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Veterans Joining Cyber Defence Through Academia
Taylor Hawes
November 07, 2025
⚡ Weekend Threat Brief
The FIGs’ Grip on U.S. Tech Markets & Cyber Risk
Forrester, IDC, Gartner and the so-called “FIGs” (financial, insurance and government research firms) dominate global IT and cybersecurity market research. The article explores how these firms’ analyses and rankings tend to favor U.S. companies and U.S. technologies, and how that dynamic may disadvantage European firms and their tech ecosystems.
Takeaway: Organizations outside the U.S. should assess the bias in vendor research and rankings. Over-reliance on U.S. analyst firms can create blind spots in sourcing technology, partnership and resilience strategies.
🎯 Tactical Playbook
Veterans Joining Cyber Defence Through Academia
U.S. military veterans are being supported by colleges and universities in transitioning into cybersecurity roles. The veterans bring discipline, mission-orientation and operational experience, which are leveraged in cyber defence programs and training.
Tactical tip: Organizations recruiting cybersecurity talent should recognise the value of veterans’ transferable skills (leadership, risk awareness, mission focus). Academic-industry partnerships that train veterans can create a stronger pipeline of motivated cyber professionals.
🛡️ Research Watch
State-Sponsored Breach Hits U.S. Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a U.S. federal agency that provides fiscal analysis to Congress, suffered a cyber incident in which sensitive inter-office communications and other data may have been exposed. The breach is under investigation and may have been executed by a foreign actor. Even small government agencies with critical functions are not immune to sophisticated cyber threats. It reinforces the need for vigilant monitoring, incident response planning and assuming persistent threat actors even in less obvious targets.
🧩 Tool Tip of the Week
Getting the Most from Files.com for Secure File Sharing
Files.com is a cloud-based file sharing and automation platform designed for businesses that handle sensitive or regulated data. It supports encrypted transfers, detailed permissions, and integration with storage providers such as AWS S3, Google Cloud, and Azure. Administrators can set expiration dates on links, enforce two-factor authentication, and maintain full audit trails. These features make Files.com ideal for teams that require secure collaboration and compliance with data protection standards.
Key Aspects
Files.com encrypts all data both in transit (TLS/SSH) and at rest.
Supports integration with popular cloud services for flexible storage options.
Allows creation of password-protected, time-limited share links.
Includes detailed access controls and logging for compliance visibility.
Offers APIs and automation tools to streamline large file transfers securely.
🗣️ Community Signal
Majority of the organizations that we're seeing right now, 91% of them are actually using these agents, mostly just for task automation. that's probably our most common use case. But in a lot of cases too, we're seeing this expansion into AI training, AI, and these large language models. Are feeding into machine learning, and we're using this in a, they're using this in a capacity to double check the artificial intelligence that producing artificial intelligence, if that makes sense. Matthew Hansen, Regional Chief Security Officer for the Americas with Okta.
🗳️ Your Take - The Results
Proactive threat hunting and red teaming seems to be the top cybersecurity plan for our readers.
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Until Monday’s edition - Let’s keep that zero-day count at zero!