Cybersecurity Legend DARPA Dan Takes Helm at Badge Inc

Cybersecurity Legend DARPA Dan Takes Helm at Badge Inc

Summary

• DARPA Dan: A Renowned Cybersecurity Veteran Dan Kaufman has joined Badge Inc. as SVP, AI and Cybersecurity.
• Experience: Kaufman was the first Director of Cybersecurity at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and later led Google’s ATAP group.
• Badge Inc’s Vision: Badge sells biometric authentication that does not store passwords, biometric templates or other secrets.
• Key Players: Badge co-founders Dr. Tina Srivastava and Dr. Charles Herder announced the hire on April 17, 2025.

A well-known hire for a young company

Badge Inc., a San Francisco privacy company, announced on April 17, 2025, that Dan Kaufman, known as “DARPA Dan,” had joined as senior vice president for AI and cybersecurity. Badge emerged from stealth in 2024. Hiring a name this familiar in government and tech circles gives it more credibility as it pitches large customers.

From DARPA to Google to Badge

At DARPA, Kaufman formed the Information Innovation Office and served as the agency’s first Director of Cybersecurity. He created the Cyber Grand Challenge, which pitted automated systems against each other to find and fix software flaws. He also became widely known for a 60 Minutes segment in which his team showed how a car could be hacked. Before Badge, he ran Google’s Advanced Technology and Products (ATAP) group.

What he will work on

Badge’s pitch is authentication without stored secrets: it derives private keys on the fly from a user’s biometrics and other factors, so there is no password or biometric database to steal. “I’ve spent my career building at the edge of technology, with a focus on protecting users and outsmarting adversaries,” Kaufman said in the announcement. An earlier version of this article attributed a different quote to him that we could not find, and it has been replaced with his published statement.

Badge’s place in the identity market

Badge says it already works with partners including Cisco, CyberArk, Okta and Thales. Stolen credentials remain one of the most common ways attackers get in, so passwordless and secretless login is a crowded and well-funded field. A high-profile hire helps Badge stand out.

What to watch

The real test will be adoption. Large companies move slowly on identity changes, and Badge will need to show that its approach is as easy to deploy as it is to explain. Kaufman’s job is to help make that case.

Dan Evert, CCNP

Dan Evert is a self proclaimed Router Jockey. Dan got heavily involved in networking right out of high school and has never looked back! Dan is giving back by working with high school students to get them involved and interested in Networking and Security.