CactusCon 12 Keynotes

Riana Pfefferkorn

Riana Pfefferkorn is a Research Scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory. She investigates the U.S. and other governments' policies and practices for forcing decryption and/or influencing the security design of online platforms and services, devices, and products, both via technical means and through the courts and legislatures. Riana also studies novel forms of electronic surveillance and data access by U.S. law enforcement and their impact on civil liberties.

Previously, Riana was the Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, where she remains an affiliate. Prior to joining Stanford, she was an associate in the Internet Strategy & Litigation group at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and a law clerk to the Honorable Bruce J. McGiverin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. During law school, she interned for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Riana has spoken at various legal and security conferences, including Black Hat and DEF CON's Crypto & Privacy Village. She is frequently quoted in the press, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR. Riana is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and Whitman College.

Complete list of publications and recent blog posts here.

Naomi Brockwell

Naomi Brockwell is a tech journalist, and creator of NBTV.media. NBTV teaches people how to reclaim their privacy in the digital age. It has 700k+ subscribers across platforms and over 51 million views.

Naomi is the author of the book Beginner's Introduction To Privacy. From 2013 - 2015 she worked as a policy associate at the New York Bitcoin Center. From 2015 - 2021 she worked as a producer for 19-times Emmy-Award-Winning Journalist John Stossel. From 2021 to 2022 she hosted the CoinDesk series “Break it Down”, and the CoinDesk daily show “The Hash”.

Naomi was a producer for the 2015 feature documentary "Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It" (Best International Documentary, Anthem Film Festival; Winner of Special Jury Prize, Amsterdam Film Festival), and producer of the 2018 award-winning documentary about the housing crash "The Bubble".

Naomi is the co-founder of “The Soho Forum”, a NY debate series. She is on the Advisory Council at the “Mannkal Economic Education Foundation”.