Gunter Ollmann has a long-held passion for threat research and currently serves as Vice President of Research at Damballa, where he is focused on inventing new crimeware mitigation technologies and the identification of criminal operators behind botnets and other advanced persistent threats. Prior to joining Damballa, he held the role of Chief Security Strategist at IBM, was responsible for predicting the evolution of future threats and helping guide IBM's overall security research and protection strategy, and was the key IBM spokesperson on evolving threats and mitigation techniques. Ollmann also served as the Director of X-Force at Internet Security Systems where he was responsible for the company's R&D advancements and the development of security technologies in the field of vulnerability scanning, intrusion prevention, web application protection, and malware detection.

Over the years, Ollmann has been responsible for leading the development of new security consulting and penetration testing methodologies. Leading specialist consulting teams throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, he headed ISS' X-Force consulting services in EMEA and served as Director of Professional Services at NGS Software, a vulnerability research and attack-based consulting firm. Ollmann has been a contributor to multiple leading international IT and security-focused magazines and journals, and has authored and delivered a number of highly technical courses on Web application security and penetration testing. He is a well-known industry speaker worldwide and is frequently invited to present at international security conferences. Ollmann is also highly regarded in the press as an expert source on security threats and is a frequently quoted by the international media.