Jason Murray, Assistant Director and Architect of Digital Forensics and Incident Response, describes his role as the leader of “a team of talented Security Analysts who defend the university from cyber villains.” Throughout his career, he’s subscribed to the design principle, “build it secure,” considering the methods hackers might use to exploit flaws and access information. He’s deeply committed to his security profession, so when he’s not thinking like a hacker, he’s reading books, taking continuing education classes at WashU, and studying the latest techniques our adversaries might use in his home lab.
Commenting on the ongoing battle for security, Jason reports that “it’s hard for most people to fully grasp the number of ways malicious actors attack the systems we use every day.” According to his experience, there are many more attackers and methods than there are people working to defend our security. “This is why we have to prepare and practice every day. This is not a job where you can study once and run on autopilot for the rest of your career.”
Jason spends his free time with his wife and kids. He volunteers for the Boy Scouts as an assistant scoutmaster, enjoys travel and backpacking, and running Missouri trails. He loves technology—working in his home lab, thinking like a hacker, and helping with IT infrastructure at his kids’ school. Daydreaming, he says, “if I were stuck on a desert island and could only choose one operating system and editor, it would be Debian Linux and vi.”