Tanner Burns is Chief Scientist and a Co-founder at HiddenLayer, a cybersecurity startup dedicated to preventing adversarial machine learning attacks. He is responsible for the architecture, design, and development of the MLDR product. Prior to HiddenLayer’s formation, Tanner led a variety of projects for Research, Engineering, and Data Science teams, where he wrote automated software to support threat intelligence, designed custom MLOps pipelines, and created deep learning models for threat classification. In his most recent role, Tanner assisted in building a Data Science team from the ground up, ultimately producing DNN models for classifying cyber threats via time-series data. While acquiring a BS in Computer Science from Texas State University, Tanner published multiple journals in the cybersecurity space and earned numerous awards. Tanner lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Rachel and daughter Callie.
HiddenLayer, a Gartner-recognized Cool Vendor for AI Security, is the leading provider of Security for AI. Its AISec Platform unifies supply chain security, runtime defense, posture management, and automated red teaming to protect agentic, generative, and predictive AI applications. The platform enables organizations across the private and public sectors to reduce risk, ensure compliance, and adopt AI with confidence.
Founded by a team of cybersecurity and machine learning veterans, HiddenLayer combines patented technology with industry-leading research to defend against prompt injection, adversarial manipulation, model theft, and supply chain compromise. The company is backed by strategic investors including M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Moore Strategic Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, IBM Ventures, and Capital One Ventures.
