The Diana Initiative 2021

Taylor Swift has dominated the music industry for more than a decade. During this time, she inspired a generation of digital detectives. Laying the groundwork when she was just 15, Taylor Swift has instilled this sense of curiosity in her fanbase in similar ways to that of Threat Hunters and Forensic Investigators. From the hilarious “Five Holes in the Fence” Lover Album Theory, to the “Cobalt Group” attribution, this talk will break down the consequences when limited knowledge of a topic becomes mainstream news. Using our Swiftie sleuthing skills, we will discuss how to develop a strong hypothesis, how to recognize poor data interpretation or conclusions, and last but certainly not least, how to use public information to better protect and hunt in our environments. Through the use of real world, relatable experiences from the Taylor Swift fanbase, this talk will help the attendees start to understand how to utilize publicly sourced information and threat briefings to explain and correlate hypothesis generation, and adapt as new data is discovered. With that mission in mind, this talk will demonstrate techniques from real hunts used to identify actors throughout various stages of their missions, leaving the audience with example actionable hunts to identify remote access abuse and ways to stack persistence mechanisms across an entire organization. *Disclaimer: Prior knowledge of Taylor Swift history or Threat Hunting not required to enjoy this talk*