Derek is a privacy activist, hacker and mathematician. He started his first business in 2000, selling hand-designed PCs to gamers, engineers, and businesses. In 2012 Derek helped found VikingVPN, a VPN service focused on speed, security, and privacy in response to the increasing problems with surveillance on the internet by marketing entities. The May 2013 disclosures by Edward Snowden motivated him to work in the privacy and infosec sector full-time, and to focus his work on countermeasures against advanced persistent threats like governments.

He has personally funded the entirety of the startup costs for OSTIF. He truly believes that the only real response to the death march of surveillance is technological in nature, not political. The ultimate goal of the OSTIF is to liberate the citizens of the world from the oppression of information.

In his free time, Derek enjoys nature, relaxing on a nice patio, reading, dining at new restaurants, travel, art, music, movies, theater and all forms of digital entertainment.