About Steve Dispensa
Steve joined PhoneFactor, formerly Positive Networks, as Chief Technology Officer in 2001. Since it’s inception he has had responsibility for product definition, architecture, product development, and operations. He also manages the overall technology strategy of the company.
Prior to co-founding PhoneFactor, Steve created Midwest Networking Associates in 1995, providing network consulting and integration services to ISPs, businesses and schools. In 1997, Midwest expanded into the Internet service business with a full line of consumer and business Internet access products.
After selling Midwest Internet in 1999, a consulting engagement with Sprint led to his hire as the Director of Network and Systems Architecture within Sprint’s Broadband Wireless Group. During Steve’s tenure at Sprint, he was responsible for the network design and implementation of Sprint’s fixed wireless broadband Internet service.
He also created and managed the systems development group, with responsibilities including development of the systems for monitoring and managing network performance. Other contributions to Sprint included the design of Sprint’s second-generation broadband wireless network and the corresponding network operations systems.
Steve has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and has multiple industry certifications, including Cisco CCIE #5444 (routing/switching and security) and Microsoft MCSE+I. Steve is a 5-time Microsoft MVP award winner for his work in Windows kernel- mode software development. Steve has seven issued US patents and nine additional pending patent applications.
Steve hosts the monthly internet radio show Security Break Live where he and a guest co-host tackle the the latest IT security breaches – exploring how the attacks were perpetrated and how to protect against them. Steve also maintains a blog of the same name.
In addition, Steve has a technical blog at kernelmustard.com, where he writes about Windows software development and technology in general, and is a regular contributor to academic papers and trade publications in the computer networking field. Most recently, his article How to Thwart Network Attacks with Two-Factor Authentication was featured in the eWEEK Knowledge Center.
