In memoriam: David Harley

The cybersecurity community lost one of its luminaries with the passing of David Harley last week, at the age of 76.

Despite being a self-described late entrant to IT, David went on to forge a long and distinguished career in cybersecurity that stretched from the early days of computer viruses until the age of modern ransomware and included a tenure as ESET Senior Research Fellow until his retirement in 2018.

With an academic background in modern languages, social sciences, and computer science, David understood early that the most dangerous vulnerabilities weren’t always technical, but human. This lesson would echo through much of his later work, particularly in his writings about the psychology of cybercrime. His expertise ranged widely, however, and also encompassed analysis of malware trends and engagement with the standards of antimalware product testing.

A prolific author, editor, and conference speaker, David viewed writing and public speaking as ...