Hack the Gap - Closing the CTI Divide Between Small Teams and Big Players - Chandler McClellan

Defending against threat actors demands actionable threat intelligence, but smaller organizations usually lack the dedicated teams and substantial budgets of large enterprises. Discover how you can create impactful and high-quality CTI without the resources of a FAANG company. The ability to generate and respond effectively to high-quality cyber threat intelligence has become crucial for defending organizations against evolving threats. However, the gap between large organizations with dedicated cybersecurity teams and smaller companies with limited resources has never been more apparent. I’ll show how smaller organizations can create actionable CTI without the manpower and budget of a FAANG company. I’ll discuss methods to leverage existing tools, automate intelligence workflows, and drive collaboration in the cybersecurity community to compensate for the lack of large-scale resources. I will outline the strategic steps I’ve had to take in order to build an internal CTI function from the ground up starting with no dedicated team or established processes. Attendees will walk away with clear, actionable strategies for: Utilizing open-source intelligence effectively. Automating intelligence gathering and analysis on a limited budget. Establishing scalable processes for turning data into actionable insights. Collaborating internally and externally to amplify impact. Whether you're a solo practitioner, part of a small team, or looking to elevate your organization’s CTI capabilities, this talk will help you to revolutionize your approach to threat intelligence. With the right strategies, even small organizations can punch above their weight and stay ahead of emerging threats. Chandler McClellan Senior at Utah State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Data Analytics, second Bachelor’s in Information Systems Cybersecurity, and a minor in Anticipatory Intelligence. These studies have been formative in his roles as a cyber intrusion analyst, threat intelligence research engineer, and senior threat hunter. Chandler is an active leader in the cybersecurity community from founding the Student Organization for Cybersecurity at his university to speaking at local events and global cybersecurity conferences including SANS Institute Summits. He is an organizer for HackUSU, Utah’s largest hackathon and was a guest on CrowdStrike’s Adversary Universe Podcast. Chandler is an advocate for mentorship and giving back to the cyber community. www.linkedin.com/in/chandlermcclellan Security Fest is an inspiring and unique IT security conference held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The event is an excellent opportunity to learn more about IT security, and a great way to connect with both the renowned international speakers, and the other attendees.