About Praefortis

Praefortis is led by Wesley Brandi: a seasoned computer scientist and internationally respected forensic expert with over two decades of experience working alongside lawyers, law enforcement, and government agencies. From cracking the toughest security barriers in modern hardware wallets to exposing large-scale fraud rings, Wesley’s work has reshaped the way digital threats are investigated and neutralized.

Wesley holds a PhD in Computer Science and began his career at Microsoft as a software engineer working on Windows Server 2008, Internet Explorer, and Bing. He was part of the elite SmartScreen team responsible for building the URL and application reputation systems that protect millions of users today. Later, at Amazon, he served as a senior product manager where he led a covert team focused on identifying and mitigating high-impact vulnerabilities. His team’s work, rooted in engineering rigor and internal intelligence collaboration, saved Amazon over $150 million annually by preempting sophisticated fraud.

Before founding Praefortis, Wesley built and ran a computer forensics firm whose clients included Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Verizon and multiple U.S. government agencies. He has designed advanced tools for affiliate fraud detection, malvertising investigation, synthetic image recognition, and even deployed innovative AI-based CAPTCHAs independent of third-party libraries. His expertise has led him to present at conferences hosted by Microsoft and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC), and he has consulted on cases ranging from global botnets to scams targeting senior citizens.

At the heart of Praefortis is Wesley’s unique capability in crypto wallet recovery. He is believed to be the only person in the world capable of recovering encrypted Trezor wallets running the latest firmware without access to the PIN or seed. Through years of advanced electrical engineering and hands-on hardware attacks, including state machine manipulation of STM32 microcontrollers, Wesley has achieved what even manufacturers consider impossible.

Wesley has served as a confidential informant, appeared before grand juries, and led cross-disciplinary teams of former agents, economists, and scientists to uncover and halt emerging threats.