Tribe of Hackers Security Leaders

16Jim Christy

“I always looked at my last promotion as more than likely my last promotion. That gave me the freedom to always do what was right and what was best for the overall mission and our country, not what was best for my career.”

Twitter: @jimchristyusdfc • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/christyjim

Jim Christy is a retired special agent who specialized in cybercrime investigations and digital forensics for more than 32 years with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3). He served as a senate investigator for the U.S. Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (1996), and was selected as the DoD Representative to the President's Infrastructure Protection Task Force (1997) and created the DoD Computer Forensics Lab and the DC3.

In 2013 he retired after 42 years of public service and started his own consulting firm, The Christy Group, LLC. Most recently he has been the cyber lead for the D.B. Cooper Cold Case Team, the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

Do you believe there is a massive shortage of career cybersecurity professionals?

I would say there is a massive shortage of qualified and quality career cybersecurity professionals today. It seems everyone is now a cybersecurity professional. Everyone with an IT background is now hanging out their cybersecurity shingle because it's a hot topic. ...