Kernelsmith is senior vulnerability researcher with Hewlett-Packard Security Research (HPSR).  In this role, he analyzes and performs root-cause analysis on hundreds of vulnerabilities submitted to the Zero-Day Initiative (ZDI) program, which represents the world’s largest vendor-agnostic bug bounty program. His focus includes analyzing and performing root-cause analysis on hundreds of zero-day vulnerabilities submitted by ZDI researchers from around the world. Joshua is also a developer for the Metasploit Framework and has spoken at a few conferences and holds a few certifications.

Prior to joining HP, Smith served in the U.S. Air Force in various roles including as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Crew Commander and Instructor, but more relevantly as a penetration tester for the 92d Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron. Post-military, he became a security engineer at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, where he began contributing to the Metasploit Framework. Smith performed research into weapons systems vulnerabilities as well as evasion and obfuscation techniques to add depth and realism to security device tests. Smith received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.A. in Management of Information Systems from the University of Great Falls.

Smith was drawn to ZDI for the chance to work with a world-wide network of security researchers while continuing his own vulnerability research.  When not researching software vulnerabilities, Josh enjoys raising his two young hackers-to-be and watching sci-fi since he can't play sports anymore (there's no tread left on his knees).

Twitter: @kernelsmith, @thezdi