Watch Now

Show Notes

Brian Kime, VP of Intelligence Strategy and Advisory at ZeroFox, talks about all things threat intelligence this week. Brian explains why he chose threat intelligence as his focus, where he’s seen opportunities for growth in recent years, and what challenges for cyber threat intelligence lie ahead. Using his intelligence experience developed first in the US Army Special Forces, Brian delivers his argument for intelligence-driven security, instead of the marketing-driven security industry we have today.

 

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Diving into the VP of Intelligence Strategy role

[05:25] Learning intelligence in the Army Special Forces

[10:09] Seeing the past, present, & future of threat intelligence

[19:31] Measuring efficacy & ROI of cyber threat data

[25:18] Building your own cyber threat intelligence capabilities

 

Sponsor Links:

Thank you to our sponsors Axonius and NetSPI for bringing this episode to life!

The Axonius solution correlates asset data from existing solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory, uncover gaps, and automate action — giving IT and security teams the confidence to control complexity. Learn more at axonius.com/hackervalley

For more than 2 decades, NetSPI has helped companies discover and remediate critical security issues through its platform-driven, human delivered security test. NetSPI is much more than a pentesting company, bringing you the most comprehensive suite of offensive security solutions. Visit netspi.com/HVM to learn more.

 

A lot of folks shift from intelligence into other areas of cyber, what inspired you to continue down the intelligence route?

After Brian graduated from Georgia Tech and the nation experienced the tragedy of 9/11, Brian felt called to enlist in the US Army Reserve. While the war in Afghanistan was not as short-lived as anyone expected, Brian found his calling in military intelligence, where he was inspired to put his experiences in IT and intelligence together. It turns out that fusion already existed in the form of cyber threat intelligence, and Brian wanted to focus on that completely.

“I want to bring all these things together and really start pushing our customers and pushing the security community in general towards more intelligence-driven security. Mostly, what I see even today still just feels like marketing-driven security.”

 

Where are we today with threat intelligence technology, in terms of challenges and opportunities?

Brian believes we’re already in a really exciting place today in terms of threat intelligence technology. What feels especially opportune for him at the moment includes opportunities and technology that involve internal data from previous threats, freely available external data from sources like blogs, and third-party vendors. However, the challenges facing threat intelligence now involve how to make that technology available for small and medium businesses.

“That's what I would love to see become the standard, that big corporations incorporate threat intelligence to the level that they can start to actually extend that value into their supply chain. That way, the whole system becomes more resilient, more secure.”

 

How does a security team measure the efficacy and ROI of intelligence?

In Brian’s opinion, most cybersecurity practitioners don't track the ROI of their intelligence vendors, or they fail to measure intelligence for effectiveness. The metrics cyber teams should focus on include number of new detections created, incidents discovered, adversary dwell time, and improved security decision making. Unfortunately, improved decision making is the hardest to measure because it requires practitioner feedback.

“At the end of the day, if stakeholders are making security decisions based on intelligence that I'm providing, that's a really good measure of effectiveness. All the security decisions that were influenced by threat intelligence, that's what we're going for.” 

 

When you don't have an intelligence capability and you want to create one, what is typically the first thing that an intelligence team member does?

If you’re intending to collect data from your customers (which almost every company out there is trying to do), then Brian believes that privacy and security need to be considered from the start. Critical security controls and a solid framework are key to early success for even the smallest security team. The best place to start? Software and hardware inventory. If you don’t know what you have, you won’t be able to secure your technology properly. 

“At the beginning of the critical security controls, it's always software and hardware inventory. If I don't know what I have, then I really can't do anything well in security. I can't do incident response because I don't know where my data is.”

---------------

Links:

Keep up with our guest Brian Kime on LinkedIn and Twitter

Learn more about ZeroFox on LinkedIn and the ZeroFox website

Connect with Ron Eddings on LinkedIn and Twitter

Connect with Chris Cochran on LinkedIn and Twitter

Purchase a HVS t-shirt at our shop

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord

Check out Hacker Valley Media and Hacker Valley Studio

Recent Episodes

Jun 19, 2025

The AI Gold Rush in Cybersecurity with Chris Cochran

The new cybersecurity pioneers aren’t chasing alerts, they’re building with AI. But what happens when tools meant to assist begin making decisions for us? And what skills do we lose when ...

Jun 12, 2025

The AI That Tried to Escape with Ron Eddings

What happens when AI refuses to be replaced? This episode kicks off with a chilling real-world example of an AI threatening blackmail—and only gets more intense from there. Host Ron Eddings ...

Jun 5, 2025

Zero Trust Isn’t a Tool — It’s Everything with George Finney

What if Zero Trust isn’t a framework, but the only viable cybersecurity strategy—more about people than products? In this episode, George Finney, CISO at the University of Texas System and ...

May 29, 2025

Your Two-Year Edge Starts Now with Marco Figueroa

You won’t be replaced by AI—you’ll be replaced by someone using it better. Returning guest Marco Figueroa is back with a frontline report on the AI agent boom. This isn’t a prediction—it’s a ...

May 22, 2025

Badge Cloning, Alarm Triggers & Getting Hired to Hack with Greg ...

Most people think red teaming is digital—until someone bypasses your locks, plants a Raspberry Pi in your server room, and walks out with your data. That’s not sci-fi. That’s White Knight Labs. ...

May 15, 2025

Building Cyber Resilience Through Culture with David Shipley

What if fixing cybersecurity wasn’t about more tools, but about unlocking human potential?  In this episode, Ron Eddings welcomes back David Shipley, CEO and Field CSO of Beauceron Security, for ...

May 8, 2025

Ditch the Spreadsheets: Smarter Crypto Security with Michael ...

Still tracking certificates in a spreadsheet? You’re not alone—and there’s a better way. In this special episode from RSA 2025, Ron sits down with Michael Klieman, Global Vice President of ...

Apr 24, 2025

Protecting People, Not Just Perimeters with Andrey Suzdaltsev

AI is reshaping the cybersecurity battlefield, and cyber adversaries are getting smarter. In this episode, Ron Eddings welcomes Andrey Suzdaltsev, Co-Founder and CEO of Brightside AI, for a look ...

Apr 10, 2025

Digital Clutter and the Death of Passwords with Collin Sweeney & ...

Passwords are the original digital clutter—messy, overstuffed, and way too easy to forget. Like a junk drawer full of old keys and cables, we keep tossing more into them, hoping they’ll somehow ...

Apr 3, 2025

What Most Cybersecurity Advice Misses—And How to Fix It with ...

What if the biggest threat to cybersecurity isn’t attackers—but the defenders themselves? Why are we still building tools for experts in a world where technical skills are fading fast? In this ...

WORK WITH US

PODCASTS + SPEAKING + EVENTS

Are you the best kept secret in cybersecurity? Let's change that by partnering together for podcast ads, social campaigns, and your next event or keynote. Send us your details to get started.