Sharon Kent is an experienced non-profit leader and data science specialist in internet security and anti-abuse. She is a former member of the Board of Directors and Vice Chair of the Messaging, Malware, and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG). She currently serves as Co-Chair of the M3AAWG AI Committee, where she supports the organization by coordinating content and documenting best practices on the security of AI systems, addressing internet abuse facilitated by AI, and exploring how AI can be used to fight internet abuse. She also currently serves as Vice Chair to the M3AAWG Program Committee and previously served as Co-Chair of the M3AAWG Technical Committee.
For 10 years, Sharon worked as a software engineer supporting internet security and anti-abuse at Comcast. She worked primarily in email anti-abuse, developing systems to detect account takeovers and analyze sender domain and IP reputations. She currently works as a security engineer at beehiiv, leveraging machine learning to detect various types of email and platform abuse.
Sharon has received a Master of Applied Statistics degree from The Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology with a specialization in Data Management and Analysis from Colorado State University.
In her early career, Sharon worked in non-profits, starting as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, connecting people and communities with resources and security. The intersection of this experience and her technical background makes her passionate about the Internet Society’s goals for the Internet to be open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy.
