Pierson Clair

Biography

Pierson Clair is an experienced incident response leader, certified digital forensic examiner, technical security consultant, and cyber security educator. He is credited with creating the USC Interdisciplinary degree in International Security & Technology, the precursor to the popular Intelligence and Cyber Operations (INCO) degree. Mr. Clair’s unique forensic and cyber security experience includes working with federal, state, and local law enforcement and federal intelligence agencies.

As a USC Adjunct Faculty member since 2012, he has developed the curriculum for and currently teaches Apple/iOS computer forensics (ITP 445) and Mobile Device digital forensics (ITP 447) along with teaching ITP 125 an Introduction to Information Security and ITP 375 Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity Investigations. He joined USC full time in the Fall of 2023 after having been a Managing Director with the global investigations firm Kroll specializing in Incident Response, Cyber Remediation & Recovery, and Managed Cyber Security. His digital forensic specialties lie in the acquisition challenges presented by Apple desktops, laptops, and servers as well as with Apple and other mobile device hardware. His incident response specialties include the ejection of long term embedded threat actors. He has worked extensively with private sector clients involving both major corporations and small businesses mitigating risks to continued business operations.

Mr. Clair's 2008 senior thesis at the University of Southern California, Creating Policy to Mitigate Cyber Terror Attack Vectors Against Critical US Infrastructure, outlined the protection of critical national infrastructure against cyber attack. He has a Masters Degree in Digital Forensic Science.