Last updated at Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:19:00 GMT
With Take Command 2025 just around the corner, we sat down with Raj Samani, Chief Scientist at Rapid7, for a preview of his upcoming session: Inside the Mind of an Attacker: Navigating the Threat Horizon.
Raj will be joined by Trent Teyema, Founder and President at CSG Strategies and former head of the FBI Cyber Division, and moderator Brian Honan, CEO of BH Consulting. Together, they bring decades of experience across cyber intelligence, national security, and frontline incident response.
So what can attendees expect from the session, and the day as a whole?
A Panel Built for Practical Impact
“This isn’t a talking shop,” Raj told us. “The people on this panel are practitioners. They do the job.”
Rather than focus on theory, the session aims to provide clear, actionable guidance rooted in real-world expertise. Raj describes the panel as a rare convergence of perspectives: vendors developing the tools, consultants advising organizations directly, and former government leaders who’ve pursued and prosecuted threat actors.
“We’ve got three legs of the solution represented,” he said. “And the audience is the fourth. Between us, we’re covering every side of the response equation.”
The Shift in Attacker Capabilities
While Raj didn’t give away too much ahead of the session, he offered a clear warning: attacker capabilities have evolved—rapidly.
“In the past, tools and techniques used by advanced nation-state actors were out of reach for most criminals,” he explained. “Now, even relatively inexperienced threat actors have access to those same capabilities. That changes everything.”
Organizations today face a constant flood of vulnerabilities, alerts, and data to prioritize - often without the context needed to make effective decisions.
“It’s not that we have a data problem,” Raj noted. “It’s that we have a context problem. We’re overwhelmed, and the inability to act quickly and decisively is putting organizations at risk.”
That’s where visibility and prioritization come into play—two capabilities central to Exposure Management and solutions like Rapid7’s Exposure Command.
Why This Session Matters
Raj emphasized that this session is about helping practitioners walk away with tangible answers to critical questions:
- How do I know if I’ve been compromised?
- Are adversaries still in my network?
- Which vulnerabilities actually matter?
- What can I do to reduce risk—today?
“These are the questions every security leader needs to be able to answer. Because if you can’t, how long will your executive team trust you to lead the charge?”
Why Attend Take Command 2025?
Raj was clear: this isn’t just another virtual event.
“Take Command is one of our most important moments of the year,” he told us. “It’s where we bring everything together, sharing the latest research, strategies, experiences and innovations from those on the front lines.and give people the chance to hear what’s actually happening on the front lines.”
He also noted that sessions like his don’t come around often, making this a rare opportunity to hear directly from experts working across national security, threat intelligence, and hands-on incident response.
Don’t Miss It
Take Command 2025 takes place April 9, 2025, and features a full day of virtual sessions covering AI, MDR, threat intelligence, red teaming, and more.
Raj Samani’s panel, “Inside the Mind of an Attacker,” is one you won’t want to miss.
