Tidal Cyber has announced the appointment of Cat Self as Senior Director of Adversary Research, reinforcing its leadership in Threat-Led Defense and advancing its commitment to procedural-level intelligence and adversary testing. With cyber threats becoming more sophisticated and targeted, organizations increasingly require actionable insights that move beyond surface-level indicators. Therefore, this strategic hire signals Tidal Cyber’s continued investment in deep adversary research and execution-focused security validation.
Cat Self joins Tidal Cyber with an extensive background in cyber threat intelligence and adversary emulation. She previously held a leadership role at MITRE, where she oversaw macOS and Linux coverage for MITRE ATT&CK and built the cyber threat intelligence function that contributed to ATT&CK Evaluations. In that role, she helped transform adversary tradecraft into measurable, real-world assessments that security teams could operationalize. As a result, organizations gained greater clarity into how attackers execute campaigns and how defenses perform under realistic conditions.
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Earlier in her career, Cat built her expertise through U.S. Army military intelligence and enterprise red teaming at Target. During this time, she led large-scale procedural emulation initiatives that translated complex attack behaviors into execution-level testing programs. In parallel, she designed and delivered adversary emulation and cyber threat intelligence programs for U.S.-allied partner nations. She was instrumental in turning ATT&CK-aligned concepts into actionable exercises and development programs, enabling teams to strengthen their defensive capabilities against active, real-world adversaries.
At Tidal Cyber, Cat will oversee adversary research and cyber threat intelligence strategy. More specifically, she will focus on advancing procedural research that enables organizations to prioritize high-risk attack techniques instead of reacting to generalized alerts. By aligning defensive investments with real attacker execution paths, Tidal Cyber aims to help customers understand not only whether their controls can disrupt attacks, but also where those disruptions create the greatest strategic impact.
“I joined Tidal Cyber because the company is committed to transparency around how defenses perform against real adversary procedures,” said Cat. “In an industry saturated with marketing, those procedures, the exact steps adversaries take, provide clarity. They expose decision points, motivations, and capability. When organizations understand how their defenses hold up at that level, they can move beyond the noise and focus on solving the right problem.”
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Her appointment further strengthens Tidal Cyber’s Threat-Led Defense platform, which centers on procedural research and execution-based testing rather than theoretical risk modeling. By investing in adversary-focused intelligence, the company continues to differentiate itself in a crowded cybersecurity market.
“Cat is an exceptional leader in adversary research and threat intelligence,” said Frank Duff, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Tidal Cyber. “I had the privilege of hiring Cat during our time at MITRE and saw firsthand her ability to translate complex adversary tradecraft into actionable insight. Her deep expertise in procedural research and evaluations aligns perfectly with our mission to help organizations understand whether their defenses can truly disrupt real attack execution.”
Overall, Cat Self’s leadership is expected to enhance Tidal Cyber’s ability to deliver measurable, execution-level security validation. As organizations shift toward threat-informed defense strategies, procedural intelligence and adversary emulation will play an increasingly central role in determining cybersecurity resilience.
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