Justin Garlick

About Justin Garlick

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) passionate about building secure, scalable solutions in a world where innovation and risk evolve in lockstep.I bring a pragmatic, forward-thinking mindset to data and system security—bridging the gap between technical rigor and real-world impact in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. My work revolves around navigating the complex intersection of security, privacy, and compliance in the fintech and tech industry.As paradigm shifting technologies like AI, quantum computing, and Web3 continue to reshape how we live and work, I believe it\'s critical to ensure we’re using these tools to their full, responsible potential while staying ahead of adversaries who are increasingly weaponizing the same innovations.

Experience

1. Cyber Security and Privacy

   Plaid

   Jul 2021 — Present · Austin, TX, US

   Cyber Security Risk Management & Governance• Created and managed Plaid’s first cyber security risk management program resulting in quarterly risk updates to Plaid leadership.• Responsible for measuring and tracking the maturity of Plaid’s cyber security program (NIST CSF 800-53)• Performed and oversaw risk assessments (FAIR) and created AI tooling to scale this process through LLMs.Security and Privacy Audit & Regulatory Compliance• Worked cross functionally to ensure compliance by determining our requirements, understanding our gaps, and influencing remediation and monitoring against CCPA/CPRA, GDPR, Dodd-Frank Act Section 1033, and DORA.• Obtained and continuously maintained Plaid’s first ISO 27001/27701 certification, and SOC 2 Type 2 Report.Vendor Risk Management • Scaled and matured the vendor risk management program by introducing risk-tiering, process automation, and minimizing redundancy and improving relevancy of vendor questionnaires.Sales Enablement & Ecosystem Trust• Established trust with external stakeholders — including SMB/enterprise customers and financial institutions — by responding to RFIs and participating in in-depth walkthroughs of Plaid’s cyber security and privacy program.• 24/7 on-call to monitor and prevent real-time 1st and 3rd party fraud and APT abuse on Plaid’s network.

Education

• University of Auckland

  BCom/BSc Conjoint, Innovation and Entreprenurship, Information Systems, and Computer Science

  2012 — 2016

Skills

• Customer Service
• Discrete Mathematics
• Data Analysis
• Leadership
• Data Visualization
• Innovation Development
• Analysis
• Data Modeling
• T-Sql
• Use Case Diagrams/Documentation
• Team Leadership
• User Interface Design
• Microsoft Office
• Java
• Computational Science
• Theory of Computation
• Public Speaking