Open Source Intelligence's Role in the National Security and the Broader Public Sector with Grist Mill Exchange's Kristin Wood
Release Date: 06/14/2022
the CYBER5
In Episode 90 of TheCyber5, we are joined by , founder of the Counterintelligence Institute. Warmka is a retired senior intelligence officer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where he specialized in clandestine HUMINT (human intelligence) collection. With 20+ years of breaching security overseas for a living, Warmka now teaches individuals and businesses about the strategy and tactics of “human hacking”. Warmka highlights how insiders are targeted, the methods used by nationstates for committing crimes, and what organizations need to help focus their security training...
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In Episode 89 of TheCyber5, we are joined by Nisos Research Principal, It was 7 years ago, at a restaurant in Ashburn, Virginia, when Nisos’ co-founders Justin Zeefe and Landon Winkelvoss met Vincas. At the time, Vincas was working as a contractor for the US government but was considering a pivot into the private sector. It was Vincas’ impressive intellect, strategic thinking, and technical capabilities that made him the ideal intelligence operator on whom to depend for the launch of Nisos. Over the course of several years, Vincas’ experience, as a developer, open threat...
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In Episode 88 of TheCyber5, we are joined by Nisos Senior Director for Customer Success, . Here are five topics we discuss in this episode: Intelligence Playbooks Start with Education to the Customer Playbooks should include three major steps. The first step is education on how intelligence is going to be consumed and not be nonstop noise. Discussions between customers and vendors should start around requirements that customers are trying to address with business stakeholders. Understanding Commercially and Publicly Available Data to Avoid Noise The next...
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In Episode 87 of TheCyber5, we are joined by senior information security leader . Here are five topics we discuss in this episode: Defining When Attribution is Relevant and Necessary Many corporations are not overly concerned with attribution against cyber adversaries, they just want to get back to business operations. However, if someone robbed your house, you would want to know if it was a random drive-by, or if it was your neighbor because that will inform your defenses much more appropriately. Defending Against Nation States Versus Crime Groups The ability to attribute...
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In Episode 86 of TheCyber5, we are joined by Senior Manager of Threat Management for Nvidia . Here are six topics we discuss in this episode: What is a threat management department within enterprise security? Threat management departments are usually formed when security teams become mature and have table stakes functions within threat intelligence, red team, penetration testing, and threat hunting. These functions are usually formed after compliance, risk, governance, vulnerability management, and security operations center (SOC) are operational. Unfortunately, threat...
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In Episode 85 of TheCyber5, we are joined by Chief Technologist of Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Here are four topics we discuss in this episode: What is the Operational Resiliency Framework (ORF)? The Operational Resiliency Framework (ORF) is a framework that is intended to be used by executives to ensure business continuity processes when their suppliers are knocked offline during natural disasters and cyber attacks. Defining Minimum Viable Services Step one, and the most important step, is defining a minimum level of...
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In Episode 84 of TheCyber5, we are joined by members of the CrossCountry Consulting team: , Offensive R&D Lead, , Associate Director, and , Director, Cyber and Privacy. Here are five topics we discuss in this episode: Adversary Emulation vs. Simulation and Use of Threat Intelligence Replaying attacks from adversaries is considered . The pros of emulation are you can react and defend against threat intelligence and the actual techniques during a penetration test. The cons are that many times these are yesterday’s threats. Simulation is the art of coming up with new attack...
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Topic: Title: Data Governance and Threat Intelligence Converge In Episode 83 of TheCyber5, we are joined by our guest, Egnyte’s Chief Governance Officer, Jeff Sizemore. We discuss the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and the impact on Department of Defense (DOD) contractors to mature their cybersecurity hygiene in order to compete for US government contracts. CMMC was based on NIST Standards 800-71. Here are 4 topics we discuss in this episode: Why Does CMMC Matter? In the near future, contracts are going to be rated L1-3 and if contractors are not certified up to a...
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In episode 82 of The Cyber5, we are joined by guest moderator and senior intelligence analyst for Nisos, Valerie G., and CEO of BGH Security, Tennisha Martin. In this episode, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of promoting and enabling diversity and inclusion in cyber security. Key Takeaways: Showing Impact for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) within Security Beyond filling cyber security skills gaps, some metrics that show success in D&I include: Jobs Feeling more confident in interviews Recommending minorities for employment opportunities...
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In episode 81 of The Cyber5, we are joined by the Head of Insider Threat at Uber and CEO of Vaillance Group, Shawnee Delaney. In this episode, we provide an overview of different functions within an insider threat program. We also discuss the support open source intelligence provides to such programs and how to change company culture to care about insider threats. We also discuss the ROI metrics that are important to different stakeholders when implementing an insider threat program. Three Takeaways: Departments and Functions within Insider Threat Insider threat programs...
info_outlineIn episode 75 of The Cyber5, we are joined by Grist Mill Exchange CEO, Kristin Wood.
We discuss open source intelligence (OSINT) use in the U.S. public sector, not only with national security but also with the emergency response sectors. We talk about how open source intelligence has evolved in the last ten years and talk about how adversaries use open source intelligence against us. We also discuss how the U.S. needs to catch up with not only how to operationalize OSINT in meaningful ways, but how the U.S. government can procure bleeding edge technologies in a more time sensitive manner to meet mission requirements.
Three Takeaways:
- Open Source Intelligence Has Evolved From Just Foreign Media; It’s The New All-Source Intelligence
The national security sector traditionally used open source intelligence as translating foreign media particularly during crisis situations. Now, open source intelligence is being leveraged in many ways like all source intelligence - the integration of human, signal, and imagery intelligence. Interconnectivity of devices has led to a commercial “goldrush” to aggregate data and sell it to public and private sector clients.
- China is Remarkable at Open Source Intelligence Using Autocracy as an Advantage
China and Russia are collecting open source intelligence at an unprecedented level against the U.S. including what’s commercially available and through computer network exploitation and data exfiltration.
They are aiming to reframe the U.S. using disinformation as a powerful tool. They have been very successful in leveraging online disinhibition effects against the U.S. populace.
- The United States Public Sector Needs an Overhaul in Procurement Authority
The U.S. private sector has a lot to teach the U.S. public sector in terms of learning consumer behaviors and how to pair that with commercially derived data, such as device fingerprinting, to extract valuable insights for national security purposes. To accomplish this, analysts need to be able to circumvent cumbersome government procurement buying cycles.