Contact us: info@akimbocore.com
Holly Grace Williams, Headshot Photo

Holly Grace Williams

Penetration Tester and Technical Lead

Holly Grace has sixteen years of experience working within cybersecurity, with a focus on penetration testing and cybersecurity consultancy.

Holly Grace is a CREST Fellow and has been a CREST Certified Application Tester since 2015. She has professional software development experience in Python and Rust, including taking software products to market. She has strong experience in building and securing cloud environments, with a focus on AWS and Azure.

She has performed a significant number of penetration testing engagements for a wide range of companies from innovative start-ups to multinational corporations, in fields ranging from e-commerce to banking.

She's also often found speaking at conferences and on podcasts all about technology, cloud computing, cybersecurity, chaos engineering, and more.

 

Certifications

  • MSc Information Security, Cardiff University
  • CREST Certified Web Application Tester (CCT-App)
  • CREST Registered Tester (CRT)
  • CompTIA Network+
  • CompTIA PenTest+
  • CompTIA Cloud+
  • CompTIA Security+
  • CompTIA Network Vulnerability Assessment Professional
  • CompTIA Secure Cloud Professional
  • CompTIA Cloud Admin Professional
  • Amazon AWS Machine Learning Specialty
  • Amazon AWS Security Specialty
  • Amazon AWS Cloud Practitioner
  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Prior Certifications (Expired)

  • Cisco CCNP
  • Cisco CCNA: Security
  • Cisco CCNA: Routing and Switching
  • Cisco CCENT
  • Juniper JNCIA
  • CompTIA A+

Certification Badges

CompTIA PenTest+ CompTIA Security+ CompTIA Cloud+ CompTIA Network+
CompTIA CSCP CompTIA CNVP CompTIA CCAP
CREST Certified Tester
AWS Cloud Practitioner AWS Machine Learning Specialty AWS Security Specialty

Awards

  • CREST Fellowship (2023)
  • SC UK's 30 Women of Influence (2021)
  • SC UK’s 50 Women of Influence (2019)
  • Computing’s Security Excellence Award (2018)

Media Appearances

  • Sky News, April 2021
  • Sky News, August 2020
  • BBC Breakfast, July 2020
  • BBC Breakfast, January 2020

Previous Talks

  • Recruiting Home Grown Cyber Talent, Online, November 2022
  • Securing Cyber-Attack Vulnerabilities From Your Supply Chain, Online, June 2022
  • Password Security in 2022, Online, April 2022
  • Cyber Bytes "Attack" Workshops, Online, March 2022
  • Your Vulnerability Management Sucks, Online, March 2022
  • Your Security Testing Sucks, Online, January 2022
  • Infosec Europe: Ransomware is Headline News, Online, January 2022
  • Your System Hardening Sucks, Online, December 2021
  • Your Security Awareness Sucks, Online, December 2021
  • BCS South Yorkshire: Cybersecurity, Online, October 2021
  • TechTarget: Hacking and Hardening, Online, October 2021
  • Future.Works Tech Conference, Hacking Non-stop, Lisbon, October 2021
  • ScotSoft, Building and Breaking Web Applications, Online, October 2021
  • DTX, Beginners Guide to Chaos, London, October 2021
  • CompTIA EMEA Member and Partner Conference(Panel, Chair), London, September 2021
  • International Cyber Expo, Your Security Testing Sucks, London, September 2021
  • National Cyber Security Show, Hacking for SMEs, London, September 2021
  • Cyber Seekers, Warwick, August 2021
  • EVOLVE EMEA (Panel), Online, June 2021
  • OWASP Newcastle, Out of Band Exploitation, Online, May 2021
  • DTX (Panel), The Human Element, Online, May 2021
  • Tech Vets Fireside Chat, Online, March 2021
  • CrackChester (Panel), Online, March 2021
  • Scot-Secure (Panel), Trends, Threats and Collaborative Opportunity, March 2021
  • CSC Cyber War Stories, Online, February 2021
  • Think Like a Hacker, Online, February 2021
  • Sky News, August 2020
  • Cyber Security Live (Panel), Online, November 2020
  • Testing United 2020, Prague Online, November 2020
  • Cyber House Party, Online, October 2020
  • Rethinking your Pentesting Strategy, Online, September 2020
  • DC151, Leeds Online, August 2020
  • Trusted Tech Talks, Online, July 2020
  • Cyber House Party, Online, June 2020
  • Scot-Secure, Edinburgh, February 2020
  • TEISS, London, February 2020
  • The Future of Cybersecurity, Manchester, 28 January 2020
  • Tech Manchester Mentoring, Manchester, 22 January 2020
  • The New Statesman, London, 26 November 2019
  • Cyber Crime 2019, Manchester, 25 November 2019
  • Computing Cyber Security Live, London, 23 November 2019
  • Hacking, Data Breach and…Breakfast, Manchester, 20 November 2019
  • EUTC Cybersecurity Workshop, Paris, 13 November 2019
  • eCommerce Live, London, 15 October 2019
  • NE:Tech, Newcastle, 10 October 2019
  • Digital Transformation Expo, London, 9 October 2019
  • Cybersecurity for Startups, Manchester, 3 October 2019
  • Pitch on the Ship, London, 26 September 2019
  • The Future of Cyber Security, Manchester, 24 September 2019
  • TechVets, Edinburgh, 11 September 2019
  • CyberFirst, Manchester, 1 August 2019
  • Unlocked, London, 24 July 2019
  • Unlocked, Manchester, 17 July 2019
  • DC151, Leeds, 10 July 2019
  • Digital Futures, Manchester, 19 June, 2019
  • Cybersecurity 101, Manchester, 11 June 2019
  • Infosecurity Europe, London, 4 June 2019
  • Trailblazing Tech, London, 28 March 2019
  • Teesside University EHS, Middlesbrough, 4 March 2019
  • CyberReady, Leeds, 10 November 2018
  • Security Test Seminar, Eindhoven, 8 November 2018
  • IPExpo, London, 3 October 2018
  • IPExpo, Manchester, 25 April 2018
  • Ticketing Professionals Conference, 16th March 2018
  • The Future of Cyber Security, Manchester, 25 January 2018
  • Social Engineering the CEO, London, 13 October 2016
  • BSidesLDN, London, 8 June 2016