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Over the past twenty years, I have navigated a unique journey through the cybersecurity landscape. My path has taken me from the realms of hacking and academia into the heart of threat intelligence (TI), culminating in my current role. Since I joined Cato in 2021, I’ve been leading security strategy and am proud to share the culmination of Cato’s research efforts in Cyber Threat Research Lab (Cato CTRL), our cyber threat research team.
My career has been a natural progression from my curiosity as a child – fascinated by the inner workings of the technology that powered the world around me. That curiosity drew me into the world of hacking. The hacker mindset became not just a tool but a lens through which I viewed the digital world. This perspective was invaluable, teaching me to think like an adversary and anticipate their moves. My transition to academia allowed me to share this knowledge with the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, shaping their understanding of cyber threats and defenses.
However, it was my tenure as chief security officer of a TI company that truly deepened my understanding of the challenges within TI. While there, I was confronted with the myriad problems plaguing TI efforts. The fragmentation of intelligence sources, the overwhelming volume of data, and the daunting task of sitting through false positives to find actionable insights were constant challenges. The consequences of these issues were significant, leading to delayed responses, missed threats, and an overall inefficiency in cybersecurity defenses.
Joining Cato Networks marked a pivotal moment in my career. Cato is the first company that I know of to bring together networking and security in the cloud. With a massive data lake combining threat intelligence with the metadata of every flow traversing the Cato SASE Cloud Platform, Cato has unparalleled insight into the security and networking challenges facing enterprise networks.
Cato CTRL – The SASE Cyber Threats Research Lab | Learn MoreNow with Cato CTRL, I can address these challenges head-on with the launch of Cato’s Extended Threat Intelligence services. With nearly 50 data scientists and threat researchers focusing on security alone and many more investigating network-related issues, we can couple the best of human intelligence with this incredible data resource that is Cato to provide unparalleled threat intelligence through deep network visibility and insight.
Our extended TI capabilities are a fusion of TI and granular network visibility analyzed by AI/ML algorithms and human intelligence. This innovative approach allows us to deliver comprehensive insights that were previously out of reach. Our first quarterly threat report, slated for release in May, is just the beginning. We aim to equip our customers and partners with the intelligence they need, and only our SASE platform can provide, to navigate the complex cyber threat landscape effectively.
Our commitment extends beyond just gathering intelligence. We have dedicated ourselves to simplifying the integration and management of threat intelligence for SOCs, streamlining the process, and enabling more effective defense mechanisms. Our reports are designed to meet the strategic, operational, and tactical needs of our customers and partners, offering insights into global threats, industry-specific trends, and direct threats to individual organizations.
Ready for Whatever’s Next
As we look to the future, the Cato CTRL team is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping cybersecurity strategies, policies, and education. Our approach is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of cyber threats, moving away from piecemeal solutions to a more integrated information cybersecurity posture.
This journey from hacker to professor to leading Cato Networks’ TI efforts has been challenging and rewarding. It is a path that has given me a deep appreciation for the complexities of cybersecurity and the ever-evolving nature of cyber threats. At Cato Networks, we are ready for whatever comes next, armed with knowledge, tools, and a team to make a significant impact in the fight against cyber threats.
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About Cato CTRL
Cato CTRL (Cyber Threats Research Lab) is the world’s first CTI group to fuse threat intelligence with granular network insight made possible by Cato’s AI-enhanced, global SASE platform. By bringing together dozens of former military intelligence analysts, researchers, data scientists, academics, and industry-recognized security professionals, Cato CTRL combines the best in human intelligence with the best in network and security insight to shed light on the latest cyber threats and threat actors.
Etay Maor
Etay Maor is the Chief Security Strategist at Cato Networks, a founding member of Cato CTRL, and an industry-recognized cybersecurity researcher. Prior to joining Cato in 2021, Etay was the Chief Security Officer for IntSights, where he led strategic cybersecurity research and security services. Etay has also held senior security positions at IBM, where he created and led breach response training and security research, and RSA Security’s Cyber Threats Research Labs, where he managed malware research and intelligence teams. Etay is an adjunct professor at Boston College and is part of the Call for Paper (CFP) committees for the RSA Conference and QuBits Conference. He holds a BA in Computer Science and an MA in Counter-Terrorism and Cyber-Terrorism.