David Ruiz | Source | Privacy Expert at Malwarebytes

David Ruiz is the senior privacy advocate for Malwarebytes and a writer for Malwarebytes Labs, an online blog about cybersecurity, online privacy, hackers, data breaches, and digital rights.

He reports on online privacy legislation and analyzes upcoming policy proposals that could dramatically impact the online privacy rights of everyday Americans. He also hosts and produces the Malwarebytes podcast Lock and Code. He has spoken at several conferences and summits, including the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Technology Summit, Virus Bulletin’s “vb2020 localhost,” and the National Cybersecurity Alliance’s Cybersecurity Summit with NASDAQ.

At Malwarebytes, he directs advocacy in the company’s work with the Coalition Against Stalkerware, a group of cybersecurity vendors and domestic violence advocacy groups working together to protect users from the threats of potentially invasive apps that can spy on user activity.

As one of several co-founders of the Coalition, he has developed and offered device safety trainings for both domestic abuse survivors and the supporters who work with them, and he has met with law enforcement in the South Bay region to inform police and sheriff’s departments about the threat of stalkerware and how to find it on devices.

Before joining Malwarebytes, he was a writer and policy analyst at EFF, a nonprofit organization protecting privacy, free speech, and innovation online. He covered NSA surveillance, federal surveillance, encryption, cross-border data transfer, and anti-SLAPP lawsuits and legislation. He analyzed bills, wrote blogs, launched public engagement campaigns, and spoke with lawmakers and their staff in Washington D.C.

Before joining EFF, he reported on legal affairs in San Francisco, covering law firm mergers, in-house counsel management, and compliance with federal and state data breach, labor and employment, and cross-border investment regulations. His articles were featured in Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance and repurposed by multiple law school professors.

His work has appeared in KQED, 2600 Magazine, The East Bay Express, SFGate.com, The Sacramento Bee, and KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM. He has also been interviewed and quoted by The Associated Press, Newsweek, Gizmodo, The Dallas Morning News, WIRED, MIT Technology Review, CNET, The Register, InfoSecurity Magazine, The London Times, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, ThreatPost, Geo/Socio/Politico, and several trade publications. He also visits schools and talks to students to give presentations about political activism and the importance of digital privacy.