Doing Adversary Emulation Right | William Booth, General Manager, Director MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations

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What if most organizations are testing their security tools against the wrong threats entirely?
As the leader behind the industry standard program that helps organizations understand how security tools perform against real-world threats, William Booth, General Manager and Director of MITRE's ATT&CK Evaluations, shares common misconceptions in adversary emulation, the gap between compliance and actual security effectiveness, and practical advice for security leaders trying to make sense of vendor claims and build truly effective defense strategies.
0:00 Episode highlights and introduction
0:56 How a money laundering investigation inspired William to enter the field
6:11 What MITRE ATT&CK evaluations actually test and why participation matters
23:07 Selecting the right adversary for emulation in your organization
35:11 Compliance goes beyond security controls
44:18 Browser attacks in ATT&CK evaluations
58:37 AI's impact on evaluations and security tool performance
1:10:07 Closing: advice for security leaders evaluating vendor claims

🔔 Follow William and John on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williambbooth/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncarse/

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Chapters

1. How a money laundering investigation inspired William to enter the field (00:00:00)

2. What MITRE ATT&CK evaluations actually test and why participation matters (00:06:11)

3. Selecting the right adversary for emulation in your organization (00:23:07)

4. Compliance goes beyond security controls (00:35:11)

5. Browser attacks in ATT&CK evaluations (00:44:18)

6. AI's impact on evaluations and security tool performance (00:58:37)

7. Closing: advice for security leaders evaluating vendor claims (01:10:07)