From Shiny PDFs To Decisions In CTI - Season 2 - Episode 5 (Joshua Copeland & Pedro Kertzman)

Most organizations say they “do CTI,” but what they really have is a pile of threat feeds, glossy reports, and alerts nobody trusts. We sit down with Joshua Copeland, cybersecurity executive, board advisor, and creator of the Unpopular Opinion series, to get brutally practical about what cyber threat intelligence should be: decision support that changes behavior inside a real security program.We talk through what it looks like to operationalize threat intelligence in security operations and threat hunting, including a trap that catches even mature teams: tuning everything around a baseline that might include attacker behavior. If a threat actor moves low and slow, “normal” network traffic can quietly become the attack. Joshua shares how strong CTI teams use frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to turn a single piece of intel into targeted hunts, better detections, and smarter prioritization instead of endless IOC matching that breaks the moment infrastructure changes.The conversation also goes upstream into hiring and leadership. We dig into why certifications and degrees can’t substitute for critical thinking, how to interview with open ended scenarios that reveal real judgment, and how state level fusion centers can help public sector teams share actionable guidance. We also unpack why ransomware hits schools and why student data can be the real prize, then shift to the business case: translating CTI into risk reduction, downtime avoidance, insurance impact, and clear ROI.We close with a grounded take on AI in cybersecurity: it can add speed, but only with tight guardrails, source checking, and humans staying accountable. If you found this valuable, subscribe, share the episode with your team, and leave a review so more practitioners can find it.Send us Fan MailSupport the showThanks for tuning in! If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Got thoughts or questions? Connect with us on our LinkedIn Group: Cyber Threat Intelligence Podcast—we’d love to hear from you. If you know anyone with CTI expertise that would like to be interviewed in the show, just let us know. Until next time, stay sharp and stay secure!