honesty is the best policy, no matter what, whether you’re dealing with a customer, your manager or a peer. It can take a lifetime to earn trust, but only a second to destroy it. Treat our customers and peers how you would like to be treated.

Be a
Builder

We encourage creativity and imagination in everything we do and believe risks are worth taking. While recognizing that the old way may still be the best way, we constantly strive to improve by finding better solutions to customers’ problems, enhancing our curriculum and creating processes that help us operate more efficiently.

Quality Work
on Time

We take great pride in the professional quality of our work. We have an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we undertake. Good work takes time, just make sure delivery expectations are set and followed.

Teamwork

We produce our best work by collaborating as team. While individual creativity is encouraged, we know that team effort produces top results. We have no room for those who put their personal interests ahead of the interests of the company and its customers.

Heart of a Teacher

We are founded on teaching, training and sharing knowledge. We expect everyone to have the heart of a teacher, and the patience of a mentor. We build each other up and make each other better. We believe education never stops therefore we constantly strive to learn and challenge ourselves.

Industry Insights & Virtual Events

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Learn about how Evolve’s Innovations
and insights are making headlines.
see upcoming events
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Join the Team

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Evolve is leading the way in cybersecurity training and talent. Work with the smartest minds in the business.
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