Mindset Deepens Technical CTI Skills (Cat Self & Pedro Kertzman)

Imposter syndrome shows up in Cyber Threat Intelligence like clockwork, but we do not let it run the room. Cat Self, Senior Director of Adversary Research at Tidal Cyber, joins me to get practical about what actually helps CTI analysts perform: turning open source intelligence and vendor reporting into actionable intelligence your org can use, even if you do not have a massive telemetry stack or a dedicated reverse engineering team.We dig into the real problem with OSINT: noise that looks like signal. When six write-ups trace back to the same original report, repetition can feel like validation, and marketing content can drown out what matters. Cat shares how she filters for credibility by tracking specific authors and expertise areas, building a short list of sources she trusts, and keeping accountability front and center when publishing anything under her name. If you rely on MITRE ATT&CK mappings, threat actor reporting, or rapid intel notes for detection engineering, this part will sharpen your sourcing instincts.We also tackle AI in CTI without the hype. AI can help reduce the haystack, but it is still “rearview” and cannot replace judgment. Cat walks through lessons from building an intelligence pipeline with “vibe coding,” why debugging AI can be chaotic, and how guardrails and human agency keep automation useful instead of risky. Then we shift into analyst mindset: small role-play exercises, making intelligence fun, and creating psychological safety so teams learn faster and burn out less.References:Batman Effect:https://academic.oup.com/chidev/article/88/5/1563/82578Lego Study:https://cms.learningthroughplay.com/media/wmtlmbe0/learning-through-play_web.pdfProblem solve improvement:https://tu-dresden.de/mn/psychologie/ifap/allgpsy/ressourcen/dateien/lehre/lehreveranstaltungen/bolte_lehre/ala/Isen_1987.pdf?lang=enSubscribe for more cyber threat intelligence conversations, share this with a teammate who lives in OSINT, and leave a review so more analysts can find the show.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!