Halifax BSides

Ken Johnston

Ken Johnston retired in 2014 from the Royal Canadian Air Force after 36 years of service. During the first half of his career, he was a Tactical Navigator on the CH124A Sea King Helicopter including an exchange tour with the Royal Navy in Prestwick, Scotland. Following graduation from the US Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio in 1999, he was assigned to the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies in Winnipeg, MB where he spent five years as a Space and GPS instructor. Between 2004-2007 he was assigned to DND’s Sapphire Space Surveillance team. In 2009 Ken was seconded to the US Joint Navigation Warfare Center (JNWC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a GPS analyst where he was involved in GPS Jamming and Spoofing Trials at several military test ranges in the US, Norway and Canada.

John Kamphuis

John Kamphuis spent nearly 30 years as Director of IT for a Nova Scotia law firm. During that time, he developed a particular interest in why social engineering works - how attackers take advantage of trust, urgency, and everyday workplace routines.

After retiring from that role in 2026, John founded Maritime Cybersecurity Training. He now delivers practical, non-technical cybersecurity awareness training to law firms and other organizations across Atlantic Canada, helping people understand how attackers operate and recognize when something isn't right.

He also volunteers his time delivering scam awareness sessions to seniors and community groups.

Tasha Clowater

Tasha Clowater is a Sr. Technical Account Manager at BeyondTrust, where she spends her days talking about privileged access management. She has worked in tech for 20 years, recently finished an astrophysics degree (part-time, like a totally sane person), and keeps asking what we can actually measure. Her kid describes her job this way: "Mommy helps keep people safe on the Internet. Bad people are on the Internet. And that's why I can't play Roblox."