Brad A. LaPorte is a cybersecurity and IT consultant and currently serving as a founder of High Tide Advisors. He has over 18+ years of experience as a consultant in the cybersecurity industry spanning various industry segments. Prior to joining High Tide Advisors, he served as a top Gartner Research Analyst, including but not limited to the following specialties: (i) security information and event management (“SIEM”), (ii) security orchestration, automation, and response (“SOAR”), (iii) Threat and Exposure Management, (iv) Vulnerability Management, (v) Pen Testing, (vi) Cloud Security, (v) managed security service provider (“MSSP”), (vi) managed detection and response (“MDR”), (vii) endpoint protection platforms/endpoint detection and response (“EPP/EDR”), (viii) Extended Detection & Response (“XDR”), (ix) Threat Intelligence, (x) Digital Risk Protection, (xi) Social Media Protection, and (xii) Attack Surface Management.

Mr. LaPorte was the lead author of the Gartner Market Guide for Threat Intelligence, Market Guide for Endpoint Detection and Response, two Ransomware publications, and contributed to several Magic Quadrant publications. Mr. LaPorte created the following categories at Gartner – Attack Surface Management (2019), Digital Risk Protection (2019), Auto-Pen Testing (2019), Auto-Red Teaming (2019), and was on the team that created Extended Detection Response (2020). He conducted the groundwork research at Gartner and post-Gartner for what Gartner now calls Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM). Mr. LaPorte personally covered hundreds of cybersecurity vendors and solutions at Gartner. Likewise, his consulting work has covered all segments of the cybersecurity industry and has involved research and analysis concerning buyer personas, market size segments, and geographies for all vendors in this space.

In addition to the above consulting and research experience, Mr. LaPorte has approximately 18+ years of experience working as an IT and cybersecurity Leader. Mr. LaPorte pioneered many solutions in multiple roles over this time. This experience includes top leadership roles with corporations such as Dell Secureworks, IBM, Acquia, and Kasada, as well as a veteran officer of the U.S. Army. While at Dell, he launched the first-ever MDR service and Managed EDR service in 2014, as well as the first commercially available on-premise hardware appliance. Mr. LaPorte helped build the top 2 MSSPs, as recognized by Gartner, Forrester, and IDC, to where they are today and covered hundreds of vendors and solutions at Gartner as a top research analyst.

Mr. LaPorte has applied his skills in these areas to serve as a consultant on a variety of matters ranging from marketing research analysis to specific go-to-market strategies for information security and IT companies. He has also worked with end-users seeking to select vendors for cybersecurity solutions and services.

Throughout his career, Mr. LaPorte has frequently been called upon to assess the effectiveness of go-to-market programs or to develop and deliver quantitative marketing research projects. Since the beginning of 2021, he has conducted over 150 speaking engagements and written over 150 pieces of content. This equates to approximately 3-5 pieces of content a week for his clients.

Education: 

• MBA, Ithaca College
• Business Management, University of Rhode Island

Certifications/Awards: 

• GCIA – GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst
• CISM – Certified Information Security Manager
• ITIL – IT Infrastructure Library Foundation
• Pragmatic Marketing – Level 3 Certification
• CompTIA – Security+
• Cisco Networking Academy – IT Essentials I: PC Hardware and Software (aligned to CompTIA A+)
• Gartner Performance Awards – Q4 2019, Q2 2020
• IBM Security Employee of the Quarter – Q2 2018
• Dell SecureWorks Employee of the Month Nomination – 2013 & 2014
• Dell SecureWorks Merit Based Achievement Award – 2012, 2013, & 2014
• Received 5 achievement awards for outstanding leadership and excellent performance while serving in the military
• Three-year University Scholarship Recipient and Merit Based Grant Recipient, #1 ranked graduate in the Army ROTC Program

Additional Information: 

LinkedIN

Publications:

• THE RISE OF CYBERCRIME: How Cyber Insurance May Have Inadvertently Spurred The Growth in Ransomware Attacks