Big Phish: Adventures in Tech

Episode Overview:

In this episode, Aileen Ward engages with the CISO of Centripetal to explore the development and significance of cyber threat intelligence. With experience spanning government roles, including SOC manager for the US Health and Human Services, our guest offers unique insights from the intersection of public and private sector expertise.

Key Topics Covered:

• From Government to Private Sector: The journey through the cybersecurity landscape, detailing the transition from leading security at a significant US government organization to overseeing operations at Centripetal. This discussion highlights the foundational experiences that inform current practices in cyber threat intelligence.

• Foundations of Cyber Threat Intelligence: An expert breakdown of cyber threat intelligence, tracing its origins to military intelligence strategies. This comparison sheds light on the importance of informed, actionable intelligence in crafting cybersecurity defenses.

• Cyber Threat Intelligence Evolution: A look at how cyber threat intelligence has transformed from early manual report generation to today's necessity for dynamic, real-time analysis to combat sophisticated cyber threats.

• Collaboration and Information Sharing Challenges: Insights into the hurdles of collaboration and information sharing within and between government agencies, emphasizing the ongoing need for trust, efficiency, and adaptability.

• Emerging Technologies and Cyber Threats: Discussion on how emerging technologies shape the cyber threat landscape, advocating for a proactive, intelligence-driven approach to cybersecurity. The importance of continuous learning and leveraging diverse intelligence sources is underscored.

• Cross-Sector Collaboration: The critical role of collaboration across different sectors in strengthening cybersecurity defense strategies against evolving threats.

Closing Thoughts:

The episode emphasizes the vital role of cyber threat intelligence in the digital era, advocating for a strategic approach to anticipate and mitigate cyber threats. A must-listen for those interested in the dynamics of cyber threat intelligence and its importance in modern cybersecurity practices.

Listen and Subscribe: Tune into this insightful episode on the Big Phish: Adventures in Tech Podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Centripetal.ai. Subscribe to stay informed on the latest in technology and cybersecurity.

The number of women in cybersecurity over the last two decades has grown, but there was a time when being a female in cyber in the UK meant you were the only one in the room. For Niamh Muldoon, the Chief Information Security Officer at Fenergo, it was a reality at the beginning of her career. Starting in Fashion Design but finding a passion for cybersecurity Muldoon took the CISSP and never looked back.

While her career spans across multiple industries including finance, SaaS and cloud - working with many globally recognised brands.Today she is responsible for the Enterprise Information Security program at Fenergo including defining, driving, and delivering their Security First Operational Excellence strategy. A strong believer in cultivating a team culture that embraces the uniqueness of each individual, she shares the superpowers that female leaders.

Seeing herself as an underdog helps her keep an edge that drives her growth, passion and success. An award-winning Information security thought leader and Guinness World Record holder for Cybersecurity Awareness, she is passionate about security and privacy and the opportunity that the global scale of cybersecurity presents.

Connect with Niamh on LinkedIn.

How does one go from being an Anonymous and LulzSec hacker to Director of Research at Alacrinet, where he works with clients to assist them in maturing their security program and strengthening their security posture?

Hector Monsegur, known by the pseudonym Sabu in his hacktivist days in the early 2000's, infiltrated or compromised the systems of governments around the world before eventually being caught by the FBI. More specifically Special Agent Chris Tarbell. Today, he hosts a podcast called Hacker and the Fed with Tarbell. And at Alacrinet, Monsegur uses his unique expertise to provide clients with white glove protection - helping them understand not only the issues they are facing based on the gaps they have, but what they could be doing to mature their security program.

Listen to The Hacker and the Fed on Spotify and Apple.

Connect with Hector on LinkedIn.

Today there is a real need for people to feel trust, affinity and connection to their colleagues. But how can technology help make that happen - especially in a world in which workforces are highly distributed? Mariel Davis, Cofounder of Spokn, is a self-proclaimed challenge junkie - always thinking differently in solving them. It's what lead her to the Middle East in college to study Arabic, and to Y Combinator to accelerate the growth and evolution of Spokn. Today, it's a platform that while powered by technology, it provides employees with tools to connect each other and ultimately build trust.

Traditionally, people have rarely gone to school for cybersecurity. Yet it's an industry that impacts every facet of the world, and its importance is growing by the minute. Within it, you can "fight the bad guys and make the world a better place in some way," says Maggie Macalpine. MacAlpine, a Cyber Engagement Lead at the Center for Threat-Informed Defense at MITRE Engenuity, was an english major who has found a passion for bridging knowledge gaps across cybersecurity. In an industry where jargon itself can cause confusion and miscommunication, she has found a niche in translating engineering-speak to english - her self-described superpower. Beginning her career at a startup focusing on election security at a time when there wasn’t such widespread concern as to whether or not security was an issue.

Now, at the Center for Threat-Informed Defense where the goal is to advance the state of the art state of practicing threat informed defense, a philosophical approach to cybersecurity that focuses on what an adversary is doing rather than traditional defensive compliances and "checking the boxes" within traditional cybersecurity. MacAlpine shares how the relative newness of cybersecurity, and the innovation needed to protect information using online machines is a completely new terrain.

Beginning his career in the US Navy as a Information Systems Technician, Chris Haller transferred to the Navy's Cyber Defense Operations Command where he absolutely fell in love with cybersecurity. Currently the Director of Professional Services at Centripetal, he recently became only the 329th security professional to pass the GSC, the most prestigious credential in IT security. Driven by curiosity and a desire to help protect businesses against adversaries, Haller employs a hacker mindset to creatively execute vulnerability assessments and awareness trainings for enterprises, leveraging prior experience and intelligence to help protect their networks and increase their cybersecurity posture.