For our first episode of 2025, Charles Carmakal joins the show to discuss all things Scattered Spider. As the chief technology officer at Mandiant, Charles details a disturbing trend of compromises through seemingly unsophisticated, yet highly effective approaches, including hackers who trick organization help desks into granting them system access. Hosts Bryan Vorndran, the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, and Jamil Farshchi, an FBI strategic engagement advisor, discuss mitigation techniques that companies, such as Mandiant, recommend to clients. In the episode’s Top Three segment, Bryan and Jamil discuss the breaches of BeyondTrust and Data School and give an update on Salt Typhoon.

Listen to Ahead of the Threat episodes, read the transcripts, and find related material at fbi.gov/aheadofthethreat.

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For our last episode until 2025, FBI Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran and FBI Strategic Engagement Advisor Jamil Farshchi speak to Rachel Lavender, managing director of the cyber practice at Marsh McLennan. As a seasoned cyber-insurance broker, Rachel discusses the partnership between a company and a cyber-insurance service, working together to build and implement effective cybersecurity measures over time. She also highlights act-of-war clauses and the growing information the insurance industry has obtained in a short time by servicing victim clients, resulting in better coverage and recommendations. For the episode’s Top Three segment recounting recent events, Bryan and Jamil discuss the unsealing of charges against members of Scattered Spider, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s cybersecurity reporting rules, and reasonably managed encryption.

Listen to Ahead of the Threat episodes, read the transcripts, and find related material at fbi.gov/aheadofthethreat.

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This week on Ahead of the Threat, FBI Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran and FBI Strategic Engagement Advisor Jamil Farshchi speak to Wendi Whitmore, senior vice president of Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42. Drawing on her experience with cyber threat intelligence and incident response, Wendi talks about the growing sophistication of the cybercriminal business model and the need to have visibility across all company networks and infrastructure. She also highlights a growing trend in which companies have a “pre-built” environment that they would potentially move towards in case of a cyberattack. At the start of the episode, Bryan and Jamil discuss trending topics like the North Korean information technology worker threat, the Blue Yonder compromise, and the latest social engineering scheme from the cybercriminal group Black Basta.

Listen to Ahead of the Threat episodes, read the transcripts, and find related material at fbi.gov/aheadofthethreat.

Subscribe to Ahead of the Threat wherever you get your podcasts:

• Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahead-of-the-threat-the-fbi-cyber-podcast/id1774312272
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