Future of Threat Intelligence The Futurum Group's Fernando Montenegro on the OODA Loop Approach to Security Strategy
What happens when you apply economic principles like opportunity cost and comparative advantage to cybersecurity decision-making? Fernando Montenegro, VP & Practice Lead of Cybersecurity at The Futurum Group, demonstrates how viewing security through an economics lens reveals critical blind spots most practitioners miss. His approach transforms how organizations evaluate cloud migrations, measure program success, and allocate security resources.
Fernando also explains why cybersecurity has evolved from a technical discipline into a socioeconomic challenge affecting society at large. His three-part framework for AI implementation — understanding the technology, mapping business needs, and assessing threat environments — offers security leaders a structured approach to cutting through hype and making strategic decisions.
Topics discussed:
- How security economics and opportunity cost analysis reshape cloud migration decisions and resource allocation strategies
- The National Academies' 2025 "Cyber Hard Problems" report and its implications for cybersecurity's expanding societal impact
- A three-part framework for AI implementation: technology comprehension, business alignment, and threat environment assessment
- Why understanding organizational business operations eliminates the biggest blind spot in threat intelligence programs
- Multi-layered professional networking strategies for separating signal from noise in threat intelligence analysis
- How cloud environments fundamentally change threat intelligence workflows from IP-based to identity and architecture-focused approaches
Key Takeaways:
- Apply economic opportunity cost analysis to security decisions by evaluating what you give up versus what you gain from each security investment.
- Map your organization's business operations across marketing, sales, and product development to provide crucial context for technical threat intelligence.
- Assess AI implementations through a three-part framework: technology limitations, business use cases, and specific threat considerations.
- Measure security program success by evaluating alignment with organizational goals and influence on non-security business decisions.
- Run intentional OODA loops on your security program to maintain strategic direction and continuous improvement.
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