Niels Provos

Provos earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a university founded in Detroit in 1817 that moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1837; it is governed by a statewide-elected Board of Regents and also has campuses in Dearborn and Flint.Open the full entry. His work influenced security software including bcrypt, honeyd and OpenSSH.⁠[1][2]

Provos worked at Google for more than 15 years, helping to build its security and privacy engineering practice and to establish Safe Browsing, and leading security efforts for Google Cloud Platform and Google’s production infrastructure; he was most recently a distinguished engineer.⁠[1][2]

On February 27, 2018, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry published the podcast episode “a16z Podcast: The State of Security,” recorded at the a16z Summit in November 2017. Provos, then a distinguished engineer at Google, spoke with BoxBoxBox is an American enterprise software company founded in 2005 by Aaron Levie, Dylan Smith and others, headquartered in Redwood City, California. It provides cloud content management, file sharing, collaboration, e-signature and AI content-processing tools, and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015 under the ticker BOX.Open the full entry chief information security officer Joel de la Garza and Yubico founder and CEO Stina Ehrensvärd in a conversation moderated by a16z general partner Martin CasadoMartin CasadoMartin Casado is a computer scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads infrastructure investing. A major proponent of software-defined networking, he co-founded Nicira and served as its chief technology officer, and after VMware acquired the company he ran its networking and security business; he also co-founded the nonprofit MuralNet.Open the full entry.⁠[3]

The discussion addressed how cyber, physical and national security are becoming “one and the same,” how that convergence should change the way businesses approach problems from software to hardware, and what role consumers play. The episode was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[3][4]

In October 2018 Stripe announced that it had hired Provos from Google as head of security, succeeding Mudge, who had held the role since May 2017 and remained at Stripe and helped recruit him. “I believe that what Google was to search, Stripe will be to commerce,” Provos said.⁠[2]

At Stripe he worked to build the company’s security posture in preparation for public markets.⁠[1]

On December 13, 2022, the cloud security company Lacework announced that Provos had joined as its first head of security efficacy. “Every company needs to be enabled to protect their customers’ data against threats from outside or inside,” he said.⁠[1]

Provos is a bladesmith who makes swords and knives, and produces cybersecurity-themed electronic dance music under the artist name Activ8te. His personal website is themed “Bladesmithing & Internet Security & Music.”⁠[2][1][5]

Personal website: https://www.provos.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

YouTube: Public channel: https://youtube.com/nielsprovos (opens in a new window).⁠[5]