# Trust Spotlight: Val Dobrushkin @ Onyx Security

URL: https://wolfia.com/blog/trust-spotlight-val-dobrushkin-onyx
Description: Our second Trust Spotlight features Val Dobrushkin, Head of Compliance at Onyx Security, on going from software engineer to securing US Navy submarines.
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Trust Spotlight is our series featuring the people behind every security review, every policy, and every customer trust conversation. They’re often behind the scenes, playing a huge role in keeping deals moving. We think they deserve a spotlight too.

Our second guest is Val Dobrushkin, Head of Compliance at [Onyx Security](https://onyx.security). Val tested Wolfia against every other tool out there before he picked it, and he’s been one of our toughest and most generous critics ever since, as well as an advisor who tells us exactly what to fix.

We love working with engineers, and Val started out as one. More than 20 years ago, he went from software engineer to running vulnerability assessments on US Navy submarines.

## How did you get into security?

I got into security by accident and curiosity over 20 years ago. I worked for a defense startup as a software engineer and helping out with IT supporting our CTO when our startup won a contract to provide cybersecurity solutions to the US Navy. We did not have anybody in house that specialized in cybersecurity, so I volunteered. Because it was a startup and the executives were very supportive, they gave me a chance to do the first work myself.

My first step was to perform vulnerability assessments against computers used on submarines. I researched the top vulnerability scanning tools at the time and used them to identify vulnerabilities and possible exploits and wrote up reports for the US Navy. The Navy somehow loved what I wrote. As a result we continued to receive more contracts, our cybersecurity team expanded, and I got to do more cool things like setting up a SIPRNet site, develop SIEM and different data classification and destruction processes when submarines changed operations and between Secret/TS/SCI levels, and I was hooked.

## What do most people get wrong about security reviews?

What most people get wrong about vendor security reviews is that questionnaires are not the way to assess vendor risks, neither are SaaS scanning sites that only see the front end of websites and cannot validate the security practices underneath.

## What’s something Wolfia does that you haven’t seen from other tools?

There are three things that have stood out for me with Wolfia from the very first time I had evaluated it against other competitors and they continued to be true to this day:

- Much more accurate knowledge lookup and questionnaire completion than anything out there.
- Simple and easy to use UX/UI where even the things I thought I liked in other products turned out to be easier and quicker to use with Wolfia.
- Super responsive support team where any bugs or roadmap suggestions get resolved in days, not months or years.

## Thank you, Val, for pushing us to be better every single week!

_Know someone who should be in the Trust Spotlight? [Let us know on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/wolfia-app)._