Profile
Certified SANS instructor Cristian-Mihai VIDU brings his passion and knowledge for cybersecurity to the classroom. Starting his career as a systems administrator, his curiosity for technology grew into a distinguished career spanning more than 25 years in cyber security.
Cristian-Mihai obtained his BSc from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania in Electrical Engineering, with a major in Telecommunications and a minor in Mobile and Satellite Communications. He has been a member of the GIAC Advisory Board since 2012, holds multiple technical professional certifications in cyber defense (GCTI, GSTRT, GDSA, GSOC, GCFE, GCED, GSEC), and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
In the mid-90s Cristian-Mihai began as a system and network administrator who honed his skills in the protection of information systems. While investigating a cyber incident on a government server, his skills evolved to include forensics and related capabilities needed to protect highly sensitive environments from cyber threats and security breaches. Cristian-Mihai’s curiosity to solve problems grew into a passion to hunt down attackers and cyber actors.
He says, “I was an early fan and adopter of the new (back then) concept of open-source software and learning everything by doing it yourself. This merged perfectly with my passion for discovering how things work and constant desire to improve and expand my knowledge.”
He has worked in IT across multiple industries such as education, telecommunications, retail, industrial, government, military, and major defense contracts. This multidisciplinary experience gave him the insight to expand his expertise and evolve his career, improving security measures around the globe.
His students have always been the inspiration to teach. Cristian-Mihai focuses on providing a deeper understanding of the subject matter: cyber security and defense mechanisms to prevent future attacks. He aims to motivate his students by expanding their knowledge and skill sets to become better analysts. The challenge in today’s tech climate is that there is so much information easily accessible, but it is quite often not secure and reliable. Cristian-Mihai wants to bestow his operational knowledge to help future IT leaders understand better, more effective security solutions. “Learning doesn’t stop when the class ends” he states. His teaching philosophy empowers his students, providing them with the basics to infer further discoveries.
Cristian-Mihai has focused his IT career on defending and mitigating cyber-attacks. He is currently an independent consultant providing data security solutions for his global client base. When Cristian-Mihai isn’t tinkering with computers and constructing defense systems for global corporations, he has other passions. He lives for adventure and is a natural-born explorer. He loves going on off-the-road driving expeditions. He enjoys scuba diving and sailing on the water. He also really enjoys flying radio-controlled planes and helicopters!
