About Us

Your partner in external cybersecurity.


Our mission is to help organizations protect data from external attackers and build trust with their customers.

Cybercrime is on the rise and becoming more sophisticated every day, and modern organizations have more assets to protect than ever before. We focus our efforts on three key pillars to help organizations stay protected.

  • Visibility — We strive to provide organizations with the most comprehensive view of their attack surface so they can be confident they are protecting all of their external-facing assets.

  • Security — We help organizations prioritize and remediate their most critical risks before they can be exploited.

  • Trust — We provide tools that enable organizations to increase transparency in their business and earn the trust of their customers.


Our Story

From the start, our company has helped businesses understand and reduce their digital risks.

In 2002, TrustedSite founder Ben Tyler developed ScanAlert, one of the first commercial website and web application vulnerability scanners. ScanAlert gave businesses the ability to continuously test the security of their applications by mimicking the methods of an attacker. Sites with few issues earned the ability to display the HackerSafe trustmark, helping to grow trust among visitors and increase conversions.

In 2008, McAfee, under the leadership of TrustedSite founder Tim Dowling, acquired the company and rebranded it as the McAfee SECURE service, and it quickly became one of the most familiar and ubiquitous symbols of security and trust on the internet.

In 2013, Tim and Ben, along with other members of McAfee leadership, spun the operation out to form PathDefender, which was shortly thereafter rebranded as TrustedSite, to focus fully on the service’s success.

Over time, our security services also evolved with the help of Nick Merritt, who had worked alongside Tim and Ben at McAfee and HackerSafe. Because of his unique background as a developer, penetration tester, and security engineer at companies like Dell, Apple, and Intel, Nick recognized a need for TrustedSite to go beyond vulnerability and application scanning and help businesses defend a rapidly growing number of internet-connected assets in a new way. This led to the launch of the new TrustedSite Security platform, a complete attack surface management solution that enables businesses to see everything on their perimeter and get alerted when new risks or anomalies arise.

In 2021, the McAfee SECURE brand was retired and merged into the TrustedSite Certification service. The team remains dedicated to continually improving TrustedSite’s services with the help of a diverse team of 30 hard-working individuals. TrustedSite is proud to have helped so many businesses, and their customers, stay protected over our 20 year history, and looks forward to doing so for many years to come.

In 2022, the TrustedSite Security services were rebranded as Halo Security, while the internationally recognized TrustedSite brand remains for our certification and marketing solutions. Sadly, CEO and founder, Tim Dowling, passed away shortly thereafter. Lisa Dowling and Todd Gebhart stepped in to manage operations.

TrustedSite remains dedicated to honoring Tim's professional legacy and continually improving the TrustedSite and Halo Security services with the help of a diverse team of over 30 hard-working individuals. TrustedSite is proud to have helped so many businesses, and their customers, stay protected over our 20 year history, and looks forward to doing so for many years to come.





From the start, our company has helped businesses understand and reduce their digital risks."















Nick recognized a need for TrustedSite to go beyond vulnerability and application scanning and help businesses defend a rapidly growing number of internet-connected assets in a new way."

Our leadership team

Lisa Dowling

CEO & Board Member

Lisa Dowling began her career as a marketing leader at companies such as HP and Mattel. She later founded Level5Projects, a construction owner's representation and project management firm for luxury real estate in San Francisco. She successfully ran the company for nearly 14 years with over $50 million in projects under management. In 2022, after Lisa's husband and TrustedSite's founder and CEO Tim Dowling passed away, Lisa stepped in with the help of Todd Gebhart to lead the company forward.

Ben Tyler

Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Ben Tyler created the groundbreaking Hacker Safe technology that paved the way for the McAfee SECURE service, and eventually TrustedSite's full suite of services. He brings decades of offensive and defensive security expertise to lead product development at TrustedSite.

Todd Gebhart

Acting Corporate Development Officer & Board Member

Todd Gebhart formerly served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for McAfee. Previously, Gebhart was co-president of McAfee, and he has more than thirty years of experience in the IT industry. Todd has served as a key board member for TrustedSite since its founding in 2013. With the passing of CEO and founder, Tim Dowling, in 2022, Todd stepped in to help with additional day-to-day operations.

Bill Kerrigan

Founder & Board Member

Bill Kerrigan currently serves as Board Member at RadialPoint and as Executive Advisor to Abine. His career includes roles as President and CEO of Abine, President and CEO of RadialPoint, and as EVP of McAfee's Worldwide Consumer Business.

Nick Merritt

Vice President, Security Products & Services

Nick Merritt leads security for TrustedSite. Nick has more than 15 years of experience in securing network infrastructures. He has been publicly credited for his contributions to responsible disclosure of zero day vulnerabilities in mainstream software including Microsoft. Prior to joining TrustedSite, Nick was an integral member at OneLogin and Whitehat Security.

Nick Hemenway

Vice President, Marketing

Nick Hemenway leads the user experience, design and marketing at TrustedSite. He focuses on building easy-to-use interfaces and communicating complex topics in understandable ways.

In Memoriam

Tim Dowling

Founder and CEO from 2013-2022

Tim began his career coding and selling software for the first IBM PC. He went on to work for Intel in product management and marketing, and then found himself in internet security building the first web-oriented business unit for McAfee. He served as COO at OneLogin and CEO at Kenna Security (formerly Risk I/O), before founding TrustedSite in 2013. He led brand strategy and operations until 2022, when he passed away after a battle with ampullary adenocarcinoma, a rare pancreatic cancer.

Tim remains in our hearts and minds as we carry forth his vision. Rest in peace, Tim.

Join us.

We're looking for talented, ambitious people who want to build a better internet with us. Our team includes people with all sorts of backgrounds, from cybersecurity to film production. Whatever our role, we're all hardworking, driven, and creative. If this sounds like you, we’d love for you to join us.

While originally based in San Francisco, we now offer fully remote working opportunities.