About Us

| Who We Are

Optic Cyber Solutions is a veteran owned small business headquartered in Maryland. We are a proud member of the Cybersecurity Association of Maryland, Inc. (CAMI) and a Qualified Maryland Cybersecurity Seller.

We understand that cybersecurity should be a business enabler, not a roadblock. We work with organizations across industries to understand the threats and vulnerabilities that will prevent them from reaching their business goals and build resilience into their cybersecurity practices.

At Optic Cyber Solutions, we apply cybersecurity as a lens on top of business priorities to help organizations manage risks and protect their critical information and resources.

| What We Do

Optic Cyber Solutions applies the lens of cybersecurity to your business.

As the frequency of cybersecurity incidents continues to increase, organizations must be able to identify threats and mitigate the vulnerabilities that are most likely to impact their business. Organizations are also increasingly pressured to meet evolving cybersecurity regulations and provide appropriate protections for their critical assets.

To support these challenges, Optic Cyber Solutions provides services including cybersecurity assessments, implementation support, and advising services. These services focus on incorporating cybersecurity requirements at each stage of building a new capability while still enabling organizations to achieve their business goals.

| Meet Our Leadership

The cybersecurity engineers at Optic Cyber Solutions have decades of experience assisting commercial organizations as well as government agencies to improve their cybersecurity programs. Members of our team worked closely with both the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) during the development of the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (Cybersecurity Framework) and the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) in the creation of their Cybermaturity Platform.

This experience has afforded our team the unique opportunity to meet with thousands of cybersecurity practitioners across industries to gain insight into best practices and lessons learned. Optic Cyber Solutions leverages this experience to create practical recommendations and guidance to meet organizational needs without placing undue burden on the business.

Tom Conkle

CEO & Cybersecurity Engineer

During his 20 years of experience as a cybersecurity engineer, Tom has assisted organizations in assessing their cybersecurity effectiveness through formal security assessments. Tom has assisted dozens of commercial and governmental organizations in implementing security requirements to address risk within their cybersecurity program. Tom is the co-author of ISACA’s guide for implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which assists organizations in connecting the principles of the Cybersecurity Framework and COBIT 5 to achieve an effective cybersecurity program. Additionally, he was a principal architect and subject matter expert in the development of the CMMI Cybermaturity Platform, a self-assessment SaaS tool that helps organizations identify a risk informed cybersecurity program and track their progress as the program is implemented.

Kelly Hood

EVP & Cybersecurity Engineer

Kelly assists organizations in implementing cybersecurity and privacy best practices, controls, and standards to manage risks and meet compliance goals. Kelly supports organizations across industries as a CMMC Registered Practitioner (RP) by developing and implementing cybersecurity strategies to help manage the risks to their business. As a member of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework team, Kelly supported the evolution and outreach of the Cybersecurity Framework through the current version. Additionally, Kelly has been supporting the development and expansion of ISACA's CMMI Cybermaturity Platform (CMMI-CP). The patent-pending approach she helped develop for ISACA translates cybersecurity risk to cybermaturity goals and identifies mitigation strategies to help organizations improve their cybersecurity capabilities.