This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

Today, I dig deep with Colonel Sean Smith, 2020 elections, cybersecurity, expert and an honor to welcome you to the show today.

I'd love to just jump right in.

And can you explain what advanced, persistent threats are in relation to what you've learned from the 2020 election fiasco?

Sure. An advanced persistent threat is a characterization of an adversary, typically nation state, almost exclusively nation state or nation state affiliated

because of the resources required to generate that kind of expertise and focus and support it.

You see some of that expertise in international and non-governmental like criminal organizations,

but by and large, the advanced persistent threats are nation-state owned, operated,

or sponsored. You know, sometimes they'll use a cutout for plausible deniability. An advanced

persistent threat, so you've got two aspects to it there. There's two adjectives. One is

advanced. This means these are not, you know, what we would call like script kitties. This is not somebody messing around like war games.

This is not accidental.

These are people with years and sometimes decades long nation state campaigns

that are intended to penetrate, compromise, and exploit vulnerabilities in Western technology, not just as if they

come upon them, you know, as if they had nothing to do with them, but also they're involved

in the supply chain frequently. So there's some nation states like China that are doing a lot of manufacturing of

electronics and computers, and they have intentionally woven compromises into the supply chain.

So they work hand in hand between their sort of research institutions like CACA or CASC, CACC.

Those work alongside the advanced persistent threat elements from their intelligence and military communities so that the intelligence and military communities are being

essentially delivered tools and access in Western technology. And it's across all elements

of national security. So it's the,

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