Lt. Col. (Dr) Santosh Khadsare ( Retd.)

Lt Col (Dr) Santosh Khadsare, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – DFIR at SysTools boasts over 25 years of extensive experience in Cyber Security & DFIR, specializing in Digital Forensics, Cyber Laws, Information Security, Cyber Audit, and Incident Response. He is renowned in the digital forensics community for his expertise, skillsets, and mentorship qualities.

Lt Col Santosh Khadsare( Retd) (Corps of Signals) is a Army veteran with 23 years of service.

He also has international exposure in training LEAs of other countries.

He has also received various awards/appreciation from Indian Army, NIA, CERT-In for his contribution.

• Lt Col (Dr) Santosh Khadsare, Vice President (DFIR) at eSec Forte Technologies boasts over 24 years of extensive experience in Cyber Security & DFIR, specializing in Digital Forensics, Cyber Laws, Information Security, Cyber Audit, and Incident Response. He is renowned in the digital forensics community for his expertise, skillsets, and mentorship qualities.
• With a background in B.E (Electronics and Telecommunications), Lt Col Khadsare holds additional qualifications including CHFI, CEH, RHCSA, IVTA (CMU, Pittsburgh, USA), Advance Cyber Forensic Course (CDAC), Cyber Crime Investigator (CCI), Cyber Crime Intervention Officer (CCIO), and Access Data Certified Professional.
• He served as the Head of a Digital Forensic Lab at CERT-In, Ministry of Electronics and IT, New Delhi, from Feb 2019 to Feb 2021.
• Lt Col Khadsare was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 and received the Digital Forensic Analyst Excellence Award in 2021.
• He has been a member of the CII Task Force on Cyber Security for the years 2019-20 and 2020-21.
• Lt Col Khadsare represented India at significant international events including the Colombo Security Conclave in Jan 2022, where he contributed to discussions on developing regional cyber security capabilities. He also represented India at the First BRICS Workshop on Digital Forensics in Aug 2021.
• Additionally, he has served as a member of the Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) Scheme Committee of EC COUNCIL for the past four years.
• Lt Col Khadsare excelled in the National Cyber Security Scholar Program 2020 and received recognition for his innovative technical paper titled “Role of Digital Forensics in Industry 4.0”.
• He is actively involved in mentoring hundreds of cyber enthusiasts through various platforms and has conducted Faculty Development Programs (FDP) for prestigious institutes such as LNJN National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS), National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), Computer Society of India (CSI), Amity University, and more.
• Lt Col Khadsare has authored numerous articles on Information Security and Digital Forensics in both national and international publications.
• He initiated India’s first and only Digital Forensics (4N6) publication (www.digital4n6journal.com) and is the driving force behind Make in India (MII) DRONA Digital Forensics products.
• Lt Col Khadsare has been a speaker at various international conferences including the International Conference on Cyber Law, Cybercrime & Cyber Security, C0C0N, HAKON, Hackers Day, National Cyber Defense Summit, and GovInfoSec Summit Asia.