Brandon Levene is Adjunct Professor at SAIS Europe
Adjunct Professor, The Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies, SAIS Washington

Brandon Levene is a respected threat researcher with over a decade of experience focusing primarily on financially motivated threat actors. Brandon began his career as a Security Analyst at Dell SecureWorks before joining Salesforce and Palo Alto Networks, where he specialized in malware analysis and threat hunting. During his tenure at Google and Chronicle (an Alphabet subsidiary), Brandon’s responsibilities included leading Applied Intelligence and significant projects involving threat research and community facilitation. Brandon was also a member of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence center, where he tracked adversaries specializing in ransomware. In 2023, Brandon founded Lightforge Ventures, which specializes in product-led investigations to assist organizations in creating content with security in mind. Brandon’s publications include Crimeware in the Modern Era: A Cost We Cannot Ignore, multiple original blogs covering threat actors and their campaigns, and numerous guest blogs and media commentary. Brandon teaches Cybercrime and Cybercriminals.