Working as a Senior Threat Intelligence Consultant | Bethany Keele (VerSprite Cybersecurity)

### Overview In this talk, Bethany Keele discusses her career journey and day-to-day role as a Senior Threat Intelligence Consultant at VerSprite Cybersecurity. She outlines how she transitioned from an initial interest in network administration into security analysis and eventually specialized in threat intelligence. Keele explains what makes threat intelligence distinct from traditional security engineering, compliance, and Security Operations Center (SOC) roles, while also highlighting key skills and mindsets essential for success in the field.

### Key Topics - **Career Path into Cybersecurity**: Keele originally pursued an associate's degree in network administration, but shifted directions after disliking the field. Her break came through an internationally open security analyst internship at a nuclear lab, which launched her career in cybersecurity across SOC operations, security engineering, compliance, and threat intelligence. - **The Nature of Threat Intelligence**: Unlike operational or compliance positions, threat intelligence is purely research-based. The focus is on proactively identifying unknown threats and modeling how attackers would target specific client organizations based on their unique threat landscapes. - **Industry Growth and Future Outlook**: Cybersecurity is portrayed as an evolving field still in its early stages. As attackers find more subtle methods to conceal their activities, the demand for dedicated threat intelligence consultants will continue to expand. - **Managing Bias and Perspective**: An open mind is critical when conducting threat research. Because personal assumptions can produce significant blind spots, Keele highlights the necessity of peer reviews with colleagues holding differing perspectives or viewpoints. - **Core Technical Skill Sets**: Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is identified as an indispensable skill set used daily in threat intelligence research, including locating threat actor data on the dark web.

### Technical Details - **OSINT Framework**: Keele highlights OSINT Framework as a valuable categorical tool resource, noting how it organizes intelligence gathering by specific data points (such as usernames) and exposes corresponding discovery tools. - **GitHub Resources**: GitHub is recommended as a central starting point to explore open-source tools relevant to intelligence research. - **Dark Web Intelligence**: Keele mentions applying OSINT methods to investigate threat actor activity and retrieve information concealed across the dark web, as covered in her introductory guide for CREST.

### Takeaways - Threat intelligence approaches security from an adversary perspective: evaluating client environments by asking, "If we were an attacker, here's how we would attack you." - Peer reviewing research with individuals of differing viewpoints is a practical safeguard against personal and cognitive biases. - Aspiring threat intelligence analysts should prioritize learning OSINT methodology, exploring public tool repositories like GitHub, and familiarizing themselves with structured resources like OSINT Framework.