Allie Mellen

Gold Rush Or Fool’s Gold? How To Evaluate Security Tools’ Generative AI Claims Generative AI features and products for security are gaining significant traction in the market. Knowing how to evaluate them, however, remains a mystery. What makes a good AI feature? How do we know ...

Sometimes, GenAI features are useful. Others are useless, and worse, sometimes just wrong. 😾

When software is non-deterministic, we need new ways to evaluate its utility, the trust we should put in it, and how we should plan to pay for it. Read more:

www.forrester.com/blogs/gold-r...

Super weird framing by the Secret Service. They found a SIM card farm, which is typically used by criminals to anonymously send calls and texts. They issued a press release claiming "it could have shut down the entire NY cell network during the UN general assembly" which is some serious FUD.

There are big differences between invoking AI in an application, building an AI agent, and building an agentic system.

These terms are being conflated, and it’s confusing the market at a time when we ALL need to understand this stuff. Read our explainer:

www.forrester.com/blogs/your-t...

💥 SURVEY REMINDER: If you have not filled out our research survey on how generative AI is and will be used in security tools, PLEASE DO SO!! 💥

Deadline is THIS FRIDAY!!

forrester.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

HR giant Workday says hackers stole personal data in recent breach | TechCrunch The HR tech giant said it had no indication of any unauthorized access to customer systems, but has not ruled out a breach affecting customers' personal information.

New: Workday disclosed a data breach affecting a third-party customer database, likely Salesforce.

Workday hasn't explicitly ruled out a breach of customer info, but says the data includes contact information.

(FYI, Workday has hidden its breach notice from search engines using "noindex" code.)

🚨HELP our latest Generative AI in security tools research! 🚨

VENDORS, complete this survey!

PRACTITIONERS, if you are building genAI tools for your team or using them and want to tell us about it, message me!

forrester.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bQ…

Just had another great conversation with @cloudsecuritypod.bsky.social !! Stay tuned for when it drops

Drowning In Security Data Costs? You Get A Data Lake Get tips on how data lakes can help manage growing data costs in the security information and event management (SIEM) system.

@microsoft.com announced two new features in Sentinel today.

1) Data Lake for low-cost, long-term storage to help manage Sentinel costs

2) MDTI will be included in Sentinel and Defender XDR at no additional cost later this year

Read more - www.forrester.com/blogs/drowni...

Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Security Analytics Platforms, 2025 – The SIEM Vs XDR Fight Intensifies The Forrester Wave™: Security Analytics Platforms, Q2 2025 published today and illustrates the dramatic changes this market is undergoing as legacy SIEM vendors are locked in heated competition with s...

I'm very excited to announce that the Forrester Wave: Security Analytics Platforms 2025 is now LIVE! 💥 💥 💥

Read the blog (and the full report!) here: www.forrester.com/blogs/announ...

Is the future of the SOC autonomous? A Q&A with Forrester's Allie Mellen | Tines Allie Mellen, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, answers follow-up questions on the future of SOC automation and the role of genAI.

Is the SOC of the future autonomous?

That’s the question we tackled with Tines CEO Eoin Hinchy and guest speaker Forrester’s @hackerxbella.bsky.social in a recent webinar - and the discussion didn’t stop there.

Read our follow-up Q&A:
www.tines.com/blog/autonom...

Protecting your privacy goes hand in hand with protecting encryption Don't willingly take the locks off your house.

Today on the latest breach: the Florida bill failed to pass, but encryption is still under attack. Here's why we need to protect it (for your own privacy!):
open.substack.com/pub/hackerxb...

💯

Don’t Call It A Comeback: Stay Ready For Ransomware According to Forrester’s 2024 Security Survey, 25% of CISOs cite preventing and protecting against ransomware as a top strategic priority for their organization. To do this, security leaders, their te...

@hackerxbella.bsky.social and I just published a new decision tool designed for security leaders and their teams to aid in the perpetual fight against ransomware. Check out our latest blog for more! www.forrester.com/blogs/dont-c...

Forrester’s Top Threats For 2025 2025 started with a bang! Technology and geopolitics are changing faster than many can keep track. There’s an announcement of a new, benchmark-shattering generative AI seemingly every week. Planned jo...

We just released our latest research: Top Cybersecurity Threats for 2025!

Read the blog and full report for more info on these threats and what to do about it: www.forrester.com/blogs/forres...

Thank you so much

On The Latest Breach: stand up for other Americans. @thekrebscycle.bsky.social is not a bad faith actor, he's a patriot.

hackerxbella.substack.com/p/chris-kreb...

Generative AI Innovation In Security Tools Is Finally Getting Interesting Last week, I spoke at the C2 conference in London. The C2 conference is an invite-only threat intelligence conference run by the team at SE Labs. The core themes of the event were timely and provoked ...

Last week, I spoke at the C2 conf on genAI in security tools. 🤖

The themes of the event were timely and provoked interesting discussion: artificial intelligence, supply chain security, and cyber hygiene. Read my thoughts on each in my latest blog -

www.forrester.com/blogs/genera...

TikTok is about to get banned...again? Plus, elected representatives sloppily risk American lives in SignalGate

Here's why the TikTok ban is a mistake.

hackerxbella.substack.com/p/tiktok-is-...

Attributing cyberattacks to a specific actor is harder than it looks Patience is a virtue and can prevent an international incident

new latest breach is out! this week on attribution hackerxbella.substack.com/p/attributin...

YouTube video by ITSPmagazine Teaser: The Cybersecurity Exodus Problem

Security tools claim high detection rates, but what’s the real cost? Let's unpack the latest @attack.mitre.org Evaluations, why alert volume matters, and how detection engineering improves security outcomes.

🎧 youtu.be/tE1SFwo_jEw

#Cybersecurity #MITREATTACK #SecurityOps @hackerxbella.bsky.social

thanks Sean!

Cybersecurity’s Latest Buzzword Has Arrived: What Agentic AI Is And Isn’t Cybersecurity vendors have come out of the woodwork in the past few months to announce their “agentic AI” innovations. These include vendors like Swimlane, ReliaQuest, Dropzone AI, Intezer, and others...

The Blob strikes again! The latest cybersecurity buzzword? Agentic AI 🤖

Read how @forrester defines agentic AI and how it will apply to security teams here:

www.forrester.com/blogs/cybers...

thank you for sharing!

Veterans are some of the most valuable cybersecurity talent and that pipeline is going to dwindle more than it ever has

A new The Latest Breach is live, and today we tackle the changes at the VA and its impact on cybersecurity hackerxbella.substack.com/p/veterans-a...

📣 💥 📣 CALLING SOC ANALYSTS, INCIDENT RESPONDERS, DETECTION ENGINEERS! 📣 💥 📣 We want to hear from YOU!

We are researching Analyst Experience to see what is working and not working in the SOC. PLEASE take 10 min to fill out the survey so we can improve it!

forrester.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

📣 💥 📣 CALLING SOC ANALYSTS, INCIDENT RESPONDERS, DETECTION ENGINEERS! 📣 💥 📣 We want to hear from YOU!

We are researching Analyst Experience to see what is working and not working in the SOC. PLEASE take 10 min to fill out the survey so we can improve it!

forrester.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Pausing offensive cyber operations against Russia endangers American lives Much of the US military operates under joint operations, which integrate personnel from multiple branches for various goals to make sure the military apparatus is maximally aligned, coordinated, and e...

Hobbling US Cyber Command unduly sacrifices national security. Read more from The Latest Breach here:
open.substack.com/pub/hackerxb...

How I Apply Third-Party Lab Results In My Security Operations Research Last week, I attended the AV Comparatives conference in Innsbruck, Austria. This conference brought together many cybersecurity vendors, particularly those with a European focus, as well as a few non-...

Last month I attended the AV-Comparatives conference and spoke on how I leverage 3rd party lab tests as part of my role as an industry analyst. See the blog for an overview of the event and how I use tests like these:

www.forrester.com/blogs/how-i-...

Your questions answered on Apple removing its advanced data encryption feature in the UK Plus, almost $1.5 B in cryptocurrency losses, DOGE posting data not meant for release, and Ukraine

Apple is removing its Advanced Data Encryption Feature in the UK. Here's what it means:
hackerxbella.substack.com/p/your-quest...

We keep having to rely on tech companies to protect our freedom of speech. It's a bad spot to be in. Plus, information operations and economic espionage

We are stuck in a loop of tech companies protecting our privacy from governments, and it’s a genuinely bad place to be open.substack.com/pub/hackerxb...