Arthur McMiler 
- Dave Mihelcic will help federal agencies adopt continuous, threat-informed cyber defense
- He will manage AttackIQ’s enterprise adversarial exposure validation program for DISA
- Mihelcic served more than 12 years as DISA’s CTO during an 18-year career at the agency
The former chief technology officer of the Defense Information Systems Agency, Dave Mihelcic, has been appointed as field CTO for AttackIQ’s federal business.
What Will Dave Mihelcic Do as Field CTO?
AttackIQ said Tuesday that in his new role, Mihelcic will help federal agencies modernize cyber defenses and translate mission requirements into Continuous Threat Exposure Management, or CTEM, programs. He will also lead federal adoption of AVA Agentic OS, the company’s CTEM operating system, which works to coordinate AI agents across threat intelligence, detection engineering, control optimization, attack-path reduction and security validation.
“His experience as DISA’s CTO, combined with his deep understanding of the operational realities facing Federal cyber teams, will be invaluable as agencies shift from reactive security and periodic compliance to continuous, AI-enabled cyber defense,” said Carl Wright, AttackIQ’s chief commercial officer.
What Is DISA’s Enterprise Adversarial Exposure Validation Program?
DISA chose AttackIQ as its enterprise adversarial exposure validation, or AEV, platform for use across the Department of War. The program gives the department a shared way to test defenses against real-world adversary behavior and a department-wide view of cyber readiness.
Mihelcic will manage the program. He will work with DISA, defense agencies, military services, combatant commands and mission partners on deployment, workforce training, governance and consistent operations across joint, coalition and distributed environments.
AttackIQ’s defense work predates the program. In 2022, the Army granted the company a three-year authority to operate for its Security Optimization Platform, a threat emulation and control validation tool, and other federal agencies could accept that approval through reciprocity.
“Federal agencies are facing adversaries that are using automation and artificial intelligence to operate faster and at greater scale, and our defensive model must evolve accordingly,” Mihelcic said. He added that the company’s tools let cyber leaders show whether their defenses hold up against relevant threats and put resources where they matter most.
What Are Dave Mihelcic’s Other Previous Roles?
Mihelcic spent 18 years at DISA, including more than 12 as CTO. In that job, he was the agency’s senior authority on scientific, technical and engineering matters. He led more than 900 engineers and scientists and represented DISA on engineering issues with combatant commands, military services, defense agencies, the intelligence community and industry.
He has worked with AttackIQ since 2019, when he joined the company’s advisory board to help shape its federal strategy. He has also served as federal chief technology and strategy officer at Juniper Networks. Before that, he spent 14 years at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory as an information assurance engineer and section head.
