Omar Santos is a globally recognized cybersecurity leader and Distinguished Engineer at Cisco, where he directs Artificial Intelligence (AI) Security Research, vulnerability research, and coordinated disclosure across the Security & Trust organization. With more than 25 years at Cisco, he has led major advances in securing large‑scale systems, modernizing incident response, and shaping industry-wide approaches to AI and software security.

He serves as Co‑Chair of the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) and Chair of the Common Security Advisory Framework (CSAF), where his work helped establish the CSAF ISO standard and the Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX). He is also the founder and co‑chair of OpenEoX and has held leadership roles across OASIS, FIRST, ICASI, and the DEF CON Red Team Village.

A prolific author and educator, Omar has written more than 25 books, produced 21 video courses, and published over 45 academic papers. His career began in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he supported secure communications in high‑stakes operational environments. He holds graduate certificates in Data Science and Cybersecurity from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Cornell University.