Detection at Scale Panther Labs

In this episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack speaks to Daniel Wiley, Head of Threat Management and Chief Security Advisor at Check Point Software, to discuss the intricacies of balancing technology and human analytics in cybersecurity. 

Daniel shares his experiences in building three successful internal startups at Check Point and emphasizes the importance of continuous learning throughout one’s career. He also touches on effective incident response strategies for small- to medium-sized businesses, and the vital role of adaptable data schemas in managing large-scale security operations. 

Topics discussed:
The highs and lows experienced in the cybersecurity startup journey, including the importance of quick decision-making and team-building.
Strategies for developing effective IR playbooks tailored for small- to medium-sized businesses to handle security threats efficiently.
The integration of machine analytics and human expertise to manage and interpret large volumes of cybersecurity data.
Managing 24/7 global SOCs, including the challenges of shift rotations and ensuring analysts are not overloaded.
Techniques for determining which data is crucial for cybersecurity efforts and how to handle terabytes of data per second.
The necessity of ongoing education and staying updated with the latest in cybersecurity to maintain effectiveness in the field.
The significance of hiring the right team from the start and making swift, decisive personnel changes when necessary.
Check Point’s focus on maintaining high operational margins and its impact on the business’s success and sustainability.

In our latest episode of Detection at Scale, Jason Waits, CISO at Inductive Automation, shares insights learned in his journey from network administration to cybersecurity and the importance of SCADA systems. 

He dives into the value of automation, ML, and AI in security operations, highlighting the need for asking the right questions for efficient data analysis. Jason also discusses building a security team with a focus on detection and response, leveraging automation for faster investigations. 

Topics discussed:
The role of SCADA systems in various industries and the importance of security in OT environments.
The challenges and strategies in building a security program for scale, focusing on automation and infrastructure as code.
The impact of IT-OT convergence on security issues and the need for enhanced controls and monitoring in interconnected systems.
Embracing automation in security operations, including detection engineering and automating response actions for efficiency and scalability.
Utilizing enrichment techniques for contextual data analysis and the significance of data sources for effective security investigations.
The use of ML and AI in security operations, particularly in natural language querying and data analysis for actionable insights.
Jason’s advice on building a successful security team, emphasizing automation, staying informed on industry trends, and fostering collaboration with engineering teams.

In our recent special Hot Ones-style episode of Detection at Scale, Panther CEO Will Lowe and Founder & CTO Jack Naglieri sit down to taste hot sauces and talk hot topics in the field of cybersecurity. Jack shares his evolution from security professionals to founders, emphasizing the importance of experience and understanding attacker profiles. 

Jack also gives his insights on the foundational skills to becoming a detection engineer, including building detection engineering functions and having war room experience. He also discusses the evolving role of AI in the security field, such as its usefulness in generating code for detection programs. 

Topics discussed:
Jack’s transition from practitioner to company founder, emphasizing the importance of saying yes to opportunities and keeping an open mind.
Building detection engineering functions with a focus on understanding what needs to be detected and why.
The significance of measurement in detection engineering and the importance of a growth mindset for continuous improvement.
The importance of understanding the experiences of security practitioners and software engineers.
The role of war room experience in understanding attacker profiles and the importance of incident response strategies to prepare for a role as a detection engineer.
The importance of sharing knowledge and experiences within the cybersecurity community.

In a recent episode of the Detection at Scale podcast recorded at the RSA conference, Jack chats with Corey Quinn, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, an AWS cost-management agency. They talked about the intersection of security and billing in the context of AWS environments, highlighting the significance of observability through billing data to enhance security measures. 

Corey also discussed key offenders in AWS services for security and highlighted the challenges companies face in determining optimal investments in security services. Throughout our discussion, Corey offers valuable takeaways on navigating the evolving landscape of AWS security practices and optimizing billing strategies for enhanced cloud security.

Topics discussed:
The importance of observability via billing data to bolster AWS security measures and optimize investments in security services.
How to identify key security offenders in AWS services to enhance cloud security practices and mitigate potential breaches.
The challenges in determining optimal security investments within AWS environments.
Detecting potential breaches through AWS billing insights and the significance of understanding billing intricacies for security enhancements.
The impact of billing data on identifying security vulnerabilities and navigating the AWS security landscape with enhanced strategies.
The role of services like Route 53 in bolstering security measures and considerations for AWS spending on security services.

In this episode, Jack Naglieri speaks to Jeff Bollinger, Director of Incident Response and Detection Engineering at LinkedIn, who shares valuable insights on his journey in security, key technological shifts he’s witnessed, and his approach to threat intelligence, incident response, and monitoring. 

Jeff highlights the importance of contextual understanding in security operations and emphasized the critical role of human intuition, adaptability, and creativity in addressing security challenges. He also discussed the need for a balanced team with diverse skill sets and his views on the evolving role of AI in security operations.

Topics discussed:
Technological shifts in the field of incident response and detection engineering, from the Y2K era to the present.
The nuances of monitoring behaviors and moving towards higher-level monitoring: it’s useful but imperfect because humans can be unpredictable.
Automation in security operations and how human analysts are still important and relevant because they have intuition that AI does not.
Incorporating threat intelligence effectively in security programs: knowing what your scale is and what threats correspond to it.
Building effective incident response programs and key considerations in security operations.

In this episode, Jack Naglieri speaks to Josh Liburdi, Staff Security Engineer at Brex. Josh explains the process of developing their new security data pipeline toolkit, Substation and how it has been working. He also discusses the importance of quality data, highlighting the impact of data transformation. 

Josh also shares his insights on the value of human analysis in SecOps and modern incident response strategies, from handling alerts to understanding program gaps. 

Topics discussed:
The development process of Substation, a security data pipeline toolkit to enhance log collection and data quality for threat detection
The importance of quality data in security operations and how sometimes it is helpful to collect it even if you don’t analyze it right away.
The data transformation process and its impact on threat detection, as well as how it’s made the team at Brex more efficient.
Enhancing the ability to write better rules after implementing Substation.
Josh’s advice for security practitioners: it’s ok to seek help and “soft skills” are important.