James is a Managing Partner at Cyverity, an information security consulting firm specializing in cybersecurity risk assessment and governance that is based in Venice, Florida. As a consultant, he has focused on architecting and assessing large enterprise IT security and infrastructure architectures. He has also assisted organizations in security management, operational practices, and regulatory compliance issues. He often performs independent security audits and assists internal audit groups in developing their internal audit programs. James is also a Senior Instructor, Course Author, editor, and regular speaker with the SANS Institute, a contributor to the Center for Internet Security’s Controls for many years, and a founder of the Cybersecurity Risk Foundation (CRF).

• Security Management
• Compliance & Governance
• Risk Management
• Identity & Access Management (IAM)
• Security Metrics & Measures

• Speaker at information security conferences such as RSA
• Lead Technical Editor of the Center for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls
• Author of the Open Threat Taxonomy open source project
• Creator of tools at AuditScripts.com

• MA, Information Security Engineering – SANS Technology Institute
• Master’s Certificate, Information Assurance – University of Maryland Global Campus
• BS, Linguistics - Cairn University (Formerly Philadelphia Biblical University)

In his free time, James enjoys the Florida sunshine, spending time outdoors (away from computer screens), running, and exercising.

James Tarala joined the IANS Faculty in 2021. He provides clients with deep domain-level expertise in the following areas: security management, compliance & governance, risk management, IAM, security metrics & measures.