Episode 18 — Deduplicate, cleanse, and harden your datasets
A high-fidelity intelligence product depends on the quality of its underlying data, requiring a disciplined approach to deduplication and cleansing to ensure accuracy. This episode examines the methods for identifying and removing redundant indicators that often clutter threat feeds, ensuring that your analysts only spend time on unique and relevant signals. We explore data cleansing techniques to strip out "false flags" or known-good infrastructure, such as common content delivery networks (CDNs) or legitimate cloud services, that may be inadvertently captured during collection. Hardening your datasets also involves verifying the integrity of the data to ensure it hasn't been tampered with or corrupted during the processing stage. In a GCTI context, you should be prepared to explain how "noisy" or "dirty" data can lead to false positives that overwhelm a Security Operations Center (SOC). Mastering these data refinement steps ensures that your final intelligence product is both lean and authoritative, providing a clear path for defensive action. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.
