“All of us are the first line of defense.

And all we’ve got to do is do it.”

Remembering Dr. Stan Stahl

Honoring a builder, a teacher, and the relentless force behind SecureTheVillage.

Our dear friend Stan Stahl, PhD passed away after a brief bout of illness. We are stunned, saddened, yet grateful. 

Dr. Stan Stahl founded SecureTheVillage with a clear purpose: make Southern California the cyber-safest metropolitan region in the United States for smaller businesses, nonprofits, families, and individuals, and build a model other communities could follow.

Stan led, inspired, and mentored at every chance, at every meeting he attended, and with all of his thought leadership. He drew connections between civic life, responsibility, and the way we show up for one another, online and off.  

He was a prolific teacher, speaker, and writer, and the author of The Agnostic Patriot: A Citizen Searches for the Soul of America. He earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. Go Blue. In the 1980s, Stan secured teleconferencing between the White House and key federal agencies, databases inside Cheyenne Mountain, and the communications network controlling the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal. 

Stan was an inaugural recipient of the Alan Paller Laureate Program at Center for Internet Security. He served on the Small Business Advisory Council of the Cyber Readiness Institute.

He asked the same question at every turn:

What does this actually do for the people we’re here to serve?

If we were to review the decades of Stan’s service and impact in the community - the meetings, events, his writing, it would number to the hundreds of pages.  

Instead, we will share his words, and the remembrances of his friends, peers, those who fought with him to secure our village.

From Stan’s final newsletter:

After 17 years, a thank-you

For 17 years we’ve published Cybersecurity News of the Week. Each week. Every week. Over 800 issues.

In 2009, when Kim Pease and I started the Cybersecurity News of the Week there weren’t a lot of cybersecurity stories in the press. Ransomware was emerging, nation-state cyber conflict was rare in the headlines, and most small businesses believed cybersecurity was a problem only large enterprises needed to worry about.

Each week we shared the breaches, scams, and vulnerabilities that mattered with the goal to help people see cyber threats clearly enough to prevent disruption. Many of you read, shared, and acted on those stories. For that, I’m deeply grateful.

But the cybersecurity landscape has changed. Today the problem is not lack of information. There is more cybersecurity news than anyone can absorb. The challenge now is turning awareness into behavior.

Cybersecurity is not just about what you know. Most importantly, cybersecurity is about what you do.

So after 17 years, we’re retiring the Cybersecurity News of the Week and replacing it with our new Cybersecurity Habit Builder. Our Cybersecurity Habit Builder will guide smaller organizations, families, and individuals to build the habits that prevent cyber disruption and stop scams.

To everyone who has read and supported this newsletter over the years: thank you.

To infinities and beyond …

— Dr. Stan Stahl

In remembrance

“For over 2 decades, I had the privilege of growing the firm we co-founded and working alongside Stan. He was a true pioneer in helping organizations understand that security is not just about technology, but about people, behavior, and trust. He didn’t just advise. He truly cared. You will never, ever be forgotten and your legacy will live on. To infinity and beyond!”

— Kimberly Pease

“Stan understood how important a people-centered village of cyberguardians is to all communities.  His vision will live on through us and our shared mission to Secure The Village.”
— George Usi

“I’ve spent the time since his passing processing, not my grief, rather my gratitude, my privilege for the gift of knowing him. He told me he valued our discussions because I helped him expand his views. I told him he did the same for me. Safe travels my friend. Safe travels.”

— Bill Leider

“Stan was truly one of a kind, someone whose presence, spirit, and passion touched so many lives. The community deeply loved him, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have him in my life. A beautiful human through and through.”

— JC Vega

“Stan inspired so many of us. I bet most of you would agree that something about Stan really made you better… To infinities and beyond!”

— Jason Makevich 

“Stan was a leader, a friend, and such a caring individual. Your name and legacy will live on in the village you built.”

— Alexa McCulloch

“Stan had, and continues to have, a huge influence of my life. He exemplified how to be thoughtfully opinionated, without being condescending. I found him to be one of the least judgmental people I’ve ever met, yet somehow he showed great conviction on the important things. He seemed to always be pointed toward True North… toward the question ‘how good can it be?’”

— Erik Knutson

“For someone with half a century+ of experience, the fact that he trusted me within his organization and genuinely respected what I had to say, without ever being condescending, was something truly extraordinary. I have also, because of Stan’s consistent use of it, become a devoted practitioner of ‘yes and’ in the face of disagreement, and it has done wonders in those moments.”

— Jessica Blier

“Heartbroken, grateful, and will carry Dr. Stan’s concern for the little guy in cyber, the small businesses he worked tirelessly to protect. And our many talks and debates about messaging.

— Julie Michelle Morris

“Stan took a chance on me and brought me into cybersecurity, and that kind of belief he had in me really changed me. I am forever grateful for it.”

— Daisy Villafuerte

“He was such a real community-minded leader. A big thinker and an inspiration who never put on airs, spoke from his heart, and gave everyone generously of his time and attention.”

— Mike Wilkes

“He was just online recently giving his wise and generous advice, he mentored me, he brought community together. He was a true leader and role model in every sense of the word. The world is far worse off without him in it.”

— Mary Frantz

“Stan was the absolute best. He showed true grace. Kindness, curiosity, and selfless also come to mind. He helped the world be better.”

— Heather McMahon

“I am not alone in counting Stan as a mentor. He was generous in all ways, and especially with his time and his knowledge. We will miss him and his leadership.”

— Robert Braun

“Stan was a beacon of light, of goodness, of caring and passion for doing what was right.”

— Barry Weber

“Talk about making a difference in the lives of others (simply because you truly care) that was our friend Stan. What a pleasure to know him. What a loss to our community.”

— Stevan Bernard, CFE

“Stan led an amazing life and he will be dearly missed.”

— John Coleman

“A big loss for the industry, for our community and for humanity. May his memory be a blessing.”

— Gentry Lane

“Stan gave me my first real opportunity in security. He saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself. He made people feel seen. And capable. And part of something that mattered.”

— Chaya Michel Cloward

“Stan was one of my sponsors for my CISSP credential. He prepped me through a difficult deposition that has had a lasting impact on the way I approach cybersecurity and I will forever be grateful for his support and encouragement.”

— Jennifer Terrill

“His last email to me finished with: ‘yes to ai….but with caution.’”

— Louie Sadd

Stan's reminder to us all from his final Cybersecurity Connect monthly discussion group, a group he founded to build community and share best practices among practitioners and the cyber-interested: “All of us are the first line of defense. All we've got to do is do it.”

We invite those who knew and worked with Stan, through cohorts, board and partner conversations, long-running newsletters, Live on Cyber Podcast, and years of collaboration to remember him in the fullness of his contribution and his humanity.

If you would like to share memories, stories, or reflections about Stan, please feel free to share those in a note on LinkedIn and tag Dr. Stan and SecureTheVillage. 

Share how he made an impact in your life, so others will hear and do the work to secure their own village.

More to come as we determine the way forward to continue the work he cared about and keep his presence alive in the community he helped build.

Stan, with our appreciation, admiration, and with a commitment to carry in our hearts the hope that together, we will indeed secure the village. 

To infinities and beyond

For those who wish to honor Stan’s memory, donations to SecureTheVillage will help continue the work he began in service of smaller organizations, families, and individuals.