David Harley

After a checkered career that included spells in music, bar-work, work with the mentally handicapped, retail and the building trade, Harley entered the IT field in the late 1980s, working initially in administration at the Royal Free Hospital in London, and in 1989 went to work for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now merged into Cancer Research UK), where he held administrative and IT support roles and eventually moved into full-time security. In 2001, he joined the National Health Service where he ran the Threat Assessment Centre.{{cite web|author=Dan Raywood |url=http://www.scmagazineuk.com/sc-magazine-interview-david-harley-senior-research-fellow-at-eset/article/181678/ |title=SC Magazine interview: David Harley, senior research fellow at ESET |publisher=SC Magazine UK |date=25 October 2010 |accessdate=12 November 2011}} After leaving the NHS in 2006 to work as an independent consultant,{{cite web|author=David HarleySmall Blue Green World, UK |url=https://www.virusbulletin.com/virusbulletin/2007/01/immunology-heuristics |title=Virus Bulletin : From immunology to heuristics |publisher=virusbulletin.com |date=1 January 2007 |accessdate=29 September 2018}} he worked closely with the security company ESET{{Cite web|url=http://www.eset.eu/press-2011/eset-infosecurity|title = Malware Protection & Internet Security}} where between 2011 and 2018 he held the position of Senior Research Fellow, working with the Cyber Threat Analysis Center.{{Cite web|url=http://www.eset.eu/press-2010-attacks-on-facebook-and-other-social|title=Malware Protection & Internet Security}} In 2009, he was elected to the board of directors of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO).{{cite web |url=http://www.amtso.org/amtso---boards---board-of-directors.html |title=Boards – Board of Directors |publisher=AMTSO |accessdate=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125012021/http://www.amtso.org/amtso---boards---board-of-directors.html |archive-date=25 November 2011 |url-status=dead }} He stood down in February 2012, when Righard Zwienenberg, president of AMTSO, joined ESET, as the AMTSO bylaws don't allow more than one Board member to represent the same AMTSO member entity.{{cite web |url=https://antimalwaretesting.wordpress.com/about/ |title=About the Anti-Malware Testing blog « AMTSO |date=29 October 2012 |publisher=antimalwaretesting.wordpress.com |accessdate=4 January 2018 }} He ran the Mac Virus website,{{cite web|url=http://macviruscom.wordpress.com/about/ |title=About Us « Mac Virus |date=3 January 2010 |publisher=Macviruscom.wordpress.com |accessdate=12 November 2011}} and formerly held an undefined executive role{{cite web |author=Aryeh Goretsky says |url=http://avien.net/blog/?p=639 |title=20 years of Windows Malware « The AVIEN Blog |publisher=Avien.net |date=28 February 2011 |accessdate=12 November 2011 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726053251/http://avien.net/blog/?p=639 |url-status=dead }} in AVIEN. He is a former Fellow of the British Computer Society: he explained in a blog article {{cite web|url=https://smallbluegreenblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/maybe-i-should-be-certified/ |title=Maybe I should be certified... « Small Blue-Green World|date=5 August 2014|publisher=smallbluegreenworld.wordpress.com |accessdate=5 August 2014}} in 2014 that he was dropping his subscriptions to the BCS Institute and (ISC)2 (and therefore would no longer be entitled to continue using the acronyms CISSP, CITP and FBCS), and his reasons for so doing.

In January 2019, he announced that he was no longer working with ESET and was reverting to his former career as a musician, but indicated that he was still available for one-off authoring and editing work.{{cite web|url=https://geekpeninsula.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/end-of-an-era/ |title=End of an era « Geek Peninsula|publisher=geekpeninsula.wordpress.com |accessdate=4 January 2018}} He subsequently contributed content, reviewing and translation for the English edition of the book Cyberdanger by Eddy Willems.{{cite book |last=Willems |first=Eddy |date=2019 |title=Cyberdanger |url=https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030045302 |language=English |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-04531-9}}

Harley was co-author (with Robert Slade and Urs Gattiker) of Viruses Revealed,{{cite book|title=Viruses Revealed: Amazon.co.uk: David Harley, Urs E. Gattiker, Robert Slade: Books |id={{ASIN|0072130903|country=uk}} }} and technical editor and principal author of The AVIEN Malware Defense Guide for the Enterprise.{{Cite web|url=https://avien.wordpress.com/the-avien-book/|title = The AVIEN Book|date = 20 March 2018}}

He also contributed chapters to a number of other security-related books, and sometimes wrote for specialist security publishers such as Virus Bulletin{{cite web|url=https://www.virusbulletin.com/index.php/global-search-results/?query=david+harley |title=Virus Bulletin : Searching for 'david harley' |publisher=virusbulletin.com |accessdate=29 September 2018}} and Elsevier.{{cite journal|title= Information Security Technical Report : Making sense of anti-malware comparative testing |doi=10.1016/j.istr.2009.03.002 | volume=14 |journal=Information Security Technical Report |pages=7–15}} He has often presented papers at specialist security conferences including Virus Bulletin, AVAR, and EICAR. Until the end of 2018 he blogged regularly for ESET,{{cite web|url=http://www.infosecurity-us.com/blog/user/david--harley |title=Infosecurity – Blog |publisher=Infosecurity-us.com |accessdate=12 November 2011}} and on occasion for Infosecurity Magazine,{{cite web|url=http://blog.eset.com/tag/david-harley |title=David Harley | ESET ThreatBlog |publisher=Blog.eset.com |accessdate=12 November 2011}} SC Magazine,{{cite web |url=http://www.scmagazineus.com/cybercrime-corner/section/1511/ |title=Cybercrime Corner |publisher=SC Magazine US |accessdate=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103234021/http://www.scmagazineus.com/cybercrime-corner/section/1511/ |archive-date=3 November 2011 |url-status=dead }} (ISC)2,{{cite web|url=http://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/authors.html#harley |title=(ISC)2 Blog: Authors |publisher=Blog.isc2.org |accessdate=12 November 2011}} SecuriTeam,{{cite web|url=http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/davidh |title=Securiteam Blog|publisher=blogs.securiteam.com|accessdate=28 November 2013}} Mac Virus,{{Cite web|url=http://macviruscom.wordpress.com/?s=david+harley|title=Search Results for "david harley"}} and Small Blue-Green World.{{cite web|url=http://smallbluegreenblog.wordpress.com/welcome/ |title=Welcome « Small Blue-Green World |publisher=Smallbluegreenblog.wordpress.com |date=5 April 2011 |accessdate=12 November 2011}} His Geek Peninsula{{cite web|url=http://geekpeninsula.wordpress.com/ |title=Geek Peninsula |publisher=Small Blue-Green World |accessdate=19 November 2011}} metablog lists many of his papers and articles.

Some recordings, miscellaneous prose and verse are posted to or linked from his personal blog page.{{cite web|url=http://dharley.wordpress.com/ |title=David Harley Words & Music|publisher=Small Blue-Green World |accessdate=14 July 2012}}

Miscellaneous prose – some but not all connected to the security industry – is posted to the Miscellaneous Prose{{cite web|url=http://dharley.wordpress.com/ |title=David Harley Words & Music |publisher=Small Blue-Green World |accessdate=3 September 2012}} page.

Harley was born in Shropshire and educated at the Priory Grammar School for Boys, Shrewsbury.{{cite web|url=https://whealalice.com/about-david-harley/ |title=About David Harley |date=21 February 2016 |publisher=Wheal Alice Music |accessdate=1 November 2020}} He hardly ever talks publicly about his private life, but a biographical article for Virus Bulletin,{{cite web|url=https://www.virusbulletin.com/uploads/pdf/magazine/2007/200701.pdf |title=From Immunology to Heuristics |publisher=Virus Bulletin|accessdate=29 September 2018}} and the dedications page to Viruses Revealed indicate that he has a daughter. He lives with his third wife in Cornwall, in the UK.

• {{cite book |last=Harley|first=David|date=2024 |title=Facebook: Sins & Insensitivities|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CV5PJL5B|language=English |publisher=Wheal alice|isbn=979-8878754736}} Sole author.
• {{cite book |last=Willems |first=Eddy |date=2019 |title=Cyberdanger |url=https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030045302 |language=English |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-04531-9}} (Contributed content and some editing and translation.)
• {{cite book|author=Bidgoli, Hossein|title=The Handbook of Computer Networks|year=2008|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-0-471-78460-9|display-authors=etal}} Volume 3, "E-Mail Threats and Vulnerabilities."
• {{cite book|author=Baccas, Paul|title=OS X Exploits and Defense|year=2008|publisher=Syngress|isbn=978-1-59749-254-6|display-authors=etal}} Chapter 3: "Malicious Macs: Malware and the Mac." Chapter 4: "Malware Detection and the Mac."
• {{cite book|author=Harley, David|title=AVIEN Malware Defense Guide for the Enterprise|year=2007|publisher=Syngress|isbn=978-1-59749-164-8|display-authors=etal}} (Editor, technical editor, several chapters.)
• {{cite book|author=Schiller, Craig A., Binkley, Jim|title=Botnets: the Killer Web App|year=2007|publisher=Syngress|isbn=978-1-59749-135-8|display-authors=etal}} Co-wrote Chapter 5, "Botnet Detection: Tools and Techniques" with Jim Binkley.
• {{cite book|author=Bidgoli, Hossein|title=Handbook of Information Security|year=2006|publisher=Wiley|isbn=0-471-64833-7|display-authors=etal}} Volume 3, "E-Mail Threats and Vulnerabilities."
• {{cite book|author=Paulus, S., Pohlmann N., Reimer, H.|title=ISSE 2004: Securing Electronic Business Processes|year=2004|publisher=Vieweg|isbn=978-3-528-05910-1|display-authors=etal}} Massmailers: New Threats Need Novel Anti-Virus Measures.
• {{cite book|author=Bosworth, Seymour, Kabay M.E.|title=Computer Security Handbook|year=2002|publisher=John Wiley|isbn=0-471-41258-9|display-authors=etal}} Co-wrote Chapter 49, "Medical Records Security" with Paul Brusil.
• {{cite book|author=Anonymous|title=Maximum Security Fourth Edition|year=2002|publisher=SAMS|isbn=0-672-32459-8|display-authors=etal}} Revised Chapter 17 "Viruses and Worms", Chapter 18 "Trojans."
• {{cite book|author=Anonymous|title=Maximum Security Third Edition|year=2001|publisher=SAMS|isbn=0-672-31871-7|display-authors=etal|url=https://archive.org/details/maximumsecurity00indi}} Chapter 17 "Viruses and Worms", Chapter 18 "Trojans."
• {{cite book|author=Harley, David, Robert Slade and Urs E. Gattiker|title=Viruses Revealed|year=2001|publisher=McGraw-Hill Companies|isbn=0-07-213090-3|url=https://archive.org/details/virusesrevealed00harl}} Co-Author.

A book of verse and a number of books on musical, historical and occasionally IT-related topics are linked from Harley's Wheal Alice blog.{{cite web|url=https://whealalice.com/books-links/ |title=Books - links |date=11 August 2023 |publisher=Wheal Alice|accessdate=26 January 2024}}

Harley published white papers, conference papers and presentations, and on-line articles with or on behalf of ESET between 2006 and 2018. Some previous and subsequent papers, articles and presentations are available from his Geek Peninsula blog.

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• {{cite web|title=Wheal Alice Music|url=https://whealalice.com/|accessdate=13 October 2024}}—home page

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Category:Living people

Category:Writers about computer security

Category:English writers

Category:British technology writers

Category:1949 births

Category:People educated at The Priory Boys' Grammar School, Shrewsbury

Category:Alumni of Bangor University