Before the Alert: Turning Early Warning Intelligence Into Coordinated Protective Action

By Alec Presti and Alexis J. Casimiri, M.S.
Cyberattacks and acts of violence are different threats, but organizations confronting either one often face the same problem. By the time an employee submits credentials to a fraudulent login page or a gunshot-detection system flags a sound as possible gunfire, the chance to prevent the initial event has already passed. The focus has shifted to limiting what happens next. Earlier warning can create time to act before that point. Early indicators can emerge across cyber and physical environments, from newly registered lookalike domains to concerning communications, developing patterns of behavior, and other activity that may signal a developing threat.
Dissentient’s (a cybersecurity company) approach combines continuous intelligence collection, analysis, context, and human judgment to identify those warning signs as early as possible, including activity, infrastructure, and patterns that may not yet have been classified as malicious or matched to a known detection rule. The objective is to understand what may be developing and create opportunities to act while preventive options remain. Across that broader approach, some indicators may support immediate protective action, while others require additional context to determine what they mean, whether they connect to other activity, and what intervention is justified. Pre-Event Formation (PEF) is one example of how early warning can create an opportunity to act. It receives information ...