In this episode of The Future of Threat Intelligence, Jeffrey Caruso, Senior Analyst at Wikistrat & Author of Inside Cyber Warfare, shares examples of how teams with minimal budgets achieved kinetic effects through OT system manipulation — from destroying missile research facilities to compromising subway systems and burning down FSB-affiliated banks. His findings, based on two years documenting Ukrainian cyber operations, demonstrate how deep supply chain understanding and innovative attack methods are proving more effective than conventional nation-state capabilities. 

Through methodical vendor system compromise and strategic engineering documentation exfiltration, he tells with David how these teams have developed techniques for creating cascading physical effects without entering Russian territory. Notably, they've demonstrated that successful cyber-physical attacks don't require massive resources; instead, success comes from understanding system interdependencies and supply chain relationships, combined with the ability to interrogate key technical personnel about specific system behaviors. 

This research challenges traditional security models that emphasize tool stacks over team composition and suggests that adversary categorization (nation-state vs. criminal) may be less relevant than previously thought.

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Join us for the 15th anniversary of RISE in San Francisco this April 8-9, where cybersecurity professionals, law enforcement, and threat intelligence analysts come together for two days of TLP-RED content sharing and hands-on collaboration in the fight against cybercrime. 

Apply now at http://www.cymru.com/rise.  

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