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Threat Intelligence Veteran Sean O’Connor to Host SANS STAR Livestream, Returning May 21
The free monthly threat intelligence livestream series returns at 1:00 p.m. ET on SANS DFIR YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, featuring practitioner-led analysis from across the security community.
Bethesda, MD, May 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The window between a vulnerability being disclosed and someone explaining what to do about it has gotten shorter every year. Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) teams have access to more reports, feeds, and vendor advisories than ever, yet have less time to analyze them before decisions must be made. SANS Institute’s monthly STAR (SANS Threat Analysis Rundown) Livestream is built for that gap, and after a year-long hiatus, it returns May 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET with Sean O’Connor as the new host.
Episodes will stream live monthly on SANS DFIR YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, with recordings available on demand. Each episode is followed by a blog recap with key insights and resources.
Unlike vendor-led briefings or high-level industry commentary, STAR pulls in voices from across the threat intelligence community for working-level analysis of emerging adversary activity. Past episodes have featured Will Thomas of Curated Intelligence on the Ragnar Locker takedown, the Splunk team on the PEAK threat hunting framework and Datadog’s Zack Allen on detection engineering and threat actor naming conventions. Future episodes will continue to explore current threat topics in depth, examining adversary activity, malware, and emerging trends with a focus on their impact on real-world security operations. Under Sean O’Connor’s leadership, the series brings a renewed focus on emerging threats and evolving adversary behavior.
“The goal of STAR is not to recap every headline or repeat what is already in everyone’s inbox,” said O’Connor. “Security teams are already buried in data. What they need is context: what changed, why it matters and what they can actually do with it. I want these conversations to be useful for the people writing detections, briefing leadership, prioritizing hunts, and making decisions under pressure.”
O’Connor’s career spans military intelligence, digital forensics, and threat analysis across the public and private sectors. At Secureworks, he built a virtual HUMINT team focused on infiltrating dark web cybercriminal networks, giving him direct insight into adversary operations. He has also led threat intelligence programs in enterprise environments, bringing a tactical perspective to modern cyber defense. He led the CTI-League’s darknet intelligence team, part of the broader CTI-League organization named a 2020 SANS Difference Maker. He also chairs the IT-ISAC Data Center Special Interest Group.
The STAR debut episode features a handoff conversation with former host Katie Nickels, joined by CTI specialists Rebekah Brown and John Doyle.
To explore past episodes, blog recaps, and additional resources, visit https://www.sans.org/mlp/star-webcast.
To attend the May 21 debut episode on your preferred platform:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7438173815626641409/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLVsn9cSDTs
Jenn Elston SANS Institute 301-654-7267 jelston@sans.org
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