I’m a security engineer at an AI startup in San Francisco, where I manage the CI pipeline. Before that I broke things professionally at Worldcoin (biometric ML model security), Leviathan Security Group (consulting), and GRIMM (fuzzing tooling). I’ve spoken at THOTCON, Cyphercon, and Chaos Communication Congress.

I’m fascinated by systems, especially when they very directly involve humans. I care a lot about keeping vulnerable populations safe.

I studied Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While there I worked with the Network Security Research Group under Michael Bailey as an undergraduate researcher, finding 30+ CVE-worthy vulnerabilities in consumer routers. I also ran SIGPwny (security club) and DDRIllini (rhythm game club) — I spent a lot of time making them approachable and friendly, which caused them to grow massively and continue running to this day.

I grew up in Chicago to a Polish-American family, which inspired an early interest in languages and international affairs. I speak some Spanish, Polish, Japanese, and German. My father is a local business owner and village trustee, so being involved in local communities has always been an important part of my life. My mother emigrated from Poland for economic reasons, works in the medical industry, and may be the most hospitable person I know.

I used to play a lot of DDR (ITG). I led the planning of a 130+ attendee, internationally-attended tournament for two years and trained my replacements. Nowadays I play a lot of piano.

Things I think about these days:

  • securing AI systems in practically
  • browser exploitation, especially WebGL
  • bio, biotech, and cognition
  • how to communicate technical risk to people who make decisions
  • languages and travel

contact

If any of that caught your interest, drop me a line! My email is first initial last name AT gmail and you can find me on most services as ian5v or ianklatzco.

Testimonials:

The first and only time I’ve ever seen Ian angry was when someone mentioned SystemVerilog.