// FILE: ASEC-PERSONNEL-001EST. 2015TORONTO // ONTARIO

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.
WE WROTE THE BOOKS.
WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

ASEC was founded in 2015 by Nick Aleks, co-author of Black Hat GraphQL and Black Hat Bash, and founder of DEFCON Toronto (DC416), Canada’s largest hacker community. Ten years later, we run the only commercial drone, UAV and robotics adversarial security practice in Canada, anchored in the open-source tools the rest of the industry uses to train.

We make the world a safer place by empowering organizations to protect themselves, building the tools, simulators, and books the offensive-security industry actually trains on, while running engagements against the autonomous systems our adversaries are already testing.

SECTION 01

Personnel / Founder

CLEARANCE // PUBLIC

// PERSONNEL FILE: 001

ACTIVE

// CHIEF HACKING OFFICER · FOUNDER

Nick Aleks

CEO and Director, Aleks Security Cyber Intelligence Inc.

Hacker, engineer, and patented security researcher. Over a decade protecting Canada’s largest financial institutions: TD Bank (Distinguished Security Engineer), Wealthsimple (Senior Director of Security), currently Robinhood (Head of Security Operations). Founded ASEC in 2015 with the goal of making cybersecurity more accessible.

Co-author of Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch Press, 2023) and Black Hat Bash (No Starch Press, 2024), both with Dolev Farhi. Founder of DEFCON Toronto (DC416), Canada’s largest hacker community. Creator of the open-source Damn Vulnerable Drone simulator, the canonical hands-on training environment for drone adversarial security, used by pentesters and researchers worldwide.

Has hacked websites, safes, locks, cars, drones, and intelligent buildings. Senior Advisory Board member at the University of Guelph Master of Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence program, George Brown College Postgraduate Cybersecurity, and HackStudent.

“You’ve got to have a mindset of ‘when’ not ‘if’ you’re going to be hit.”MapleSEC Keynote, 2022

DC416 Founder · 2016
Black Hat GraphQL (No Starch 2023)
Black Hat Bash (No Starch 2024)
Damn Vulnerable Drone · 402 ★
CrackQL · 346 ★
GraphQL Threat Matrix · 361 ★
US Patent · Continuous Verification & Response
MapleSEC 2022 · Keynote
GraphQL Summit 2022
CanSecWest 2024 · DOJO
Drone Talk · US 2025
BSides Toronto 2015 · Weapons of a Pentester
U of Guelph M.Cyber · Advisory Board
George Brown · Advisory
HackStudent · Senior Advisor
TD Bank · Distinguished Sec. Eng.
Wealthsimple · Sr. Director of Security
Robinhood · Head of Security Ops

WHERE
HACKERS
MEET HACKERS.

DC416 // DEFCON TORONTO

ASEC’s founder founded DC416in 2016, the officially recognized DEF CON chapter for Toronto. Ten years later it’s the year-round connective tissue of Canada’s hacker scene: monthly meetups at EY Tower and downtown venues, workshops, the world first OSINT CTF for missing persons in partnership with Trace Labs, and an industry-grade speaker pedigree spanning EY, Wealthsimple, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Flare.

What founding and running DC416 signals: a decade of curatorial control over who gets Toronto’s hacker mic, and direct overlap between the people who build ASEC and the people who define Canada’s offensive-security community.

Years // 2016 to 2026

2,880

Active Members

~150

Per Meetup

∞

CTFs Run

2016Founded · First meetup June 2016 · Toronto DEF CON chapter
2018First DC416 Townhall · Bug-bounty and binary-exploitation tracks
2019Trace Labs Missing CTF launch · World first OSINT for missing persons
2022EY Tower era · Industry-sponsored monthly cadence
2024AI-security track · Offensive and defensive AI demos
202610-year anniversary · 2,880 members · Where hackers meet hackers.

SECTION 02

Member / Affiliations

// PROCUREMENT-CREDIBILITY STACK

CADSI
Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries
The federal-defense industry recognized voice. 900+ Canadian defence and cyber companies. Organizes CANSEC, Canada largest defence trade show.
UNLOCKSCANSEC exhibit · DND / CAF advocacy · GATEWAYsuite BD tools
ACDC
Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies
Launched February 2026. The sovereign-Canadian counterweight to foreign-prime subsidiaries. Represents Canadian-owned, Canadian-controlled defence and dual-use companies.
UNLOCKSProcurement-reform advocacy · Canadian-content rules · Sovereign capability programs
CCTX
Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange
Canada private-sector threat-intel sharing hub. Peers include the Big Six banks, telcos, and critical-infrastructure operators. Established 2017.
UNLOCKSThreat-intel feed · Threat calls · Communities of interest · Flash / Weekly reports
IN-SEC-M
Canadian Cybersecurity Cluster · Innovation · Security · Markets
The national Canadian cyber industry cluster. 200+ members, Quebec-anchored but national scope. Bilingual / federal procurement visibility.
UNLOCKSSupplier directory · International trade missions · Buy-Canadian-Cyber procurement channel

Office / Of Record

Toronto-based, defense-credentialed, hacker-led. Engagements scoped via direct contact. Every engagement begins with a scoping conversation against the buyer actual threat model, not a pre-built service-list.

All inquiries reach the founding team directly.

LEGAL: Aleks Security Cyber Intelligence Inc.
FOUNDED: 2015 · Toronto, Ontario
ADDRESS: 18 King Street East
Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1C4
Canada
PHONE: 1-877-411-1337
EMAIL: contact@asec.io
GITHUB: github.com/nicholasaleks
DC416: defcontoronto.ca

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.
WE WROTE THE BOOKS.
WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

WHERE
HACKERS
MEET HACKERS.

DC416 // DEFCON TORONTO

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.WE WROTE THE BOOKS.WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

Personnel / Founder

WHEREHACKERSMEET HACKERS.

Member / Affiliations

Office / Of Record

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.WE WROTE THE BOOKS.WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

Personnel / Founder

WHEREHACKERSMEET HACKERS.

Member / Affiliations

Office / Of Record

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.
WE WROTE THE BOOKS.
WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

WHERE
HACKERS
MEET HACKERS.

WE BUILT THE COMMUNITY.
WE WROTE THE BOOKS.
WE ATTACK WHAT OTHERS PROTECT.

WHERE
HACKERS
MEET HACKERS.