The Top 10 Off-The-Shelf Cyber Threat Intelligence Career Positions – And Which One You Should Pick Up?

Every then and now a logical question emerges – which are some of the most relevant cyber threat intelligence positions and which one you should aim at excelling at in terms of applying as soon as possible and what are some of the necessary skills and qualifications required for you to join the vibrant world of defensive and offensive cyber warfare? Keep reading.

In this post I’ll walk you through ten currently active and possibly high-profile hot cyber threat intelligence careers that you could possibly get involved in in terms of applying including to actually offer pragmatic and market-segment relevant advice on how to master them and excel at these careers.

Among the key cyber threat intelligence career positions that are on the top and off-the-shelf from major defensive and offensive cyber warfare vendor providers currently include:

• Threat Hunter – this is one of the new and currently highly demanded position that’s beginning to take shape across the threat intelligence market segment which basically has to do with active Big Data using public and proprietary sources data mining for malicious software and malicious campaigns. Among the key prerequisites for this position is basic OSINT understanding and experience including knowledge of various TTPs (tactics techniques and procedures) in terms of how exactly is today’s modern malware making its way on a corporate network including personal and home PCs in particular generic possibly in-depth knowledge of various currently in-the-wild botnets and malware families including various other ways in which today’s modern malicious and fraudulent campaigns are making their way on corporate networks including home and personal PCs. Possible sources of current and historical information on IoCs (Indicators of Compromise) and TTPs (tactics techniques and procedures) which you can catch up include my personal blog. Among the first services which you should begin to utilize in terms of crowd-sourced public community driven OSINT type of information and data repositories include – VirusTotal, Hybrid-Analysis, ANY.RUN, AMAaaS, Intezer Analyze, IRIS-H Digital Forensics, CAPE, Valkyrie, JoeSandbox which should offer a pretty decent set of malicious activity for you to play with in terms of enriching your personal knowledge and experience in the field of Threat Hunting.
• SIGING Assets Discovery – this is a relatively high-profile position within the military and the defense sector including the U.S Intelligence Community in the context of empowering the employer with the necessary data information and knowledge in terms of keeping track of and discovering new and relevant new and currently circulating in-the-wild cyber threats including possible targets-of-opportunity with the actual data potentially utilized for offensive Tailored Access Operations including possibly to establish “touch points” with a targeted infrastructure for the purpose of launching both passive and active defensive and offensive cyber warfare campaigns. Among the key requirements for this position is a solid OSINT experience and know-how including automated use of popular Data Mining and Social Network Analysis tools for the purpose of building active network and actual individual dossiers including the active execution of defensive and offensive cyber warfare operations against network-based infrastructure including possibly an individual or a set of individuals in question. The key point here is to actually have the strong analytical and OSINT-based analysis tools to proactively spot and detect current and ongoing major or targeted phishing and spam including malicious-software distributing campaigns for the purpose of properly profiling the activity of the gang including to actually be able to properly perform a passive or active network reconnaissance of a targeted infrastructure for the purpose of establishing the foundations for a successful Tailored Access Operation against a particular target or a set of targets.
• Offensive Cyber Warfare Operator – this position requires basic understanding of Network fundamentals including active OSINT experience and actual passive and active network and infrastructure-based reconnaissance experience for the purpose of launching and actually orchestrating defensive and offensive cyber warfare operations against the network or the actual individual. The main purpose behind this career position would be to actually orchestrate and operate a defensive and offensive Cyber Warfare platform including possible to launch and orchestrate virtual SIGINT missions including possibly Tailored Access Operations using a pre-defined set of proprietary and of-the-shelf offensive cyber warfare tools.
• OSINT Analyst – This is among the most popular and currently sought after position in the field of Cyber Threat Intelligence where experienced masters of OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) can easily make a career by beginning and actually starting to profile malicious and fraudulent actors by using Open Source Intelligence tools and methodologies. Among the key success factors for this position is the actual use of public and proprietary OSINT tools and techniques including personal and publicly discussed and proposed methodologies.
• Tailored Access Specialist – Do you like doing unethical penetration testing? Do you easily go for signing an NDA? This is yet another currently hot position on the Cyber Threat Intelligence front where you can easily aim to and attempt to compromise a malicious adversary’s network potentially compromising it and actually exposing the true face of a malicious and fraudulent campaign including to actually assess the damage and include a victim’s list.
• Virtual HUMINT Analyst – Do you have a lot of experience hanging around cybercrime forum communities? Are you good at spotting valuable cybercrime-friendly underground market propositions and actually initiating a conversation with the actual owner of the service for the purpose of gathering intelligence on the service including the true scope of the fraudulent proposition? Keep reading. This is among the key Cyber Threat Intelligence market-segment positions where the actual analyst would further profile and attempt to infiltrate a specific cybercrime-friendly service including to infiltrate a specific cybercrime forum community for the purpose of “processing” it using automated OSINT gathering tools including possible use of personal methodologies. The key success factors here are often the use and reliance on basic Intelligence Gathering principles including the use of social engineering. Brace yourselves – and make sure that you have a decent budget on your behalf in the very beginning.
• Cyber Technical Collector – Have you ever dreamed of processing and obtaining full access to a cybercrime forum community for the purpose of taking a deeper look inside its market-segment leading fraudulent and rogue propositions? The main purpose behind this position is to actually be in a position to gather as much information about a specific cybercrime forum community including to build a list of cybercrime-friendly communities for the purpose of automatically processing them using automated OSINT tools and possible use of personal OSINT methodologies and public and proprietary tools.
• Big Data Cyber Visualization Expert – The main purpose behind this position is to establish the foundation for a successful visualization of cybercrime-friendly forum community data possibly generating graphs and charts including actual visualization of a Social Network Analysis of all the participants within a specific fraudulent and rogue cybercrime-friendly forum community.
• Cybercrime Researcher and Expert – This is among the hottest positions within the Cyber Threat Intelligence market-segment where the actual research and expert would have to posses a decent understanding of various trends within the cybercrime ecosystem including how it works and how cybercriminals actually monetize the fraudulent campaigns using alternative payment methods and possible cash-out strategies including to actually be in a position to prevent and offer practical and technical recommendations for the mitigation of this type of activity.
• Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst Linguist – Do you know several languages? Are you experienced in fighting cybercrime? Are you technically sophisticated enough to fight malware? This is an ideal position for you to take advantage of in terms of localizing cybercrime forum community content and actual fraudulent propositions to another language possibly breaking the language-barrier and actually empowering your employer with the necessary information on stay on the top of their game.

Are you interested in finding out more about currently active and hot Cyber Threat Intelligence Careers and possibly get hands-on experience and training in Information Warfare OSINT and Cyber Warfare?

Approach me at dancho.danchev@hush.com