It is with great sadness that TechTarget recognizes the passing of Shon Harris, a longtime and valued contributor to both SearchSecurity and the information security industry at large. She died Oct. 8, 2014, after a long battle with illness.

Shon founded Logical Security LLC, an information security training and consulting company, in 2002. She quickly built a reputation for offering the industry's most comprehensive, challenging and up-to-date security certification training, focusing on the CISSP, CEH, Security+ and others.

Shon Harris Shon Harris

Shon authored several international best-selling books on information security published by McGraw-Hill and Pearson, which have sold more than 1 million copies and have been translated into six languages. She authored three best-selling CISSP books, and was a contributing author to the books Hacker's Challenge, Gray Hat Hacking and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Implementation. She also wrote academic textbooks for various publishers and countless articles for trade magazines.

Shon consulted for a large number of organizations in every business sector (financial, medical, retail, entertainment, utility) and several U.S. government agencies over the last 18 years. She also worked directly with law firms as a technical and expert witness on cases that range from patent infringement to criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, and she specialized in cryptographic technologies.

Prior to starting her career as an information security consultant and author, Shon served as an engineer in the Air Force's Information Warfare unit. She was recognized as one of the top 25 women in the information security field by Information Security magazine.

As the creator of SearchSecurity's CISSP Essentials Security School, Shon leaves a lasting legacy to help prepare tomorrow's information security professionals for the challenges ahead.

Shon is survived by her mother Kathy and a large, loving family.

Shon's full obituary can be read here. Readers are encouraged to leave comments remembering Shon and recognizing her contributions to the information security community.