We’re sharing the second part of our series leading up to our participation in Hacktoberfest, where we’ll focus on our implementation of the DISARM Framework.
Here, we share a little bit more about the diverse talent contributing to the Arachne Digital team. Learn more about our cyber threat intel open-source work and the folks who make it run.
This week, we will learn more about our Co-Founder, Kade Morton.
My name is Kade. My pronouns are he/him and they/them. I am fine with either.
I am the Dark Overl- umm, I mean CEO. I’m the CEO. Jokes aside, I am a little uncomfortable with titles. I generally go by Co-Founder, as it was Jenine and I who started the business, and I’m not a huge fan of hierarchy. I’m involved in everything aside from the pure day-to-day programming. The largest of those roles is the data analysis for Arachne Digital, but I look at everything, from the design of the software to invoicing customers and everything in between — the typical multi-hat startup.
I was initially fascinated by how decentralized communities build this resource that runs a great amount of the world’s critical infrastructure. In the West, at least, we are brought up in a world where we are told that our parents are above us. Then we go through school and we are told that some children are above us and some are below us. Then we get jobs and we have an entire employee/employer structure. We are taught for our entire lives that power hierarchies are required to provide order and stability so things can get done. Learning that decentralized communities do exist and that they create incredibly critical things was both an eye-opener and something I wanted to be a part of.
I studied criminology and criminal justice with a major in international relations because I found them both interesting but didn’t know what to do with them. At this point cybersecurity had not gone mainstream. But slowly, from being interested in both crime and international relations I started to see where an overlap was, with cybersecurity, specifically in threat intelligence. And hacking has deep roots in the open source world, so when I found all my interests intersecting I was completely hooked.
I’m very passionate about different creative mediums. I love to read and write fiction, particularly fantasy and science fiction as I find these genres incredibly freeing to explore big and important ideas. I also have a regular Dungeons and Dragons group that I run campaigns for. When I’m very, very lucky I even get to play in one!
I’m not a huge social media person, but you can connect with me on LinkedIn and if you email me on kade[@]arachne[.]digital you can get an invite to our Slack channel and hang with everyone there.
You can catch Kade IRL on Thursday, September 5th for OWASP Day New Zealand. Their presentation Dynamic Defense: Crafting threat models with real-world Intelligence will help attendees learn how leveraging current data can enhance your security posture by anticipating and mitigating emerging threats, ensuring robust and resilient software development.
Can’t make the talk? Are you ready to collaborate with our passionate open-source team and explore the world of cybersecurity?
A good start is browsing the Arachne Digital GitHub repository.
There you can:
Together, we can contribute to a more secure and collaborative future.
“Arachne Digital’s team works closely with us in integrating our tool, Speculo, with their data. Speculo is designed to help organisations get a full picture of their cyber risk with reliable analytics and a streamlined risk assessment process. The integration of Arachne Digital’s threat intelligence into Speculo provides evidence-based insights into cyber risks, making the tool more relevant to our customers. Arachne facilitated multiple face-to-face meetings and video calls, provided technical resources, comprehensive documentation, and example reports. This collaboration ensured that we could seamlessly integrate and utilize their data, significantly enriching the value we deliver to our clients.
Arachne Digital’s commitment to excellence and their proactive approach in supporting our needs have made them an indispensable partner. We highly recommend their services to any organisation looking to strengthen their threat intelligence capabilities.”
Arachne Digital is proud to partner with the DISARM Foundation as the inaugural member of their Partner Programme, launched at the beginning of 2024.
This partnership is crucial in supporting the DISARM Foundation’s mission to maintain and enhance the DISARM Framework, ensuring it remains a free and continuously updated resource in the fight against disinformation.
Through our collaboration, Arachne Digital provides valuable feedback, promotes the integration of the framework into our operations, and encourages wider adoption within the defender community. This partnership highlights our commitment to combating evolving threats and fostering a secure digital environment.