Detection at Scale

Inductive Automation’s Jason Waits on Building Scalable Security Programs Through Automation

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.

Resources Mentioned: 

• Jason Waits on LinkedIn
• Inductive Automation website 
• Detection Engineering Weekly newsletter

Panther’s Jack Naglieri on Navigating the New Role of Detection Engineering in Cybersecurity (Special Episode)

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. 

Resources Mentioned: Jack Naglieri’s Substack

The Duckbill Group’s Corey Quinn on What Billing Data Can Tell Us About AWS Security

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. 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Corey Quinn on LinkedIn
• The Duckbill Group website 

LinkedIn’s Jeff Bollinger on the Role of Human Intuition in Addressing Security Challenges

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. 

Josh Liburdi on Brex's Innovative Approach to Data Quality in SecOps

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. 

SAP's Matthew Valites on Why He Is a Proponent of Detection as Code

On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Matthew Valites, Director of Threat Detection & Operational Strategy at SAP. They discuss which threat detection approach works the best, what metrics Matthew uses to gauge his programs, and why Matthew is a proponent of using detection as code. 

Matthew also looks to the future and gives his prediction on what role technology such as GenAI will play in the security landscape. They close out their conversation with some actionable lessons from Matthew's book, Crafting the Infosec Playbook. 

Topics discussed:

• Which threat-detection approach works the best (hint: it's usually the one that provides the most visibility).
• How Matthew manages the different logic in different environment using tailored macros.
• What metrics Matthew uses to gauge his programs and how he keeps track of those metrics.
• Why Matthew is a huge proponent of using detection as code, including the CIDC element it brings.
• What makes GenAI so exciting, and what its role might be in the future.
• How Matthew tries to take care of his team's mental and physical health.
• Actionable lessons from the book Matthew co-authored, “Crafting the Infosec Playbook”, such as espousing the values of a service-based approach.

Meta's Justin Anderson on How to Understand, Identify, and Execute Your Detection Strategy

On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Justin Anderson, Security Engineering Manager, Detection & Response at Meta. They discuss how Meta has built its detection engineering program, how it treats detection-as-code like software, and how it gauges risk by assessing the TTPs applicable to the environment. They also talk about where AI is able to help out in development, the greater need for engineering and investigation skills, and three things to remember when building a security program.

Topics discussed:

• How Meta gauges risk by assessing the TTPs applicable to the environment and measuring coverage across those TTPs.
• How they built out their detection platform on a custom infrastructure and treat detection-as-code like software.
• Why they take a shift left approach to detection, starting with TTPs hypotheses and then eliminating as much noise as possible.
• How taking a page from the vulnerability management playbook helps reduce noise around detections.
• AI’s current limitations in detection and response, yet how it helps with writing code and speeding up development times.
• Why there's a greater need for stronger engineering and investigation skills, in addition to coding skills.
• Advice to security professionals to focus on understanding, identifying, and executing when building out their program. 

Sony's Charles Anderson on How to Manage Detections and Risk Across a Global Company

On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Charles Anderson, Director, Global SOC at Sony. They discuss better approaches to risk-based alerting that leverage metadata, how they fine tune detections across a global organization, and what factors to use when determining thresholds. They also talk about how to use Time to Detect to improve your strategies, how LLMs can help with baseline detection, and why it's key to not lose sight of risk in pursuit of threat.

Topics discussed:

• A better way to approach risk-based alerting by leveraging metadata to connect the dots.
• Which factors to consider when determining your thresholds for alerting.
• How Sony is using machine learning and why applying a single model to the entire organization doesn't work.
• Why organizations are targets of opportunity and accidental exposure more than they are of planned attack.
• The process Sony's SOC uses to fine tune their detections and how it has to be different across the globe.
• How to use Time to Detect to tell the story of what you're covering and what you're missing.
• Advice to other security professionals that includes not losing sight of risk in pursuit of threat.

Remitly’s Jason Craig on Building Better Strategies for Identity, Logging, and Threat Modeling

On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Jason Craig, Director - Threat Detection & Response at Remitly. They discuss the common TTPs of threat actors and how organizations can better protect against them by adopting hardware-backed authentication, a risk-based approach to logging, and building their threat modeling. They also talk about why organizations should move away from cellular MFA, the need for more behavioral profiling, and advice for security professionals.

Topics discussed:

• The common TTPs of threat actors and conglomerates like Lapsus$ and what organizations need to know to protect themselves against them.
• Why enterprises should rely on hardware-backed authentication rather than SMS MFA on cellular.
• How to take a better approach to identity management by using hardware-backed authentication and behavioral profiling that eliminates background noise.
• Why threat modeling begins with knowing what you do as an organization and what you have that's valuable to an attacker.
• How to take a risk-based approach to understanding which user data or sensitive information to protect first.
• Why an accurate asset inventory is a precursor to detection and response.
• Advice to security professionals and organizations on "knowing thyself" and codifying adversary tracking.

AppOmni’s Drew Gatchell on Creating Better Detection for SaaS Platforms

On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Drew Gatchell, Director, Detection Engineering at AppOmni. They discuss how to overcome the challenges to detection on SaaS platforms and how they're building strategies upon alerting and detection frameworks. They also talk about how generative AI can help with normalizing inputs, the benefits of data lakes for D&R, and why it's key to have a measurable plan for detection.

Topics discussed:

• How AppOmni is tackling the challenges of detection in SaaS platforms and auto-logs, especially when it comes to varied latency.
• What frameworks Drew is working with and how he's building upon them for better detection.
• How signal creation starts with a hypothesis that can be turned into a plan, and why it's important to include signal redundancy.
• What techniques AppOmni takes to address security in real time.
• How they're using AI to normalize their inputs and create additional content on top of the detection rules.
• The benefits of data lakes and how they're a tremendous asset to D&R.
• Advice for security leaders on having a measurable plan for detection, why detection should be layered, and the need to continuously validate your capabilities.