Name: Threat Actor Psychology: Using Social Engineering and Other Jedi Tricks
Start: 2025-05-13T17:00:00Z
End: 2025-05-13T17:00:32.000Z
Location: BrightTALK
Rating: 5

Grown and shaped by market demand, Hold Security is a Cyber Security and Threat Intelligence company helping businesses of all sizes to stay secure.

Powered by the brightest security experts, Hold Security works with companies around the world to enhance their security posture. We play leading roles in discovery and investigations of major security breaches, with a proven track record of success.

In our next installment on Cyber Threat Intelligence, we will explore how any cyber security professional can understand and contribute to CTI, and how it can strengthen your defenses. Through practical examples, you will gain essential skills to deal with cybercrime, navigate the Dark Web, and derive actionable intelligence that makes a real difference.

Cyber Threat Intelligence & You

As AI rapidly reshapes tools, tasks, and entire workflows in cybersecurity, many professionals are asking: “Will I advance, adapt or be automated?” This talk explores the evolving cyber security job market in 2026, highlighting which roles are transforming, which are emerging, and how to stay indispensable. Whether you’re a hands-on analyst, a strategist, or a technical expert, we’ll explore how to future-proof your career and turn AI from a competition into an ally.

The Cyber Talent Shift: Rise of the Human+AI Workforce

Forget textbook phishing templates and generic vishing scripts. This is a continuation of the talk that continues a deep dive into the psychology, culture, and behavior of real-world threat actors and shows how we turn their own tactics against them. We’ve been successfully using social engineering techniques against cyber threat actors for decades, and in this presentation, I’ll share some of the key techniques and approaches that have made this possible.

Threat Actor Psychology: Using Social Engineering and Other Jedi Tricks - Part 2

We’re back with more on Penetration Testing and Red Teaming powered by real Cyber Threat Intelligence.

In our upcoming webinar, we’ll break down 5 techniques you should be using in your pen tests. From carefully using Dark Web data to exploiting weak server-side validation, these are practical tips to sharpen your offensive game.

CTRL-ALT-Pen Test v2: Five CTI-Powered Techniques & Tactics

With all the improvements in cyber security, we still struggle with threat actors' advances and breaches. At the beginning of this year, it is important to reflect on wins and losses in cyber security for the past year and draw our conclusions on what we should expect this year to bring us.

Cyber Threat Intelligence 2025

Penetration testers and red teamers often rely on a variety of tricks and tips to gain an advantage, but only a few share the truly game-changing insights. In our pen testing and red teaming practice we do not take these techniques from classrooms; we develop them through field experience and enrich them by observing real threat actors while adapting their methods. In this presentation, we’ll cover five such techniques that can produce critical findings and significantly enhance your pen testing and red teaming efforts.

CTRL-ALT-Pen Test: Game-Changing Moves for Pen Testing Success

Cybersecurity awareness programs play a crucial role in mitigating cyber threats by educating employees about best practices and potential risks. However, many organizations struggle to measure the effectiveness of these programs. This talk will delve into the challenges of making cybersecurity awareness programs practical, focusing on equipping employees with skills rather than simply testing their knowledge. By understanding the factors that contribute to program effectiveness, organizations can partner with employees in addressing cyber security challenges rather than blaming them for security gaps and errors.

Cyber Security - Aware != Ready

The cybersecurity industry is in a constant state of flux, presenting both challenges and opportunities for professionals at all levels. Staying ahead requires more than technical skills; it demands strategic thinking and proficiency to remain relevant. With over two decades in cybersecurity leadership, I am often asked for career advice. In this talk, I will share my insights about the future of the industry and how you can find a place to start or continue your career and reach the top.

Your Cybersecurity Career – Choosing Your Path

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing cybersecurity, but are we creating Terminator-like threats or powerful teammates? This talk explores both the potential benefits and pitfalls of AI in security. We'll delve into the ways AI can be misused for malicious purposes, but also highlight its potential to detect and prevent cyberattacks. Join us for a thought-provoking exploration of the battle of good and evil of AI security.

Terminator or Teammate? The Good, the Bad, and the Binary of AI Security

We watched for years as hackers used millions of registered domain records as a starting point for their attacks against the Internet. They mined DNS and SSL certificate data to identify their targets for abuse, phishing, impersonations and other misuse. To counter, we began gathering domain-related and SSL certificate information using similar techniques that hackers use to stay ahead and prevent domain-based abuse. Hold Security's Domain Integrity Service gives you powerful collection and correlation tools which allow you to identify multiple vectors of threats and abuse.

Domain Integrity Services - Your Brand Protection Solution

Our new installment of threat intelligence techniques of learning from mistakes of others before making your own. We will discuss the most common mistakes companies still make leading to aggravating their security posture from bad to worse. We will dissect examples like ransomware attacks and negotiations, data exposures, and developers’ mistakes.

The Fine Art of Stepping on the Same Rake, Next Chapter.

With the US elections still months away, history indicates that they will be targeted by cyber attacks from various sources. Safeguarding the integrity of our election process is a complex task, with much of it falling within the purview of cybersecurity.  From potential disinformation campaigns to cyber attacks, impersonations, and large-scale outages, almost every imaginable threat vector could come into play during the upcoming election year. In our session, we will examine past and present patterns to chart a course for minimizing cyber interference in the 2024 elections.

Securing Elections 2024

Rather than relying on crystal ball predictions, we will examine patterns of evolution of cyber threats and cyber defenses over the recent past. We'll explore significant shifts in the threat landscape, spanning from hacktivism and ransomware to the advancement of AI and increase of insider threats. Join us as we look forward to the foreseeable future of cybersecurity.

Forward to Cyber Security 2024

Is it enough to be preoccupied with monitoring our perimeter and fending off attacks against our systems? No! This focus overlooks the root cause of these attacks originating from the Dark Web, where malicious actors congregate. By intelligently monitoring the Dark Web, we can strengthen our defenses and better address the evolving threats. It's crucial to extend our vigilance beyond our own organization and encompass our supply chain and cloud by gaining visibility into the Dark Web. While breaches and leaks are inevitable, a swift response and effective remediation can save your organization from a disastrous breach. By keeping a watchful eye on the Dark Web, we can enhance our organization's security and the overall effectiveness of our security program. Join us in this webinar to learn how.

Getting ROI from monitoring the Dark Web

One may argue that the difference between a cyber security professional and a cyber criminal is a set of ethical beliefs. Over time our ethics change for the best, but we also get tested by circumstances. Is it ethical to pay ransom? Is it ethical to disclose a vulnerability? Are all pen tests ethics correct? In this presentation we will dive into modern challenges with ethics in cyber security.

Cyber Ethics

Before the war in Ukraine if a large group of hackers would attack US financial systems, military suppliers, airports, or healthcare providers, this type of an event would basis for a serious conflict and sanctions. Yet, over the past year these events became normal with little coverage and advice from law enforcement to brace for impact. We will examine who is behind the Russian Hacktivist collective and how it functions. Its targets and goals. Its weaknesses and strong points.

Russian Hacktivism Unmasked

At the beginning of the year, many people make their predictions of what the new year would bring to cyber security, and usually they are more wrong than right. In this presentation, we will try to look at the past and present to predict the future. While we still won’t be able to predict everything, we can rely on history to predict what tomorrow would bring. We will focus on ransomware reality, cyber warfare, vulnerabilities, and technology advancements, as well as AI and quantum computing.

Cyber Security: Past, Present, and Future – 2023 Edition

Forget textbook phishing templates and generic vishing scripts. This talk dives deep into the psychology, culture, and behavior of real-world threat actors and shows how we turn their own tactics against them. We’ve been successfully using social engineering techniques against cyber threat actors for decades, and in this presentation, I’ll share some of the key techniques and approaches that have made this possible.

Threat Actor Psychology: Using Social Engineering and Other Jedi Tricks

Hold Security

Threat Intelligence

Social Engineering

Threat Actors

Dark Web

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Threat Actor Psychology: Using Social Engineering and Other Jedi Tricks

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