Profile
J. Wolfgang Goerlich is a CISO in the public sector. Prior to this role, he led IT and IT security in the healthcare, financial services, and tech verticals. Wolfgang has held senior positions at several consulting firms, leading security advisory and assessment practices. He is a strong presence in the security community, contributing to the establishment and organization of multiple groups and events. Wolfgang focuses on strategy, governance, identity and access management, and resilience.
Expertise
- Zero Trust
- Identity & Access Management
- Multi-factor Authentication
- Single Sign On
- Privileged Access Management
Qualifications
Achievements & Contributions
- InfoWorld Leadership for DevOps and Cloud
- IDG Best Practices in Infrastructure Management
- Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for Enterprise Security
- Contributed to NIST standards for digital identity (SP 800-63) and zero trust (SP 800-207)
- Former organizer of annual BSides and Converge conferences in Detroit
Certifications & Credentials
- CISSP - (ISC)2
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) - ISACA
Upcoming Events
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August 13 2026
IANS Emerging Issue Briefing: Iran-linked Campaign Against U.S. Critical Infrastructure
Suspected Iran-linked cyber activity targeting U.S. water and wastewater operators has renewed concerns about the security of critical infrastructure organizations with limited resources and aging operational technology environments. In this Briefing, IANS Faculty Wolf Goerlich and Jake Williams will examine the latest developments, the tactics and techniques being used against utilities and other operators, the defensive priorities that matter most right now and what CISOs should be briefing their executives on in an increasingly hostile threat environment.
August 18 2026
2026 August Webinar: Frontiers in Security Automation with Frontier AI Models
CISOs and SecOps leaders are constantly assessing the balance as they experiment with and deploy AI across their teams and processes. Too little AI? From a staffing and organizational perspective, you risk your reputation by appearing stagnant or failing to capitalize on the touted promises of speed and scale. Too much AI? You risk being asked to downsize your team or lose the foundational skills typically built in lower-level analyst roles. In this webinar, IANS Faculty Wolfgang Goerlich helps security leaders determine where to lean in on AI capabilities, shows how to use tools like MCP connectors to integrate intel into your processes, and provides examples using Mythos/Fable as a backdrop to help you modernize your SecOps capabilities.
August 19 2026
2026 Q3 Symposium: Traditional vs. Agentic NHIs: Instrumenting Visibility and Establishing Governance
Even before agentic AI, organizations were grappling with explosive growth in privileged non-human identities (NHIs). Challenges included sprawl and unknown inventory, orphaned accounts, over-privileged standing access, hardcoded secrets, and unclear human ownership. Now, agentic AI raises the stakes: agents create identities at runtime, spawn sub-agents and tool calls, and accumulate delegated permissions. In this symposium, IANS Faculty Wolf Goerlich covers NHI security, both what still works and what we must add to respond more dynamically.