Robert Chapman
Hi, I’m Robert.
I’m a principal solutions engineer at ArmorCode, which means I’m the technical person in sales calls. When a security team is evaluating our platform, I’m the one who figures out how it actually fits into their world. Their tools, their workflows, the problems keeping them up at night. I like being the bridge between “this is what the product does” and “this is how it solves your specific problem.” I also write about things that don’t fit on social media.
Before that I spent about 15 years on the other side of the table. I was the person buying and building security, not selling it. I didn’t start in security, though. I started in instructional technology, running classroom tech and maker labs at a university. I got into security the way a lot of people do: I was interested, and then an opportunity showed up that nobody else wanted.
The story I usually tell
A company I was working at went through a divestiture. When the dust settled, the security team and all the resources went with the parent company. What was left was a business with 350+ retail locations and no security program at all. I asked if I could build it. They said yes.
So I did. A few things came with me, but practically everything needed to be replaced. No team. Just me. I greenfielded the whole thing. Stood up the technology, wrote the policies, handled compliance, secured 350+ locations with full network and endpoint overhauls, and later ran a cloud migration on top of it. I hired two people early on to help with networking and sysadmin, but I ran security entirely on my own.
That’s still the thing I’m most proud of. Not because audits are exciting, but because building something real from nothing is.
I’m involved in the Nashville security community. BSides, ISSA, local meetups. I gave a talk at the Nashville Infosec Conference on machine learning in security, and I’m always up for more speaking if you’re looking for someone.
Away from the keyboard
I camp off-grid with my family, I do astrophotography (pointing a telescope at the sky and hoping the tracking mount cooperates), and I lift weights. None of these things are related to cybersecurity and that’s the point.
Certifications
CISSP. I also hold a CCNA CyberOps and AWS Solutions Architect Associate, both retired.
Writing
Read my essays. Longer-form thinking on security, technology, and whatever else I can’t fit into a post.
Get in touch
If you want to chat, invite me to speak at something, or just say hi: