Dr Katie Paxton-Fear is an API security expert and Principal API security researcher at Traceable, in her words: she used to make APIs and now she breaks them. A former API developer turned API hacker. She has found vulnerabilities in organizations ranging from the Department of Defense to Verizon, with simple API vulnerabilities.
Dr Katie has been a featured expert in the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, ZDNet, The Daily Swig and more, as she shares some of the easy ways hackers can exploit APIs and how they get away without a security alert.
Dr Katie regularly delivers API security training and research to some of the largest brands worldwide. She combines easy-to-understand explanations with key technical details that turn API security into something everyone can get.
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Semgrep
Staff Security Advocate
July 2025 – Present (2 months)
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CfACS - MMU Centre for Advanced Computational Science
Researcher
June 2021 – Present (4 years 3 months)
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The Manchester Metropolitan University
Lecturer in Cyber Security
January 2021 – Present (4 years 8 months)
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insiderphd.dev
Ethical Hacker
June 2019 – Present (6 years 3 months)
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Harness
Principal Security Research Engineer
March 2025 – July 2025 (5 months)
