Obsidian Security Welcomes Carl Shimel as Head of Threat Intelligence

Obsidian Security Welcomes Carl Shimel as Head of Threat Intelligence

We're excited to announce that Carl Shimel has joined Obsidian Security as Head of Threat Intelligence.

In this role, Carl will lead Obsidian's threat intelligence and information-sharing programs, shape and grow the company's incident response program, and serve as an evangelist for Obsidian across the broader security community.

A Career Built on Threat Intelligence and Security

Carl brings more than 15 years of experience across threat intelligence and information security. He joins Obsidian from BNY, where he served as Global Head of Threat Intelligence. In that role, Carl also acted as a liaison across multiple information-sharing engagements with industry peers and law enforcement, including FS-ISAC, NCFTA, and ARC.

Before BNY, Carl spent time at Citi in a series of intelligence and incident response roles. His career in this field began even earlier, as an intelligence analyst and translator at the National Cyber-Forensic and Training Alliance (NCFTA) — a non-profit founded by the FBI to facilitate information sharing and collaboration between the public and private sectors on systemic cyber threats.

Carl holds a Master's in Public and International Affairs (MPIA) in Security and Intelligence Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship at the University of Montenegro.

Why This Role, Why Now

"Threat intelligence has always been about connecting dots before an adversary can act on them — but the surface we need to watch has changed faster in the last two years than in the last ten," said Bryan Smoltz, VP of Partnerships at Obsidian Security. "Agentic AI and third-party SaaS integrations are exactly the blind spots attackers are learning to exploit, and exactly where most organizations still don't have eyes. Carl's background sitting at the intersection of intelligence, incident response, and industry-wide information sharing makes him uniquely suited to help our customers get ahead of that shift instead of reacting to it. This is one of the most important hires we've made this year, and we couldn't be more excited for the impact he's going to have."

Why Obsidian

"I was excited to join Obsidian Security because it is addressing threats related to two of the largest and fastest evolving attack surfaces that are commonly neglected by security solutions — agentic and third-party applications," said Carl. "When I learned about Obsidian Security's efforts to tackle these targets and their vision for the future, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to make a measurable impact on the threat landscape."

Beyond the Threat Landscape

When Carl isn't fighting cybercrime, he's usually traveling, hiking, or catching a concert or stand-up comedy show. He's also been teaching himself to cook new cuisines, most recently South Indian. His sambar is coming along nicely, though he's still on the hunt for good advice on keeping his dosas from cracking.

Please join us in welcoming Carl to the team.

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