The Defender's Advantage Podcast

This week’s episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast kicks off our new monthly series, Skills Gap, which focuses on thoughts, ideas, and initiatives for narrowing the skills gap in cyber security. Our host Chris Campbell was joined for this conversation by Mandiant’s John Doyle, Principal Consultant, and Matt Shelton, Director of Technology Risk and Threat Intelligence, to discuss talent and bridging the skills gap. The guests share their tips and resources for those interested in getting into the cyber security space and discuss what they look for when interviewing potential members of their teams. Follow John Doyle at @_John_Doyle and Matt Shelton at @mattjshelton. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to The Defender’s Advantage Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts!  Additional Resources Read the blog, “Introducing the Mandiant Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) Analyst Core Competencies Framework”: https://mndt.info/3sQVU1gLearn more about Mandiant’s mWise Conference: https://mndt.info/3NeX7XQ Check out Mandiant’s career page to learn about employment opportunities: https://mndt.info/3NcOblJ

This week’s Threat Trends episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast features Jacqueline Koven, Head of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Chainalysis, who joined host Luke McNamara to discuss the trends in cryptocurrency and cyber activity. She also breaks down some examples of nation state usage and targeting of crypto and the adoption of cryptocurrency by different threat actors. Learn more about Chainalysis at chainalysis.com and follow them at @chainalysis. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to The Defender’s Advantage Podcast where you listen to podcasts. 

In this Frontline Stories episode of the Defender’s Advantage Podcast, host Kerry Matre is joined by Joshua Bass, Director of Product Management, and Sarah Korth, Director of Commercial Intel Services, to discuss Mandiant’s Digital Risk Protection (DRP) solution. The group discusses digital risk protection, what it can reveal about cyber threat profiles, and how attackers find weaknesses. They also discuss advancements made in digital threat management, a service included in our DRP solution, such as natural language processing. To learn more, read our blog, “Protecting Supply Chains and Third Party Vendor Connections" Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. Additional Resources Read more about Digital Risk Protection Read more about Digital Threat Monitoring  Learn more about the Defender’s Advantage Cyber Snapshot  

In this week’s Threat Trends episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast, host Luke McNamara is joined by Jonathan Yaron, CEO and Chairman of Kiteworks to discuss navigating customer trust following a breach. During the conversation, Jonathan talks about lessons learned from the breach he led the company through and what leaders should consider in the event their organization experiences a breach. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. 

In the inaugural episode of the Frontline Stories series, part of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast, host Kerry Matre is joined by Rob Caldwell, Director of OT/ICS Services at Mandiant. During the conversation, they discuss OT/ICS security and the impact an OT attack can have on an organization. They also dive specifically into the INCONTROLLER and INDUSTROYER2 attacks and how they targeted OT environments. For more information on OT/ICS Security, visit https://mndt.info/3PF5JJD You can follow Rob Caldwell at @robac3. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. 

In this week’s Threat Trends episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast, host Luke McNamara is joined by Sam Riddell and Alden Wahlstrom, analysts on Mandiant’s IO team, to discuss what they are seeing in the cyber threat landscape around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They talk about what their team has observed in the lead up to the invasion and the activity they have seen in the IO space since. Sam and Alden dive in on the threat actors in the space, the tactics being employed, and where they see the activity moving as the conflict continues. Check out the blog, "Information Operations Surrounding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine" at https://mndt.info/3LumlAq. You can follow Sam Riddell at @RiddellSam and Alden Wahlstrom at @AldenWahlstrom. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. 

In this week’s episode of The Defender’s Advantage Podcast, host Luke McNamara is joined by Doug Bienstock and Josh Madeley, members of the Mandiant consulting team to discuss a new threat actor, UNC3524. Doug and Josh share their observations of the group’s activities and tactics, like the use of IoT devices. Read more about UNC3524 in the team’s latest blog post, “UNC3524: Eye Spy on Your Email”: https://mndt.info/3KCGtQm Follow Doug Bienstock at @doughsec and Josh Madeley at @MadeleyJosh. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. 

It’s that time of year again: Mandiant has just published its M-Trends 2022 report. With almost 100 pages to unpack in this year’s report, host Luke McNamara is joined by Regina Elwell, Senior Principal Threat Analyst and Kirstie Failey, Senior Threat Analyst, who both contributed to the development of this year’s report.  Among the aspects highlighted during the conversation are notable threat actors, including FIN12 and FIN13, the financially motivated threat groups that Mandiant graduated in 2021. The group also discussed the threat trends and techniques that have been observed during the report period. You can follow Regina Elwell at @ReginaElwell and Kirstie Failey at @Gigs_Security Download your copy of M-Trends 2022: https://www.mandiant.com/m-trends  Read how Mandiant tracks UNCs: https://mndt.info/3xwD9n3Read this blog post to learn more about Cobalt Strike and BEACON: https://mndt.info/3Duxg9QView this webinar to learn more about FIN12: https://mndt.info/38UyDVj Read this blog post to learn more about APT41: https://mndt.info/3JQOpgC  Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe where you listen to podcasts. 

This week, host Luke McNamara is joined by Jens Monrad, Director, EMEA, Mandiant Threat Intelligence. The two discuss the evolving threat landscape in Europe following the COVID-19 pandemic and touch on the cyber aspect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. You can follow Jens on Twitter at @jenschm. Learn about Mandiant's Ukraine Crisis Resource Center: https://mndt.info/3roZ4JvRead the Mandiant blog, "Responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine Likely to Spur Retaliation": https://mndt.info/3IM8Co5Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe on the platform where you listen to podcasts. 

Looking for Eye on Security? We are still here, but with a few important changes. This week we're launching Mandiant's new Defender's Advantage Podcast featuring the same great content you've come to expect from us and even more.Host Luke McNamara anchors our Threat Trends series, chatting with Mandiant intel analysts, consultants, and researchers, as well as external practitioners and leaders in cyber security, all through a threat-focused lens.And Mandiant's Kerry Matre joins to host monthly conversations with Mandiant customers and industry experts who will share their experiences and stories from the frontline of cyber security as part of our new Frontline Stories series.Stay tuned for our inaugural Threat Trends episode later this week.