Reading the Attacker: A Hands-On Ransomware Negotiation Workshop
What if understanding how a ransomware gang negotiator was feeling could help you guide those negotiations? What if inducing affect and emotions in those online communications could help you influence how someone responds to you?
This workshop will familiarize all levels of participants with the foundations of how we process information based on how we think and what we are feeling.
This workshop taught by a certified former FBI profiler who specialized in online influence will provide demonstrations and exercises on how to analyze ransomware negotiations based on the affect and emotions in those communications and how to design a behaviorally based communications strategy that induces affect and emotions in those online communications.
Tim Pappa is an Incident Response Engineer - Cyber Deception Strategy, Content Development, and Marketing, Cyber Deception Operations, Walmart Global Tech.
Before Walmart Global Tech, Tim was a Supervisory Special Agent and profiler with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), where he specialized in cyber deception and online influence.
Tim has presented and published at various academic and industry conferences, including Black Hat Asia, NDSS, IEEE S&P, CYBERWARCON, and the Honeynet Project. Tim has also held various strategy and policy Fellow roles at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Aspen Institute.
Tim is also a DEFCON Franklin volunteer. Tim's current research interests include attitudes toward cybercriminal felons, HoneyContent, and cyber deception design thinking.
Singapore-based publisher World Scientific published his first book, “Influencing the Influencers: Applying Whaley’s Communication and Deception Frameworks to Terrorism and Insurgent Narratives” in summer 2025. He is currently writing No Starch Press's first book on cyber deception.
REGISTER FOR THIS PAID WORKSHOP NOW ON ZOOM - COST IS $99 TO ATTEND: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_M3c4mXpqQWKGkS3ERrxFKQ#/registration