Hacker linked to Epstein removed from Black Hat cyber conference website

Vincenzo Iozzo, a renowned hacker linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is no longer listed on the website of Black Hat, one of the largest cybersecurity conferences in the world, nor on the Japanese security conference Code Blue.

As of Thursday, Iozzo does not appear on the official review board pages of Black Hat or Code Blue. He was still listed on both pages as of last week. Iozzo had been on the Black Hat review board since 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

In a statement shared with TechCrunch through a spokesperson, Iozzo said he told Black Hat that he “will not willingly resign” and welcomed “a full investigation.”

Spokespeople for Black Hat did not respond to requests for comment. 

Iozzo, currently the founder and chief executive of cybersecurity startup SlashID, has had a long career in the industry. Iozzo authored one of the first manuals for hackers researching Apple’s mobile software, and in 2015, founded cybersecurity startup IperLane, which was later bought by CrowdStrike, leading him to serve as a senior director at the company for almost four years. 

Iozzo’s name appears in more than 2,300 documents, some of which contain several emails, released on January 30 as part of the Department of Justice’s legally required effort to publish materials from its investigation into the late financier and sex trafficker. 

Iozzo’s interactions with Epstein span from October 2014 until December 2018. In late 2018, the Miami Herald published news stories detailing allegations that Epstein abused more than 60 women, some of them teenage girls.

After these stories were published, newly released emails show, Iozzo was trying to meet with Epstein at his New York townhouse.

Among the new material published by the Justice Department, beyond the more than 2,300 documents mentioning Iozzo, there was also a report from an FBI informant who claimed Epstein had a “personal hacker.” The document is redacted and does not name the alleged hacker. However, some of the identifying details included in the document strongly suggest that the informant believed Iozzo was Epstein’s hacker. Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera reported on the emails earlier this month and named Iozzo as the person likely redacted in the informant document. 

It’s important to note that the claims and allegations by the FBI informant were not confirmed by the FBI itself, and may be partially wrong. Furthermore, there is no evidence in the emails that suggests Iozzo did anything unlawful for Epstein.

Iozzo said in his statement to TechCrunch that he “knew Epstein for professional reasons” and that he wished he had not, but he denied claims that he was Epstein’s hacker or did any hacking for him. 

“We were introduced in 2014 when I was a 25-year-old at MIT fundraising for my startup, by people whom I trusted and admired. Because of this, I failed to ask the right questions that, in retrospect, seem obvious,” read the statement, sent by his spokesperson Joan Vollero. “I foolishly accepted the narrative that was presented to me by others that greatly minimized the magnitude of his horrific actions. I regret the past association and take full responsibility for not exercising greater judgment at the time.”

“My interactions with Epstein were limited to business opportunities that never materialized, as well as discussions of the markets and emerging technologies. I never observed nor participated in any illegal activity or behavior,” Iozzo added.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 and registered as a sex offender in Florida and New York. In 2018, new reports emerged that Epstein was allegedly a serial sex abuser and had trafficked underage girls at his private island. After these new reports, the Justice Department formally charged Epstein in 2019 of trafficking, exploiting, and abusing dozens of underage girls. Epstein later died in jail. 

Neither Iozzo’s spokesperson Vollero, nor his attorney Emma Spiro, explained why Iozzo was removed from Black Hat’s website, but did not dispute the removal. 

“Mr. Iozzo welcomed an independent investigation from Black Hat, rather than a knee-jerk removal decision, because he is confident that he would be cleared through that process,” said Vollero.

Code Blue spokesperson Ken-ichi Saito confirmed to TechCrunch that the conference removed Iozzo’s name from its review board. Saito said the conference had been “preparing for this update for several months” to remove Iozzo and two other review board members “who had not been active” and that the “the timing of our website update coincidentally overlapped with the public release of the Epstein documents.”