The term “Threat Hunter” and “Threat Researcher” seem to be buzzing around these days. But what does it mean? What do those people do? Where do they fall in?
I’m going to tell you my thoughts on what the skills and abilities of seasoned hunter might look like and how having one could help an organization.
I will talk a little about the common types of hunters, but I will talk more about my passion that is also my job.
My goal is to help clear a couple of things up and maybe spark some interest in this field that I love.
I started tinkering with webpage vulnerabilities when I was around 17 years old. I had no clue it was a real job. I was soon, purposefully, infecting my own computers with spyware to see what happens and how they work. Then I joined the military (around 19 years old) as a Signals Intelligence Analyst (National Guard 2003, active duty Army 2005, and ended my career last year in the reserves). I’ve done some threat targeting downrange in Afghanistan and Iraq and even more targeting back here stateside. I left the targeting-focused world for a short time when I worked at the Department of Energy as their Senior Reverse Engineer. Currently, I am working at Fidelis as a Principal Threat Researcher. As you can see, my career grew up in the shadows of digital conversations. I saw and learned so much. A target is a target – human or digital.