Comcast Cybersecurity Experts Recognized with Industry Awards for Innovation and Leadership

Vaibhav "VG" Garg, Executive Director, Cybersecurity & Privacy Research and Public Policy, received the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) 2026 Technology Achievement Award. This award recognizes emerging leaders in the industry who have demonstrated remarkable initiative and delivered significant contributions to a recent project or engagement within CTA's Technology & Standards program. Honorees have advanced consumer technology, accelerated innovation, and strengthened the collaborative spirit that drives progress across the industry.

Garg earned the award for his contributions in the world of post-quantum cryptography. As part of the CTA Cybersecurity Working Group, which is responsible for developing standards and best practices for cybersecurity and privacy, Garg chaired Working Group 10. In this role, he was responsible for developing best practices for transitioning resource-constrained devices, e.g. IoT devices with limitations on compute power, memory, storage, and energy, to more secure and advanced post-quantum cryptography. This is an effort that typically requires two years of working time but one that Garg and his group were able to complete in less than one year.

Bahman Rashidi, Senior Director, Technical Research & Development, earned the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 2026 Wilt J. Hildenbrand Jr. Rising Leader Award. This award recognizes individuals in the broadband industry who are 40 years old and younger and have made significant contributions to drive innovation within the industry. Rashidi was also honored with the award for his leadership in the field of post-quantum cryptography. Rashidi led the creation of an industry-recognized crypto-agility risk assessment framework - a proactive approach to understanding where cryptography is embedded, where migration risk exists, and how to prioritize remediation. Today, this work is cited widely across major industry bodies, including the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

Past recipients of the Wilt J. Hildenbrand Jr. Rising Leader Award also include three current Comcast leaders - Vaibhav "VG" Garg (2025); Serge Kasongo, Executive Director, Partner Network Deployment & Operations (2023); and Rama Assaf-Smith, Senior Director, Global Streaming Technology Assurance & Analytics, Peacock (2021).

"Vaibhav and Bahman exemplify the kind of leadership, curiosity and technical excellence that drive meaningful innovation at Comcast and across our industry," said Noopur Davis, Comcast Chief Information Security & Product Privacy Officer. "Their recognition reflects not only their individual contributions, but also the strength of Comcast's cybersecurity organization and our commitment to advancing technologies that help protect customers, businesses and the broader ecosystem. I'm proud to congratulate them both on this well-deserved recognition."