Peter Wood: (Partner) Chief Executive Officer

Peter founded First Base Technologies in 1989 as a vendor-independent consultancy. He has hands-on technical involvement in the firm on a daily basis, working in areas as diverse as penetration testing, social engineering and skills transfer. He is also a world renowned security evangelist, speaking at many conferences and seminars on ethical hacking techniques and Internet security. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Chartered IT Professional, and was recently rated the BCS number one speaker. He also serves on the ISACA conference committee for Information Security Management and Network Security in both the US and Europe

Didi Barnes: (Partner) Chief Financial Officer

Didi joined the firm in 1997. She is responsible for managing the business: for our finance, business strategy and development, and for our marketing and web presence too. Her technical background means she is also responsible for our in-house systems and network, and our in-house security and DR Planning. Originally our Head of R&D, Didi developed many of our testing methodologies (particularly on wireless) and has written several white papers, made television appearances and helped write books on a variety of security topics.

Keiron Northmore: (Partner) Chief of Operations

Keiron joined the firm in 2001. He is responsible for managing our staff and penetration testing team. He developed our robust penetration testing methodology, which he is responsible for reviewing and updating - adding new exploits and methodologies as they are discovered - and has personally identified several unique attack techniques. Keiron has been involved in developing our Oracle database security testing methodology and regularly conducts network penetration tests and network discovery audits at client sites.

Andy Wilson: Account Manager

Andy previously managed large accounts in both the mobile telecommunications and paper supply industries, making him an ideal candidate to look after the day-to-day interaction with our clients. Andy also has a strong aptitude for social engineering. He has conducted very successful social engineering exercises both by phone and in person, compromising perimeter security and gaining network access.

Vishal Garg: Technical Services Manager

Vishal has developed our web application testing methodology and is responsible for enhancing it to include new attack vectors as they are discovered. He applies his innovative style to identify new attack techniques and to exploit vulnerabilities in our test lab before making them part of our testing methodology. He interacts with our clients on a regular basis to discuss their testing requirements and to offer his expert advice during post-test discussions. He also undertakes on-site testing.

Mike McLaughlin: Penetration Tester

Mike's focus is external web application testing and external penetration/network testing. Mike works in collaboration with Vishal Garg, developing testing methodologies and discovering new attack vectors.

Mike is responsible for our in-house test lab and testing tools. He interacts with our clients on a regular basis to discuss their testing requirements and to offer his expert advice during post-test discussions. He also undertakes on-site testing.

Rob Shapland: Penetration Tester

Rob brings a wide experience of web application and Windows application quality assurance testing to the team. He has an in-depth understanding of applications and testing methodologies.

Rob's focus is on external penetration testing and network penetration testing. He also maintains and develops our in-house security vulnerability database, which ensures that our tests and your reports are accurate and relevant.

Peter Cox: Associate Consultant

Peter Cox has over 20 years experience of IP application security and was a co-founder of firewall and email security specialist Borderware Technologies Inc. His current interests include the analysis of VoIP security threats. Peter regularly runs VoIP security workshops that examine the security risks that are specific to VoIP networks demonstrating some of the more entertaining attacks. In addition to his consultancy interests, Peter recently founded UM Labs Ltd to develop effective security controls for VoIP networks. As part of this project, he has worked with Phil Zimmermann to implement ZRTP, a VoIP encryption protocol that enables end-to-end secure VoIP calls from a range of devices including many mobile phones.

Pete Finnigan: Associate Consultant

Pete Finnigan is recognised as one of the world's leading authorities on the security of data in relational databases and is an expert in securing and protecting Oracle databases. He has written extensively on the subject of Oracle security both for the web and also in print, including the SANS Oracle Security Step-by-Step guide. Pete provides security audit services and design consultancy, and runs regular training courses all over the world on the subject of auditing and protecting Oracle. Pete also speaks at international conferences including Black Hat, UKOUG, PSOUG and RISK.

Steve Rimell: Associate IT Auditor

Steve specialises in the more technical aspects of information systems audit, having extensive knowledge of the security and control of UNIX, Oracle, Windows and networking environments such as TCP/IP. He has also presented hands-on training courses in these subjects at a variety of venues in the UK and overseas.