Dean Pierce

Head of Research

• Research and develop decentralized applications across Farcaster, XMTP, IPFS, and privacy protocols.
• Build AI tools and agents, with an emphasis on information security workflows.
• Conduct penetration testing through HackerOne engagements and provide technology consulting.
• Develop zero-knowledge protocols for payment and knowledge markets; support local security research projects.

Security Engineer · Contract · Remote

• Developed agentic AI security tools to automate secure development lifecycle (SDLC) workflows with GitHub Advanced Security.
• Built tooling to support code audits, exploit development, and red team operations.
• Tracked emerging security threats and presented findings to stakeholders.

Staff Security Engineer

• Audited early-stage Solidity projects and trained developers on secure development practices.
• Triaged findings from external audits and bug bounty programs, coordinating remediation with engineering teams.
• Performed security due diligence for partnerships and built smart contract monitoring and automation tools.
• Advised on infrastructure security and threat intelligence.

Senior Security Engineer

• Conducted PCI-focused penetration tests of internal and external networks, APIs, and web applications, including engagements for major cloud providers.
• Performed red team adversary simulations in sensitive environments across hospitality, retail, technology, banking, and energy.

Security Engineer

• Built enterprise integrations for the MythX smart contract security platform.
• Advised on product experience and tooling to support enterprise secure development workflows, and contributed to decentralized ecosystem business strategy.

Smart Contract Auditor

• Audited Solidity contracts for blockchain projects and consortia of Fortune 500 companies.
• Developed threat models to guide security-critical code review and provided ongoing security advisory services.

Security Engineer

• Developed and executed attack scenarios against Intel business groups and internal organizations.
• Led the Red Team Armory program, coordinating development of offensive security tools.
• Ran DMZSEC, continuously assessing Intel’s DMZ and reporting findings quarterly.
• Built security tools including NWeb, which indexed Nmap scan results in Elasticsearch for investigation and analysis.

Linux Security Engineer

• Threat-modeled Linux platforms and components, including MeeGo, Tizen, Android, ChromeOS, Clear Linux, kernel technologies, and video systems.
• Led two Android security hackathons that uncovered vulnerabilities in core Android code.
• Managed Coverity and Klocwork static analysis programs, developed training materials, and helped define secure development practices.
• Hardened infrastructure through centralized identity management and improved TLS configuration; conducted penetration tests and reviewed infrastructure changes.
• Contributed to red team engagements and supported Intel’s New Business Initiatives on Bitcoin and blockchain projects.

Security Architect

• Designed and prototyped authentication systems for medical, payment card, and banking environments.
• Developed secure tunnel brokering, proxying, and web authentication technologies, integrating TPMs and smart cards with Java applications.

Security Test Engineer / Security Engineer

• Security Test Engineer (September 2007 – May 2008): designed security tests for an embedded Windows medical product and presented third-party penetration test risk assessments to management.
• Security Engineer (May – September 2007): implemented C++ security modules for an embedded Linux medical device, covering firewall, VPN, and database encryption configuration.
• Performed static analysis and supported security design with attention to HIPAA data integrity requirements.

Security Analyst → Unix Security Analyst → Windows Security Analyst

• Investigated compromised Unix and Windows systems, contained intrusions, and developed Windows forensics procedures.
• Deployed and evaluated intrusion detection and server protections, automated abuse complaint classification, and performed internal security assessments.
• Served as a key security contact and advised the CISO on university security policies.