AI-native threat intelligence and risk operations for cyber, fraud and risk teams

Attackers scale with AI.
Now you can, too.

Most threat intelligence tools stop at the alert. Overwatch's AI agents keep going, investigating cyber and fraud threats and connecting evidence across sources until your team has a decision it can act on.

DetectionsRepresentative findings

Detections

Detected in monitored channels

Kestrelmoor Bank · last 60 days
PriorityDetectionChannelStageSeen

    Investigation

    Untitled · 10-06 09:41
    >Tell me about OTP and SMS fraud aimed at Kestrelmoor customers
    working · 1 callsworked 24.6s · 13 calls · 1 scan
    OTP and SMS fraud

    Code interception is sold as a live service: a bot calls the customer, poses as the bank and captures the one-time code while the buyer is logged in.

    # Duskwire OTP-CHAT1,214 msgs streams “live hits” that name Kestrelmoor among supported banks. # Ashwick Pay exchange860 msgs recruits “OTP work”: people who rent out bank accounts for a commission.

    Sellers and channels: OTP interceptionSource ↗
    Larkspire posts “OTP work” offers into 3 channels
    Confidence
    • High — OTP-interception bots and code panels are advertised across Telegram.
    • High — Duskwire OTP-CHAT names Kestrelmoor as a supported bank.
    • Medium — “OTP work” here means renting out bank accounts, not ordinary jobs.
    • Low — The sellers' claimed capture and success rates.
    Why low? Success claims come only from the sellers' own bot posts. No victim reports or independent confirmation found.
    ask

    Investigations

    Manage and track your security investigations

    Add Investigation
    Search investigations…

    9 investigations found

    Duskwire OTP bot naming Kestrelmoor
    Deep and Dark WebOngoing
    Oct 06, 2026Updated just now
    1 URL2 Files6 Messages

    An OTP-interception bot lists Kestrelmoor among supported banks, and a recruiter in three channels pays commission for bank-account access. Six messages attached as evidence.

    View Details
    New-device check bypass
    Fraud MethodsOngoing
    Sep 30, 2026Updated 1 day ago
    1 URL1 Event

    A Telegram post sells a method for getting past Kestrelmoor’s new-device checks. Agents are matching it against recent account takeover reports.

    View Details
    Staff logins in a stealer log
    Deep and Dark WebCompleted
    Sep 27, 2026Updated 6 days ago
    1 File

    Three corporate logins for Kestrelmoor staff found in an infostealer log. Each one was matched to a current employee account and sent to the security team.

    View Details
    Branch staff recruitment
    Deep and Dark WebOngoing
    Sep 24, 2026Updated 2 days ago
    1 URL1 Event

    A Telegram post offers payment to bank branch staff for customer lookups. Agents are tracking the poster across other channels.

    View Details
    Lookalike login domain
    DomainsCompleted
    Sep 21, 2026Updated 13 days ago
    1 URL2 Files

    kestrelmoor-verify.example served a copy of the online banking login page. The evidence package went to the brand team for takedown.

    View Details
    Payroll vendor data leak
    3rd PartiesOngoing
    Sep 17, 2026Updated 4 days ago
    2 URLs1 File

    A ransomware group posted data it says came from a payroll vendor Kestrelmoor uses. Agents are checking the sample for employee records.

    View Details
    Executive exposure review
    VIP ProtectionCompleted
    Sep 15, 2026Updated 18 days ago
    4 Files

    Exposure review for five Kestrelmoor executives: home addresses on data broker sites, two impersonation accounts and public travel mentions.

    View Details
    Banking logins in a combo list
    Breaches / Data LeaksCompleted
    Sep 05, 2026Updated 27 days ago
    1 File

    Thirty-eight Kestrelmoor online banking logins posted to a paste site. Most pairs match an older breach; six are new.

    View Details
    Account mule recruitment
    Fraud SocialCompleted
    Aug 27, 2026Updated about 1 month ago
    1 URL

    Social posts offer cash to Kestrelmoor customers who rent out their accounts. Four posts trace back to the same recruiter.

    View Details
    Search Kestrelmoor Bank Deep and Dark Web…
    24h7d30d
    Filters:Event Status: ACTIVEORCOMPLETED
    Showing 6 of 6 detectionsSelect All
    Sale Of Methods Targeting YouP0
    Method: OTP bot naming Kestrelmoor
    FieldValue
    TypeOTP bot
    ChannelDuskwire OTP-CHAT
    SenderDuskwire v4
    Channel Id duskwireotpMentions Kestrelmoor
    t.me/duskwireotp2 days ago
    ACTIVEFO
    1 article
    Sale Of Methods Targeting YouP0
    Method: “OTP work” recruitment
    FieldValue
    TypeRecruitment
    ChannelAshwick Pay exchange
    SenderLarkspire
    Channel Id ashwickpayMentions Kestrelmoor
    t.me/duskwireotp2 days ago
    ACTIVE
    1 article
    Sale Of Methods Targeting YouP0
    Method: OTP bot price list
    FieldValue
    TypeOTP bot
    ChannelGreywick Exchange
    SenderLarkspire
    Channel Id greywickxMentions Kestrelmoor
    t.me/duskwireotp2 days ago
    ACTIVE
    1 article
    Method: OTP bot naming Kestrelmoor
    TypeOTP-interception bot
    ChannelDuskwire OTP-CHAT
    SenderDuskwire v4
    Banks namedKestrelmoor Bank and 11 others
    Claimed methodAutomated call that asks for the code
    Pricing1 week $60 · 1 month $150
    First Seen2026-10-04
    Messages1,214
    SourceTelegram
    Comments:
    Comment
    FO
    Fraud Opsjust now

    Step-up checks on for new-device logins. SMS warning queued to customers.

    Routed to fraud ops · CriticalCase management · SIEM · Email alert
    1. Detect

      Signal collection at scale

      Continuous collection across the criminal underground, markets, leak sites, forums and channels where fraudsters and threat actors stage. Classifiers and anomaly detection turn a constant stream of raw activity into candidate signal.

    2. Investigate

      Agentic investigation

      AI agents traverse threat actor networks, verify exploits, follow checkout flows, and assemble evidence packages, without waiting on an analyst to start.

    3. Act

      Analyst-validated delivery

      Validated findings delivered into your stack: SIEM, SOAR, case management, executive briefings. Analysts answer the hard questions and find the leads the platform then watches for.

    Customers and partners

    Used by Visa and 40+ other leaders in finance, fintech and media.

    • Visa
    • DoorDash
    • FS-ISAC
    • ICBA
    • NCFTA
    • TRM Labs
    • SCOOP Cyber

    Platform

    Attack volumes are compounding. Analyst hours are not.

    AI dropped the cost of running a scam to nearly zero, and threats arrive from every direction: compromised accounts, fraud patterns, fake merchant applications. Overwatch covers them all on one system, taking each from signal to decision. AI agents build the evidence, our analysts handle the cases that need human judgment, and your team acts in Overwatch or the tools you already use.

    Platform overview

    Human in the loop with expert support

    Our analysts work where stolen data and access are sold.

    Each case starts as a fragment, a receipt, a post, a record, and gets pulled until it resolves. The most challenging are investigated further by our analysts.

    Documented findingCase 01

    Payout programs

    About 150 buyer receipts with no card numbers became an active attack on a national delivery platform's payout program: 6,439 cards listed on day one, 16,306 by day three. Platform notified in-window.

    Confirmed

    • 46 cards in hand
    • One issuer across every receipt
    • Two BINs, listings ongoing
    • Balances still available
    • Fraud transactions occurred
    • Root cause
    Documented findingCase 02

    Card manufacturing

    Stolen cards from several banks, all mailed to one state, became a possible insider at a third-party card manufacturer. Affected banks alerted.

    Confirmed

    • Cards from at least three issuing banks
    • Single mailing address
    • Number of affected cardholders
    • Manufacturer's role, insider vs. compromised system
    Documented findingCase 03

    Banking

    A pinned post claiming an insider at a major bank became a documented allegation in the bank's hands before anyone else had seen it, marked as unvalidated.

    Confirmed

    • Post predates any public disclosure
    • Named individual holds the role claimed
    • Insider access, still allegation
    • Extent of data exposure
    Documented findingCase 04

    Identity data

    One sample record from a marketplace claiming 170 million identities became a single identity-verification vendor, later confirmed by independent reporting and a federal inquiry.

    Confirmed

    • Sample record matched to named vendor
    • Independent reporting and a federal inquiry followed
    • Full scope of the 170 million figure

    Built for the threat escalations that can't wait.

    When a fraud team makes a decision, real money moves. When a SOC escalates, hours of investigation follow. Overwatch is built to make sure that time isn't wasted, catching what your existing stack misses and turning it into a case worth escalating. This is operational threat intelligence: the shift from reactive triage to proactive, scalable risk operations.

    When one bank’s fraud and cyber intelligence team switched to Overwatch, here’s what changed:

    6×
    more critical threats resolved
    3 days
    earlier detection of emerging threats
    20+
    analyst hours back each week

    Results from one Overwatch customer’s first 90 days, compared with its previous tools and processes.

    “Overwatch has surfaced more digital threats in 90 days than my entire 7 years at two previous major banks combined.”
    SVP, Fraud & Cyber Intelligence, Major Regional Bank

    Frequently asked

    Questions risk leaders ask us.

    What is AI-native threat intelligence and risk operations?

    AI-native threat intelligence and risk operations is a way of running fraud, cyber, brand and merchant risk reviews on one system, with AI agents and expert analysts doing the collection, investigation and first-pass assessment that teams used to do by hand. Overwatch Data built its AI threat intelligence platform on this model. What Overwatch learns about how attackers operate feeds straight into monitoring, investigations, onboarding reviews and risk decisions to combat digital threats.

    What is operational threat intelligence?

    Operational threat intelligence is threat intelligence that ends in action and can be pulled into everyday risk operations and reviews. Classic intelligence tiers use “operational” for insight into specific campaigns and actors. Overwatch uses the term more literally: intelligence that runs the investigation, reaches an assessment and lands in the workflow where a fraud, security or onboarding team makes its call. It reflects a wider shift in the market, as threat intelligence becomes risk operations infrastructure.

    Why now

    How is Overwatch different from a threat intelligence platform (TIP) or a data feed?

    Overwatch goes further than threat intelligence. Most intelligence products deliver data and alerts, then leave the investigation and the decision to a human queue. Overwatch does that work. As an agentic threat intelligence platform, it collects adversarial intelligence from the criminal underground, uses AI agents and expert analysts to investigate it, and routes a defensible result into the systems where your team acts. Validated findings arrive with their evidence, a severity rating and a recommended action.

    Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

    Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

    AI threat intelligence platform

    One system for cyber, fraud, brand and merchant risk.

    Overwatch collects adversarial intelligence from the criminal underground, investigates it with AI agents and expert analysts, and hands your team an assessment it can act on.

    Fraud intelligence

    Compromised data and the methods being weaponized against your organization.

    Account takeoverCard & payment fraudFraud ringsTools and methodsInsider threats

    Cyber threat intelligence

    Dark web markets, ransomware leak sites and vulnerability chatter. Coverage spans the underground forums where key enterprise threats originate.

    Dark & deep webRansomware trackingVendor breach signalsIOC, TTP and CVE intelligence

    Merchant risk

    Automated merchant review and KYB, including fraud review and card network compliance checks.

    Miscoded high-risk merchantsSignals of fraud or low-quality merchantsSignals of transaction launderingShell sites

    Brand protection

    Impersonation, lookalike domains and spoofed storefronts aimed at your brand, with takedown signals routed to the right team.

    Lookalike domainsSpoofed social & app storesTakedown signals

    VIP & executive protection

    Threats against executives and VIPs that cross into the physical world, including risks tied to events and facilities.

    VIP & exec threatsEvent & facility security

    Third-party risk

    Continuous monitoring for vendor and supply chain compromise, so a partner's exposure does not become yours.

    Vendor compromiseSupply chain leak trackingCredential exposure
    Investigations

    Every lead, worked to a defensible answer.

    Agents run the first pass of every investigation. Analysts take the hard cases. Your team works the result.

    • Agentic investigationsAgents follow the actor, resolve infrastructure, check history and assemble the evidence package.
    • Analysts on callHard cases escalate to Overwatch analysts, and your team can send requests for information directly.
    • Cases your team worksAssign, update, comment and collaborate in the platform, or route findings to Slack, SIEM and case management.
    How investigations work

    The same attacker, in three disguises.

    A compromised account flagged by security. A fraud pattern in the payments queue. A fake merchant application waiting in onboarding. Most tools see one of the three, because most tools were built for one team. Overwatch collects signals from across the threat landscape and connects them to the actor behind each.

    How Overwatch works

    One system, from signal to decision.

    Threat monitoring that's mapped to your priorities, and investigations that get to the bottom of what you're hunting for.

    DetectionsRepresentative findings

    Detections

    Detected in monitored channels

    Kestrelmoor Bank · last 60 days
    PriorityDetectionChannelStageSeen

      Investigation

      Untitled · 10-06 09:41
      >Who is selling Kestrelmoor cards, and is the batch real?
      working · 1 callsworked 24.6s · 13 calls · 1 scan
      Kestrelmoor card batch

      One seller, Tallowmark, is moving a batch of 14 full card numbers from a single Kestrelmoor BIN. The listing went up on a carding marketplace and is being promoted on Telegram.

      Tallowmark posts the same batch in # Tallowmark Shop8 msgs, # Greywick Exchange5 msgs and # Wrenhollow Chat3 msgs, and points buyers to a private channel.

      Sellers and channels discussing KestrelmoorSource ↗
      Tallowmark posts the batch into 3 channels
      Confidence
      • High — The listing is live: 14 cards from one Kestrelmoor BIN, with samples posted.
      • High — One seller, Tallowmark, is behind the listing and the Telegram posts.
      • Medium — Same card base as an earlier Tallowmark batch.
      • Low — The seller's claimed balances and valid rate.
      Why low? Balances come only from the seller's own posts. No test results or victim reports found.
      ask

      Investigations

      Manage and track your security investigations

      Add Investigation
      Search investigations…

      9 investigations found

      Kestrelmoor BIN card batch
      Deep and Dark WebOngoing
      Oct 06, 2026Updated just now
      1 URL2 Files6 Messages

      Fourteen full card numbers from one Kestrelmoor BIN on a carding marketplace. The seller also posts in three Telegram channels; six messages attached as evidence.

      View Details
      New-device check bypass
      Fraud MethodsOngoing
      Sep 30, 2026Updated 1 day ago
      1 URL1 Event

      A Telegram post sells a method for getting past Kestrelmoor’s new-device checks. Agents are matching it against recent account takeover reports.

      View Details
      Staff logins in a stealer log
      Deep and Dark WebCompleted
      Sep 27, 2026Updated 6 days ago
      1 File

      Three corporate logins for Kestrelmoor staff found in an infostealer log. Each one was matched to a current employee account and sent to the security team.

      View Details
      Branch staff recruitment
      Deep and Dark WebOngoing
      Sep 24, 2026Updated 2 days ago
      1 URL1 Event

      A Telegram post offers payment to bank branch staff for customer lookups. Agents are tracking the poster across other channels.

      View Details
      Lookalike login domain
      DomainsCompleted
      Sep 21, 2026Updated 13 days ago
      1 URL2 Files

      kestrelmoor-verify.example served a copy of the online banking login page. The evidence package went to the brand team for takedown.

      View Details
      Payroll vendor data leak
      3rd PartiesOngoing
      Sep 17, 2026Updated 4 days ago
      2 URLs1 File

      A ransomware group posted data it says came from a payroll vendor Kestrelmoor uses. Agents are checking the sample for employee records.

      View Details
      Executive exposure review
      VIP ProtectionCompleted
      Sep 15, 2026Updated 18 days ago
      4 Files

      Exposure review for five Kestrelmoor executives: home addresses on data broker sites, two impersonation accounts and public travel mentions.

      View Details
      Banking logins in a combo list
      Breaches / Data LeaksCompleted
      Sep 05, 2026Updated 27 days ago
      1 File

      Thirty-eight Kestrelmoor online banking logins posted to a paste site. Most pairs match an older breach; six are new.

      View Details
      Account mule recruitment
      Fraud SocialCompleted
      Aug 27, 2026Updated about 1 month ago
      1 URL

      Social posts offer cash to Kestrelmoor customers who rent out their accounts. Four posts trace back to the same recruiter.

      View Details
      Search Kestrelmoor Bank Deep and Dark Web…
      24h7d30d
      Filters:Event Status: ACTIVEORCOMPLETED
      Showing 14 of 14 detectionsSelect All
      Full Card NumbersP1
      Card: 52•• •••• •••• 4417
      FieldValue
      TypeDEBIT
      Bin52••••
      Last 44417
      Bin 52••••Channel Id tallowmarkshop
      t.me/tallowmarkshop3 days ago
      ACTIVEFO
      1 article
      Full Card NumbersP1
      Card: 52•• •••• •••• 8062
      FieldValue
      TypeDEBIT
      Bin52••••
      Last 48062
      Bin 52••••Channel Id tallowmarkshop
      t.me/tallowmarkshop3 days ago
      ACTIVE
      1 article
      Full Card NumbersP1
      Card: 52•• •••• •••• 1295
      FieldValue
      TypeDEBIT
      Bin52••••
      Last 41295
      Bin 52••••Channel Id tallowmarkshop
      t.me/tallowmarkshop3 days ago
      ACTIVE
      1 article
      Card: 52•• •••• •••• 4417
      TypeDEBIT
      Bin52••••
      Last 44417
      Expiration08/2029
      Number52•• •••• •••• 4417
      CVV•••
      Compromise Date2026-09-30
      Found InTallowmark Shop
      Filenamefresh_14pcs[.]txt
      SourceTelegram
      Comments:
      Comment
      FO
      Fraud Opsjust now

      Blocked and reissued all 14 cards. Watching the seller for new batches.

      Routed to fraud ops · HighCase management · SIEM · Email alert
      • Briefings built around your businessMonitoring mapped to your assets, vendors and business units, with automated alerts tuned to your priorities.
      • Tiered findingsClassified into High, Medium, and Low tiers, with analyst validation on the hard cases.
      • Decisions, delivered where you workFindings and recommended actions arrive via UI, API, email, or webhook, wherever your team already looks.

      Platform FAQs

      Do I have to replace my existing tools?

      No. Overwatch sits upstream of the systems your team already uses and delivers into them: SIEM, SOAR, case management, the Overwatch UI, API, email or webhook. Most customers keep their existing stack and use Overwatch to catch what it misses and to take manual collection and triage off their analysts.

      How long does it take to get value?

      Setup starts with mapping collection to your assets, vendors, brands and executives, and findings begin arriving once that mapping is in place. Most customers see first findings within the first week.

      How does Overwatch reduce false positives and alert fatigue?

      AI agents verify and enrich every signal before it reaches your queue, so what arrives is an investigated finding. Each finding is classified High, Medium or Low, which lets your team work the critical cases first, and Overwatch analysts validate the hard ones. Monitoring is tuned to your priorities, and each closed case sharpens what the platform watches for next.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Operational threat intelligence

      Threat intelligence is becoming risk operations infrastructure.

      AI broke the economics of attack. Scams now cost almost nothing to run and volume climbs every month, while the teams defending against them are still built to human scale. This is the case for rebuilding risk operations around intelligence that acts while a threat is still live.

      Threat Intelligence Was Built for Experts. Here’s Why Every Risk Team Needs It Now

      For years, threat intelligence was limited to a specialized group of expert threat hunters, fraud investigators, and incident responders who used intelligence from the criminal underground and other external sources to anticipate emerging threats, strengthen defenses, or investigate incidents after they occurred.

      Zara Perumal and I were part of that group. I led a risk team at Stripe, and Zara worked on countering influence operations at Google’s Threat Analysis Group. We had access to the underground, experienced investigators, and good tools, and we could still only investigate a fraction of what we saw.

      But the barriers to entry for cybercrime and fraud have collapsed. Impersonating a business, compromising and selling accounts, launching phishing campaigns, and scaling malicious activity across thousands of digital touchpoints now takes little money and even less skill.

      AI is speeding this up. In the underground forums we monitor, much of the “AI” on offer is marketing, but three uses are real and growing: sharper phishing and social engineering lures, automation platforms that let low-skill operators run campaigns at scale, and tools that sift stolen data for the most valuable targets. Attackers don’t need autonomous AI to do serious damage. They just need to do more, faster. AI gives them that.

      The lines between cybersecurity, fraud, and financial crime are also blurring. The criminal groups we monitor don’t distinguish between these categories. They use whatever tools work, and share infrastructure across fraud, money laundering, and data harvesting, operating much like franchises, which is how the UN has described the scam networks running across Southeast Asia. The proceeds from these activities support broader criminal networks involved in trafficking, exploitation, and violence. Inside most enterprises, those threats still land on separate teams with separate tools, with security in one place, fraud in another, and third-party risk in a third. Attackers count on that.

      That’s why threat intelligence now belongs in almost every enterprise risk workflow. Onboarding a merchant, vetting a vendor, monitoring a partner, spotting a new fraud pattern: each of these decisions gets better when you understand an entity’s digital footprint and can see the suspicious signals around it. The challenge is that few organizations have the investigative resources to apply this expertise at scale. Experienced investigators are scarce and expensive, and a single case can take days. Hiring more of them was never going to keep pace with attackers who can scale with a few lines of code.

      What Zara and I learned from years on the defender’s side is that most of an investigation is routine work: gathering evidence, checking it against other sources, and ruling things out. Agents can do that work, and people should spend their time on the finer judgment calls only they can make.

      This is why we built Overwatch Data.

      By combining external intelligence, investigative tools, and AI agents, we can bring capabilities once reserved for specialist investigators into everyday risk operations. Teams can easily investigate threats, connect evidence across sources, and identify emerging risks without spending days on each case. Teams at Visa already use Overwatch. In its first 90 days, one customer resolved six times more critical threats, detected emerging threats three days earlier and got back more than 20 analyst hours each week. Every investigation also sharpens our agents, so the platform gets better for every customer the more it’s used.

      The stakes go well beyond losses on a balance sheet. When fraud succeeds, the money often ends up funding trafficking and exploitation. That’s why we’re empowering threat intel, fraud and risk teams with the intelligence they need to act on threats before they cause harm.

      5 minutes
      Time to craft a convincing phishing email with generative AI, down from about 16 hours by hand. Close to 200× attacker productivity.
      IBM X-Force, 2023
      14×
      Increase in AI-generated phishing in a single month at the end of 2025.
      Hoxhunt, Phishing Trends Report 2026
      $20.9B
      Cybercrime losses reported to the FBI in 2025.
      FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 report
      Nearly 30%
      Of people who lost money to a scam in 2025 said it started on social media. Reported losses reached $2.1B, eight times the 2020 figure.
      US Federal Trade Commission, 2026

      What this changes on Monday morning.

      Three shifts a risk team can make without ripping out the stack it already runs.

      Collection starts where attacks are staged

      TodayAlerts arrive after the fraud posts or the breach lands.
      With OverwatchMonitoring covers the forums, markets and channels where your cards, credentials and brand are traded, so the first signal comes while there is still time to act.

      Agents run the first pass

      TodayAnalysts spend the morning triaging raw alerts, most of them noise.
      With OverwatchAI agents verify, enrich and assemble the evidence around the clock. Analysts start the day on the cases that need their judgment.

      The queue holds decisions

      TodayEvery item in the queue is a fresh investigation waiting to start.
      With OverwatchValidated findings arrive ranked by severity, with their evidence and a recommended action, in the tools the team already uses.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Fraud and cyber threat intelligence research

      What we're seeing in the criminal underground.

      Threat analysis and research on how attacks are run, from the team that watches criminal markets for a living.

      Featured

      Threat intelligence is becoming risk operations infrastructure.

      AI broke the economics of attack. This is the case for rebuilding risk operations around intelligence that acts while a threat is still live.

      Read more
      Company newsSep 22, 2026

      Huge cyberattack uses Anthropic and DeepSeek AI to target 100 companies

      Read on Forbes
      Cyber PulseJun 2026

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      Read the issue
      AnalysisJun 8, 2026

      The explosion of phishing URLs targeting financial institutions

      Read on LinkedIn
      Research & methodologyApr 27, 2026

      Building Overwatch: AI agents for threat intelligence at attacker speed

      Read more
      AnalysisApr 16, 2026

      Fraud is officially part of cybersecurity: the ATT&CK model

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      AnalysisApr 9, 2026

      What would Project Glasswing for fraud look like?

      Read on LinkedIn
      Cyber PulseMar 2026

      ATM jackpotting and NFC relay attacks, plus reflections from ICBA Live.

      Read the issue
      Cyber PulseFeb 2026

      Fraud moves from the dark web to TikTok, tax-refund abuse and MCC review agents.

      Read the issue
      AnalysisJan 29, 2026

      From dark web to TikTok: why fraud intelligence needs to move at social speed

      Read more
      Research & methodologyJan 29, 2026

      Comparing fraud taxonomies and how to use them

      Read more
      Cyber PulseJan 2026

      Our 2026 cybercrime predictions: fraud goes social and AI agents move from content to crime.

      Read the issue
      AnalysisJan 7, 2026

      Your camera is a trust signal

      Read on LinkedIn
      AnalysisDec 30, 2025

      Jingle all the way to the bank

      Read on LinkedIn
      AnalysisDec 29, 2025

      Cybercrime: what we expect in 2026

      Read more
      AnalysisNov 7, 2025

      The new ATO: agent takeover

      Read on LinkedIn
      Cyber PulseOct 2025

      Cybersecurity Awareness Month, DotBypasser and welcoming Jeff Needham as CRO.

      Read the issue
      Company newsOct 18, 2025

      AI as a bicycle for the mind: reflections from the road

      Read more
      Cyber PulseSep 2025

      On the road with our CTO, the IAB monitoring launch and AI as a bicycle for the mind.

      Read the issue
      AnalysisSep 19, 2025

      AI-powered cybercrime: when machines run criminal operations

      Read more
      Company newsSep 15, 2025

      Community, collaboration, and AI: reflections from the road

      Read more
      AnalysisSep 2, 2025

      Why social media monitoring is now essential threat intelligence

      Read on LinkedIn
      Cyber PulseAug 2025

      How we deployed AI agents against cyber and fraud, plus Congressional testimony.

      Read the issue
      AnalysisAug 17, 2025

      Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters: a fresh wave of cybercriminals and trolls

      Read on LinkedIn
      Research & methodologyAug 12, 2025

      The key to detecting synthetic IDs

      Read on LinkedIn
      AnalysisJul 28, 2025

      The dark side of AI: fraudsters' new arsenal

      Read more

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      Read past issues

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      About Overwatch Data

      Built by defenders who watched attackers automate first.

      Arjun Bisen and Zara Perumal spent their careers inside the problem at Stripe, Google and Twitter. Overwatch is the system they wanted when they were the ones holding the line.

      Why we built this

      At Stripe, Google and Twitter, we worked on the teams that sit between attackers and the business. The job was always the same: find the signal, investigate it, decide. Every year the volume went up and the team stayed the same size.

      Then attackers started using AI. A convincing phishing email went from a day's work to a few minutes. No amount of hiring keeps pace with that, so we set out to build a system that could.

      Overwatch runs cyber, fraud, brand and merchant risk on one system. AI agents handle collection and the first pass of every investigation. Our analysts take the hard cases and teach the agents what to look for next. Every customer's detections make the platform sharper for the rest.

      Founders

      Arjun Bisen

      CEO and cofounder

      Fifteen years in global risk across Stripe, Google and Twitter, including leading Stripe's fraud intelligence and onboarding risk team. Began his career in the Australian Foreign Service, where he helped write the country's National Cyber Strategy.

      Zara Perumal

      CTO and cofounder

      More than a decade at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. Worked on early agent systems at Google Assistant and served as tech lead for Google's Threat Analysis Group on influence operations.

      Leadership

      Jeff Needham

      Chief Revenue Officer

      Leads revenue and global go-to-market at Overwatch, with a focus on scaling growth and keeping customers for the long term. Previously held leadership roles at Cisco Systems, Symantec and IBM (BigFix), and at ThreatConnect, Flashpoint and Intel 471. Known for turning technical capabilities into clear business outcomes.

      Mike Itz

      Chief Architect

      20 years of experience scaling teams and systems in search, machine learning, and data analysis. Recently managed Google teams engineering user safety and data protection across Google Search and Assistant.

      Keith Baker

      VP of Engineering

      Two decades of experience building and leading diverse, high-performing engineering organizations across infrastructure, reliability, and developer platforms. Most recently a Director at Google, leading Fitbit’s infrastructure organization after growing it from a small team into a multi-team group of engineers and managers, with a focus on developing leaders and delivering quality and velocity.

      Press kit

      Logos, founder photos and boilerplate for press and analysts.

      Download the press kit (ZIP, 0.6 MB)

      Logo · White logo · Mark · Arjun · Zara · Boilerplate

      Bring your hardest risk problem. We'll run Overwatch against it.

      Thirty minutes with someone who has done the job. Tell us where the volume is, and we'll show you what the agents find.

      Not ready for a call? Start with a free threat assessment.

      Your problem, on the platformBring a live issue and we'll run Overwatch against it during the call.
      A practitioner on the callYour demo is run by someone who has worked in fraud, cyber or merchant risk.
      A straight answer on fitIf Overwatch is wrong for your problem, we'll say so.

      By submitting, you agree to be contacted by Overwatch. See our Privacy Policy.

      Thanks. Someone from the team will be in touch within one business day to find a time.Preview only: nothing was submitted.

      Find out what attackers already have on you.

      We point Overwatch at your domains, then send back what's already exposed, with sources.

      Exposed credentials and compromised data

      What's already circulating, and where.

      Impersonation, executive exposure and merchant portfolio signals are part of the full Overwatch platform; the free assessment doesn't include them.

      What we need from you: your domains and, if you issue cards, your BINs. Nothing from inside your network.

      What you get back: a written analyst summary of what was confirmed, what wasn't, and what we'd do first, plus an optional 30-minute readout.

      How long it takes: 5 business days from the point we have the list.

      What happens to your list: it stays confidential and is deleted after 90 days.

      What it costs: nothing, and there's no obligation to talk to sales afterward.

      First page of a redacted Overwatch Intelligence Risk ReportSample reportSee a sample assessmentA redacted Intelligence Risk Report. 2 pages, PDF.

      List your company's website and email domains, separated by commas. List only what follows the @ symbol, e.g. overwatchdata.ai, overwatchdata.io

      If you issue cards, list your 6- or 8-digit Bank Identification Numbers (BINs), separated by commas.

      Free Threat Assessment Terms

      These terms apply when you request a free threat assessment from Overwatch Data, Inc. ("Overwatch") through our website. By checking the box on the request form, you agree to them on behalf of the organization you name.

      1. Who can request one. You must make the request on behalf of a business, public body or other organization, with authority to agree to these terms for it. Overwatch reviews each request and may decline or limit any assessment.
      2. What you give us. Your organization's domains and, if you choose, its card BINs. Only submit assets your organization owns or is authorized to have assessed.
      3. What we do. We search sources Overwatch can lawfully access, such as the open web, criminal forums, marketplaces and messaging channels, for information about the assets you submit. We don't connect to your systems, ask for credentials or install software, and we don't test or attack your infrastructure.
      4. What you receive. A written summary of what we found, sent to the email address on the request, usually within 5 business days. Findings reflect what we could see at the time, and we may not find every exposure. Sensitive data in the findings, such as credentials or card numbers, is masked.
      5. Confidentiality. We treat your submission and the results as confidential and use them only to prepare the assessment and to discuss it, and Overwatch's services, with you. The results are for your organization's internal use.
      6. Third parties. If we find an active threat to someone outside your organization, such as a card issuer, we may tell them about the threat without naming you.
      7. Retention. We delete the domains and BINs you submit 90 days after we receive them. We keep your contact details, and the record that you accepted these terms, as described in our Privacy Policy.
      8. No charge, no obligation. The assessment is free and creates no obligation to buy anything.
      9. No warranty. The assessment and results are provided "as is", for information only. They are not legal, security or other professional advice, and you decide what action to take.
      10. Liability. To the extent the law allows, Overwatch's total liability arising from the assessment is limited to one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100), and Overwatch is not liable for indirect or consequential losses.
      11. Other terms. These terms sit alongside our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy; if they conflict, these terms govern the assessment. Delaware law applies, as in the Terms of Use. We may update these terms, and the version in force when you submitted your request applies to it.

      The same terms are on our Terms page.

      By submitting, you agree to be contacted by Overwatch. See our Privacy Policy.

      Thanks. An analyst will email you within one business day to confirm scope.Preview only: nothing was submitted.

      Free threat assessment FAQs

      What does the free threat assessment include?

      The free dark web threat assessment shows what attackers already have on your organization. Overwatch points its collection at your domains, then reports what it finds: exposed credentials and compromised data. Impersonation, executive exposure and merchant portfolio signals are part of the full Overwatch platform, not the free assessment. Every item comes with its sources.

      What do you need from us?

      Your domains and, if you issue cards, your BINs. Nothing from inside your network and no software to install.

      How long does it take?

      Results arrive 5 business days after Overwatch has your list. An analyst emails within one business day of your request to confirm scope.

      Talk to Overwatch.

      Choose a topic below and your message goes straight to the right team.

      By submitting, you agree to be contacted by Overwatch. See our Privacy Policy.

      Thanks. We'll reply within one business day.Preview only: nothing was submitted.

      Work on the defender's side.

      Engineering, analysis and go-to-market, building the system risk teams use to keep pace with attackers who automated first.

      Working at Overwatch

      Overwatch brings engineers, threat analysts and go-to-market people together on one product. Analysts work cases inside the forums and channels where attacks are planned, and every lead they run down becomes a detection the platform runs for every customer. The team is based in Brooklyn and Boston, with colleagues working remotely across the United States and abroad.

      Current openings

      Careers FAQs

      What roles is Overwatch hiring for?

      Overwatch is hiring across engineering, threat analysis and go-to-market. Current openings are listed above.

      Where is the Overwatch team based?

      Overwatch is based in Brooklyn and Boston, with team members working remotely across the United States and abroad.

      What is the interview process like?

      Candidates meet the hiring manager, the team they would join and a founder. Each role page lists its stages.

      Overwatch Data, Inc.

      Privacy Policy

      This policy explains what personal information Overwatch Data, Inc. ("Overwatch," "we," "us") collects, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to our websites, marketing communications, and the Overwatch platform.

      Overwatch Data, Inc.

      Terms of Use

      These terms govern your use of overwatchdata.ai and related Overwatch websites (the "Site"). Access to the Overwatch platform is governed by a separate services agreement between Overwatch and your organization.

      Investigations

      Every lead, worked to a defensible answer.

      AI agents take each signal from first sighting to evidence package, Overwatch analysts take the cases that need judgment, and your team works the result in the platform or in the tools it already uses.

      Investigations

      Most intelligence products stop at the alert and leave the investigation to your queue. Overwatch starts it. Agents follow the actor, resolve connected infrastructure, pair exposed data with breach records and check what has been seen before. Analysts take what needs judgment. Every finding states what was confirmed and what was not, so the result can be defended in front of an auditor, a regulator or your own leadership.

      01

      Agentic investigations

      AI agents traverse threat actor networks, verify exploits, follow checkout flows and assemble evidence packages, without waiting on an analyst to start.

      02

      Analyst-led investigations

      Overwatch analysts work the hard cases by hand, including leads found through human collection where stolen data and access are sold.

      03

      Requests for information

      Ask about an actor, a campaign or an exposure, and an analyst runs it down and writes it up.

      04

      Case workflow

      Assign findings to individuals, set and update status, comment and collaborate on each case from first signal to close.

      05

      Evidence packages

      Sources consulted, evidence found, connected entities and a verdict, attached to every finding.

      06

      Delivery where you work

      Email and SMS alerts, Slack, API, and SIEM and case management integrations.

      How it works

      Detect. Investigate. Act.

      1. Detect

        A finding surfaces from collection: a post, a listing, a leaked record, a newly registered domain.

      2. Investigate

        Agents follow the actor, resolve infrastructure, pair data with breach records and check history. Analysts take what needs judgment and validate the result.

      3. Act

        The case arrives with its evidence, a verdict and a recommended action, assigned to the right owner in the platform or routed into your stack.

      Investigation · case viewIllustrative
      Signal
      Card listing · BIN-tied · marketplace
      Assigned
      Fraud ops
      Status
      In review
      Agent steps
      • Verified BIN against issuer records
      • Mapped seller aliases across three channels
      • Paired sample cards with breach corpus
      Confirmed
      • BIN matches issuer
      • Seller active across three channels
      Not confirmed
      • Card balances
      • Point of compromise
      Verdict
      Elevated risk. Active sale of cards tied to your BIN range. Reissue review recommended.
      Illustrative output. Names, domains and identifiers are fictional; the format reflects the platform's real finding structure.

      Frequently asked

      Common questions.

      What does an Overwatch investigation deliver?

      A finding with the sources consulted, the evidence found, the connected entities, what was confirmed and what was not, and a recommended action.

      Can our team work cases inside Overwatch?

      Yes. Findings can be assigned to individuals, given a status, updated, commented on and worked together in the platform. They can also be delivered by email or SMS, in Slack, through the API, or into your SIEM and case management tools.

      Can we ask Overwatch to investigate something specific?

      Yes. Send a request for information about an actor, a campaign or an exposure, and an Overwatch analyst runs it down and writes up the answer.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Cyber Pulse

      What's moving in the criminal underground, and what it means for fraud, cyber and merchant risk teams. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      What Cyber Pulse is

      Cyber Pulse is the briefing we write for ourselves and then send out. It covers what changed in the threat landscape, what we're seeing in fraud and cyber channels, and what it means for the teams on the other side of it. Product news, when there is any, stays to a short note at the end.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseJun 202610 pages

      Bank-spoofing domains, anti-detect browsers and World Cup fraud: our most recent signals.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 1 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 2 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 3 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 4 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 5 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 6 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 7 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 8 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 9 of 10 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse June 2026, page 10 of 10 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseMar 20267 pages

      ATM jackpotting and NFC relay attacks, plus reflections from ICBA Live.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 1 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 2 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 3 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 4 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 5 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 6 of 7 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse March 2026, page 7 of 7 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseFeb 20265 pages

      Fraud moves from the dark web to TikTok, tax-refund abuse and MCC review agents.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse February 2026, page 1 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse February 2026, page 2 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse February 2026, page 3 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse February 2026, page 4 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse February 2026, page 5 of 5 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseJan 20266 pages

      Our 2026 cybercrime predictions: fraud goes social and AI agents move from content to crime.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 1 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 2 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 3 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 4 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 5 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse January 2026, page 6 of 6 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseOct 20258 pages

      Cybersecurity Awareness Month, DotBypasser and welcoming Jeff Needham as CRO.

      All issues

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      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseSep 20256 pages

      On the road with our CTO, the IAB monitoring launch and AI as a bicycle for the mind.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 1 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 2 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 3 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 4 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 5 of 6 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse September 2025, page 6 of 6 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Cyber PulseAug 20255 pages

      How we deployed AI agents against cyber and fraud, plus Congressional testimony.

      All issues

      Cyber Pulse August 2025, page 1 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse August 2025, page 2 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse August 2025, page 3 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse August 2025, page 4 of 5 (opens full size)Cyber Pulse August 2025, page 5 of 5 (opens full size)

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Company newsOct 18, 2025

      AI as a bicycle for the mind: reflections from the road

      Our Co-Founder & CTO Zara Perumal reflects on her recent speaking tour across community banking and cybersecurity conferences, sharing observations about how different communities approach AI. From those who see it as creative opportunity to those who view it as risk, she argues all perspectives hold value and must be balanced. Drawing on insights from PruVen Capital about the shift from "software as a service" to "services as software," Zara explains how Overwatch Data was built on the principle that AI should be a bicycle for the mind: scaling monotonous work to enable more community connection, better customer care, and greater impact on society's toughest problems.

      The last few weeks have been a blur! From NYC with the FinCyber Femmes to Kansas City with the Community Bankers of Illinois, up to the Dells with the Community Bankers of Wisconsin, then back to Boston for BSides Cambridge! What I really loved was each community was so genuine and dedicated to making an impact. In some cases with community bankers who work tirelessly to provide a mix of innovation and personal touch to make sure their customers know they can always be counted on to be there and pick up the phone. Then to cyber communities who are focused on ways to stop the harm done by evolving scams and cybercrime. I personally loved how in each of these places, the communities were focused on impact and collaboration vs posturing.

      What's been interesting to me is seeing how AI can mean so many things to so many different people. Some people see AI as fun, or an opportunity to be creative and be more imaginative than ever before. Some people see it as the risk to their business with the non-malicious insiders who may download malicious AI software, or upload sensitive data. Others see it as an opportunity to take the monotonous chores off their plate "...using AI to wash their dishes, not write their poetry." Others fear transformation as we see how much the world is changing. Others see how it can be used to enable crime directly, ushering in a new era of crime!

      I think all are true and perspectives we should take in balance! AI ushers in a new era of opportunity and risk, but I think being familiar with it and understanding what it can do and how it can be fun gives an incredible advantage. I feel like you can read as much theory as you want, but it's so hard to get the intuition without using it! We're in an era where AI's progress surprises those who built it, and a practical tangible understanding of what it can do today is incredibly helpful to understand its possibilities and failure modes.

      A few weeks ago, Sudip, one of our investors at PruVen Capital, posted an article about how we see a move towards services as software vs software as a service. This has been top of mind for me the last few weeks and is core to how we built Overwatch Data! To me, if we do it right, AI is a bicycle for the mind. It scales our work on the things we dislike, and enables us to be more creative and try more ideas! But fundamentally, it is used as a way to enable and empower incredible humans, enabling more of the community feel, more care for our customers, more impact on society's toughest problems! Like I've felt the last few weeks across these incredible communities.

      Zara PerumalCTO and cofounder

      More than a decade at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, including early agent systems at Google.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      Read past issues

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      AnalysisSep 19, 2025

      AI-powered cybercrime: when machines run criminal operations

      Analysis of AI's evolution from cybercrime assistant to primary operator through three case studies: autonomous data extortion campaigns, fraudulent North Korean IT employment, and AI-generated ransomware sales. We show how AI eliminates skill barriers, enabling sophisticated attacks by non-technical actors at machine speed.

      Following Overwatch Data co-founder Zara Perumal's congressional testimony and Anthropic's latest threat report, a troubling reality is emerging: cybercriminals are now completely dependent on AI to execute sophisticated attacks they couldn't pull off alone.

      Warning signs meet real evidence

      When Zara testified before Congress in July that AI is making cybercrime "more accessible, more personalized, and more difficult to detect," Anthropic's August report provided the receipts. Their threat intelligence team documented multiple cases where Claude AI became the operational brain of criminal enterprises.

      This isn't about smarter phishing emails anymore. We're watching AI systems make strategic criminal decisions on their own.

      The data extortion campaign

      Anthropic's most striking case involved a cybercriminal who used Claude Code to hit 17 organizations in a single month: hospitals, government agencies, emergency services. But here's what's different: the AI wasn't just helping with tasks, it was running the show.

      Claude decided which data to steal, calculated ransom amounts by analyzing stolen financial records, and crafted psychologically targeted extortion demands. It created detailed "profit plans" with multiple monetization strategies, sometimes demanding over $500,000. The AI analyzed organizational budgets and donor databases to maximize pressure on victims.

      What we still don't know is how the attacker got into these networks in the first place, suggesting traditional vulnerabilities may still be the entry point.

      The skill gap disappears

      The North Korean IT worker schemes show how AI eliminates the need for actual technical skills. Operators who couldn't write basic code independently were successfully working at Fortune 500 companies, using Claude for most of their development work.

      These people passed technical interviews and delivered working code while being completely dependent on AI. They couldn't even communicate professionally in English without assistance. Yet they're earning salaries that help fund weapons programs, generating hundreds of millions annually according to the FBI.

      Ransomware goes no-code

      A UK-based criminal used Claude to develop and sell ransomware variants with advanced features for $400–$1,200 on dark web forums. The catch? They couldn't implement basic encryption or understand Windows internals without AI help.

      Within hours of Claude generating the code, it showed up on VirusTotal with submissions from multiple countries, indicating active deployment. AI has essentially democratized sophisticated malware development.

      A fundamental shift

      These cases show AI moving from helper tool to primary operator. Cybercrime used to require real technical skills that naturally limited who could pull off complex attacks. AI removed that barrier entirely.

      As Zara warned Congress about "agentic AI" systems that act autonomously and learn by doing, Anthropic's report shows this evolution is already happening in criminal operations.

      Defense reality check

      When AI can adapt to security measures in real time and make strategic attack decisions, our traditional playbook becomes inadequate. Both reports stress that fighting AI-powered crime requires AI-powered defense.

      As Zara put it: "scaled offense necessitates scaled defense." But the documented cases also highlight how much we still don't understand about these new attack patterns.

      Just the beginning

      These cases likely represent the first wave, not the peak, of AI-enabled cybercrime. The combination of disappearing skill barriers and advancing AI capabilities means we're entering uncharted territory where sophisticated attacks no longer require sophisticated attackers.

      For defenders, the takeaway is clear: the old assumption that complex attacks need skilled criminals is dead. We're now facing AI-powered operations that move at machine speed with strategic intelligence that was once limited to elite threat actors.

      The question isn't whether AI will keep transforming cybercrime, it's whether our defenses can evolve fast enough to keep up.

      The Overwatch team

      Analysts and engineers tracking fraud and cybercrime in the criminal underground.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      Read past issues

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Research & methodologyApr 27, 2026

      Building Overwatch: AI agents for threat intelligence at attacker speed

      In this episode of the Cult Products Podcast, host Phill Keaney-Bolland speaks with Arjun Bisen, Co-Founder and CEO of Overwatch Data, about building AI agents for cyber and fraud threat intelligence. Arjun traces the path from diplomacy and global security through Google and Stripe to founding Overwatch, sharing the early insight that sparked the company, how Y Combinator provided both funding and enterprise credibility, and why proof of value matters more than polished messaging in security markets. The conversation also covers how Overwatch thinks about product roadmaps in a fast-moving AI landscape, what product-market fit actually looks like for enterprise startups, and the psychological and human realities of building a company over the long haul.

      Arjun Bisen, Co-Founder and CEO of Overwatch Data, sits down with Phill Keaney-Bolland on the Cult Products Podcast to talk about the origin of Overwatch, what it takes to earn enterprise trust, and the human realities of building a company for the long haul.

      Every founder looks for the moment when the work finally clicks. For Arjun Bisen, that moment had a name: BERT.

      "That was one of those moments for me," Arjun recalls. "BERT was a tiny model compared to GPT. But that's really when I was like, 'Okay, if we had an army of Google Assistants with BERT, we could do a lot of amazing cybersecurity automation.'"

      It wasn't a random insight. It came from years spent watching how risk and intelligence work actually gets done inside government, Google, and Stripe, and seeing up close how manual and fragmented those systems still were. Security teams buried in noise. Fraud analysts working from stale data. A market full of vendors making promises they couldn't keep. Overwatch was built to change that: AI agents that monitor cyber and fraud threats at the speed attackers operate, not the speed analysts can keep up with.

      From diplomacy to defense tech

      Arjun's path to founding Overwatch isn't a typical Silicon Valley story. Before Stripe and Google, he worked in diplomacy and global security, a background that turned out to be formative for building a threat intelligence company. That experience shaped how Overwatch thinks about risk: not as a compliance exercise, but as something that lives in adversarial, constantly shifting environments where the rules change faster than most organizations can track.

      It also shaped how Arjun thinks about sales. Regulated markets and enterprise security buyers don't care about polished decks. They want proof. "There were certain types of customers that were inclined to pick the dream instead of the status quo," he says, "and as a startup you kind of have to know which ones are that and lean into them."

      Why Y Combinator mattered

      For Arjun, Y Combinator wasn't just a check. It was the reason Overwatch got off the ground at all.

      "I wouldn't have founded a startup had it not been for YC. So I'm definitely one of those people that YC gave me the vehicle through which to embark on this journey through multiple fronts."

      In enterprise security, credibility is currency. The YC stamp opened doors that would otherwise have taken years to crack and made recruiting possible before the company had much else to show. "You can spend years just trying to find someone to believe in your idea and fundraise. And so with YC, you get a check out of the gate and you get the logo, and it means you can recruit people and start actually building."

      Selling honestly in a market burned by hype

      Cybersecurity has a trust problem. Vendors overpromise, buyers get burned, and every new sales conversation starts with skepticism already baked in. Overwatch's answer was to go the other direction: lead with proof of value, find the use cases that repeat, and show the work before asking for anything in return.

      It sounds simple, but in a market where everyone claims to be AI-native and fully autonomous, honesty turns out to be a real differentiator. The customers worth winning, Arjun found, are the ones willing to build with you rather than just evaluate you.

      The human side of building

      Some of the most valuable parts of the conversation have nothing to do with product or go-to-market strategy. Arjun is unusually candid about what the journey actually feels like from the inside.

      "The ratio flips from maybe ten percent of your requests being declined to ninety-nine percent of your requests being declined, and that psychological impact is probably what kills a lot of founders rather than the process."

      Staying alive, not just keeping the company alive, turns out to be one of the core disciplines of early-stage building. "A lot of this journey is staying alive on all fronts, like your personal life, your staff, your co-founders, and the people you love."

      And then there's community. Not the performative kind, but the kind built through years of showing up and giving before you need anything back. "You need a community, and a community isn't all one way. You have to give a lot to have a community."

      If Arjun could tell his earlier self one thing, it would be this: "Be more patient and discerning with who you work with, because this is a very long journey."

      What you'll hear in the full episode

      • How Overwatch's AI agents automate work across cyber and fraud threat intelligence
      • What the BERT moment looked like and why it pointed toward cybersecurity
      • How to build product roadmaps when the underlying technology shifts every quarter
      • What a practical definition of product-market fit looks like for enterprise startups
      • The founder mindset required to navigate years of rejection and keep building anyway

      Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or watch the full conversation on YouTube.

      The Overwatch team

      Analysts and engineers tracking fraud and cybercrime in the criminal underground.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

      Read past issues

      By subscribing, you agree to receive Cyber Pulse, Overwatch's threat briefing. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email. See our Privacy Policy.

      Stop chasing alerts. Start working ahead of them.

      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Research & methodologyJan 29, 2026

      Comparing fraud taxonomies and how to use them

      An overview of emerging fraud taxonomy frameworks and how they compare to established cybersecurity standards. This post examines the Fed's FraudClassifier and ScamClassifier, Stripe's FT3 framework, and FS-ISAC's coordination model, explaining what each solves, how they complement each other, and why no single taxonomy is enough. Learn how leading organizations are combining these frameworks to break down silos and operationalize fraud intelligence more effectively.

      I've been in many conversations with cyber, intel, and fraud experts where they've praised taxonomies like the MITRE ATT&CK framework and sharing of Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) that are commonly understood in cyber intelligence and wished that the fraud taxonomy was as well developed. That would allow them to throw all the fraud accounts/IOCs into a centralized system to take automated action/scoring.

      That said, there are some very useful fraud taxonomies that are being worked on by some of the best in the business, which could have a big impact on how we organize. Each of the major frameworks focuses on solving a different problem.

      [Image not yet migrated: taxonomy comparison graphic]

      The Fed's FraudClassifier has become a foundational standard for banks and payment providers. Its strength is simplicity: a clear, payment-agnostic way to distinguish authorized vs. unauthorized fraud and report losses consistently across the industry.

      The Fed's ScamClassifier builds on this by addressing a major blind spot, authorized scams. By breaking scams into concrete types (romance, investment, impersonation, etc.), it added much-needed clarity to an area that was previously vague, on the rise, and inconsistently labeled. The Fed has a useful guide on how to leverage this classifier.

      The most tactical of all, the FT3 framework, built by Vincent Passaro and the good people at Stripe, takes a very different approach. Modeled after cybersecurity frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, it classifies fraud by the tactics and techniques used by attackers. This is powerful for detection and threat intelligence, but also more complex to operationalize. However, as a technology company, we've found useful ways to leverage their GitHub repo to automate the classification of fraud materials, leveraging our AI agents. We're always happy to share our approach with anyone interested.

      Finally, FS-ISAC's Cyber Fraud Prevention Framework focuses less on classification and more on coordination. By mapping fraud across stages, from reconnaissance to monetization, it helps break down silos between fraud, cyber, and AML teams. It's especially useful in organizing info sharing via FS-ISAC's platform.

      The takeaway: there's no single "best" taxonomy. The strongest fraud programs combine:

      • Fed models for standardization and reporting
      • FT3 for understanding adversary behavior
      • FS-ISAC's framework for cross-team action

      How are you all using these taxonomies today? What did I miss?

      I generally feel like the data we need to tackle fraud exists but often sits in silos, is unstructured, and could really benefit from tighter classification that would allow it to be operationalized in a simple way.

      Arjun BisenCEO and cofounder

      Fifteen years in global risk at Stripe, Google and Twitter, including leading Stripe's fraud intelligence and onboarding risk team.

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      AnalysisDec 29, 2025

      Cybercrime: what we expect in 2026

      Arjun Bisen analyzes emerging fraud trends heading into 2026 based on cybercriminal playbooks already circulating online. Key shifts include fraud operations moving from the dark web to mainstream social media platforms, AI agents transitioning from content generation to operational crime automation, and identity infrastructure becoming the primary attack target. Despite increased enforcement efforts through major Interpol-led crackdowns, systemic prevention remains the critical gap. The post highlights the most discussed CVEs and ransomware groups, emphasizing that defense requires coordinated action as cybercrime continues to evolve and scale.

      Spotted in the wild: the first "2026 fraud guides." Yes, cybercriminals are already publishing their playbooks for next year, so here's our defender-side summary of what we expect in 2026.

      1. Fraud moves fully into social media. We're seeing a clear shift from the deep/dark web to Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, X, and Telegram. Even more concerning: Meta Ads and Google Ads are being used for tricking users into clicking spoofed sites and precise targeting (e.g. mule recruitment, scam funnels). Social platforms are now core fraud infrastructure, not just distribution channels. (Why this matters)

      [Image not yet migrated: Most popular tools mentioned in fraud tutorials over the last 30 days]

      2. AI-powered crime gets operational. 2025 was about GenAI content. 2026 will be about AI agents. Browser and "computer use" agents can now:

      • Mimic human behavior
      • Run enumeration and card/account testing
      • Mass-exploit CVEs and glitches
      • Scale phishing, BEC, and impersonation with near-perfect language

      We're also seeing:

      • Surge in smishing and vishing
      • Compromised business email accounts used as staging points for downstream fraud

      3. What's not changing? Check fraud (especially in the U.S.). Despite declining check usage, losses keep growing due to:

      • Continued paper check reliance
      • Fragmented banking & postal systems
      • Slow settlement and reconciliation

      Mail theft, check washing, and synthetic identity cash-out networks are still thriving.

      4. Enforcement is improving, but not keeping up. 2025 saw major Interpol-led crackdowns (hundreds of arrests, thousands of scam assets disrupted). But these cases highlight a hard truth: enforcement alone doesn't scale without systemic prevention.

      5. CVEs that will matter most in 2026. Not the flashiest ones, the most monetizable ones:

      [Image not yet migrated: Top 2 CVEs discussed over the past 60 days]
      [Image not yet migrated: Most active ransomware groups over the last 30 days heading into the new year]
      • Identity & access infrastructure (SSO, IAM, auth bypass)
      • Edge devices (VPNs, firewalls, gateways)
      • Widely deployed SaaS platforms
      • Cloud IAM and control planes
      • Low-friction auth bypass and logic flaws

      Identity is now the primary security target. Prediction: any auth-bypass CVE in a top-5 identity platform will be exploited in days, not weeks, in 2026.

      Fighting cybercrime is a team sport, and defense wins with coordination. Excited to continue being a key partner to you all in 2026.

      Arjun BisenCEO and cofounder

      Fifteen years in global risk at Stripe, Google and Twitter, including leading Stripe's fraud intelligence and onboarding risk team.

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      AnalysisJan 29, 2026

      From dark web to TikTok: why fraud intelligence needs to move at social speed

      Fraud has evolved from dark web forums to mainstream social media platforms, where scams like the Chase glitch and Klarna money glitch can go viral in hours. Legacy threat intelligence tools can't keep pace with fraud that spreads at social speed. This post explains why real-time monitoring of social platforms is now essential for fraud teams, and how new approaches to viral fraud tracking can help organizations detect and respond to emerging threats before they go mainstream.

      Fraud has expanded from the deep and dark web to mainstream social media platforms and forums, to devastating effect.

      Remember the Chase glitch, Klarna money glitch, etc.?

      Legacy threat intel tools weren't built for this. And waiting weeks or months for coverage in trusted publications (like Frank on Fraud) isn't always an option.

      That's why we launched a new module at Overwatch, designed to track viral fraud trends in real time, as they emerge and spread.

      Stay ahead of the next wave with:

      • Daily, easy-to-digest viral fraud trends and chatter reports
      • Real-time monitoring of social and alt-social platforms
      • Actionable intel before fraud goes mainstream
      Arjun BisenCEO and cofounder

      Fifteen years in global risk at Stripe, Google and Twitter, including leading Stripe's fraud intelligence and onboarding risk team.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

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      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.

      Company newsSep 15, 2025

      Community, collaboration, and AI: reflections from the road

      Our CTO Zara Perumal reflects on her recent travels to Google's AI Founders Summit and CBA of Georgia's CONNECT conference. From Silicon Valley's tech innovation to Amelia Island's community banking discussions, she explores the surprising parallels between threat intelligence and community banking, both rooted in daily risk assessment and strengthened by collaboration. Her insights reveal how AI integration doesn't have to be overwhelming: it can work alongside humans to handle repetitive tasks while preserving what makes communities truly human.

      The Google AI Founder summit was so energizing! In discussing with founders and Google researchers and product builders, we discussed the future of agentic products, the power of fun and creativity in exploration and in this revolutionary time building towards the future we want. Driving around in driverless Waymos, it was an incredible juxtaposition of imagining the AI-fueled future, surrounded by such an incredible caring, genuine and inspirational community that felt so human!

      The CONNECT conference in Amelia Island was a lot of fun! In a beautiful destination I got to talk to some incredible people. We discussed how check fraud is impacting banks, and how AI is fueling social engineering. And how to think about integrating AI with guardrails. It doesn't have to be everywhere all at once! It can be integrated with humans in the loop, and be deployed on the repeated monotonous work to free up time for the tasks that you love to do.

      I'm struck by the similarities between community banking and threat intelligence: both are rooted in thinking about risk every day, and both thrive on the strength of community. From founding a company to working in threat intelligence, I've seen how much collaboration and shared lessons matter. Being a guest here, it was inspiring to see how strong and supportive this community is.

      The closing talk by Don Yaeger highlighted what makes great athletes exceptional, emphasizing the importance of surrounding yourself with great people and teammates, a lesson that resonates far beyond sports.

      Next up: Zara heads to NYC for FinCyber Femmes on Monday, September 16.

      Zara PerumalCTO and cofounder

      More than a decade at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, including early agent systems at Google.

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      AnalysisJul 28, 2025

      The dark side of AI: fraudsters' new arsenal

      Advances in AI are empowering criminals to commit sophisticated fraud through hyper-realistic fake IDs, adaptable phishing bots, and personalized social engineering scams. To stay ahead of these high-tech threats, businesses and individuals need increased awareness and defensive AI tools.

      The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ushered in an era of unprecedented innovation and possibilities. However, this technological marvel doesn't discriminate between noble and malicious intent. Today, the criminal underworld is rapidly harnessing AI to refine, accelerate, and diversify its fraud techniques.

      AI-enhanced check & ID fraud

      At the forefront of this AI-driven fraud wave are check and ID scams:

      1. Hyper-Realistic Image Generation: Advanced AI algorithms can produce fake check images (such as EZ Check Software), paycheck stubs, or ID cards that rival the authenticity of real ones. By crafting these indistinguishable replicas, criminals can deceive even the most stringent of banking and institutional security systems.
      2. AI-Powered Bots: These aren't the simple scripted bots of yesteryear. Today's bots are intelligent, adaptable, and relentless. They can bypass OTP (one-time password) systems and unleash a barrage of phishing emails and texts on unsuspecting individuals. The objective? Extract personal data and trick users into venturing down malicious digital pathways.

      The rise of social engineering scams

      But perhaps the most alarming development is in the realm of social engineering:

      1. Large Language Models (LLMs): LLMs are revolutionizing the way fraudsters manipulate human trust. Tools like "WormGPT" can craft text that is not only indistinguishable from genuine human communication but is tailored to deceive. Think of it as having a con artist's assistant who's fluent in human psychology, culture, and language. These AI-driven models craft phishing emails, malware scripts, and other deceptive narratives with unnerving precision.
      2. Sophisticated Scam Narratives: Gone are the days when scam emails were riddled with obvious errors. Modern LLMs create contextually relevant, coherent, and convincing stories. Victims are no longer just the gullible few; anyone can be duped by these AI-crafted tales.

      How Overwatch uses LLMs for fraud protection

      In navigating this intricate maze of fraud risks, companies need a partner who not only understands the cyber landscape but also the intricacies of human-driven threats. This is where Overwatch stands out.

      Leveraging an AI-driven fraud intelligence platform, Overwatch dives deep into a myriad of data sources. From the shadowy corners of the deep web to the bustling activity of the surface and social web, Overwatch's system is constantly on the prowl.

      But what truly sets Overwatch apart is its ability to categorize these threats meticulously. It's not just about knowing a threat exists; it's about understanding its nature. For instance, distinguishing between "methods targeting you" and "offers for stolen accounts" can be the difference between proactive defense and crisis management watch demo.

      Best of all, you can easily identify spikes and trends over time, and compare your exposure relative to peers demo. Moreover, Overwatch's in-house investigation capabilities offer an added layer of scrutiny. With this dual approach, companies can stay updated on the latest methodologies being peddled by fraudsters, ensuring they remain a step ahead.

      In conclusion

      The fusion of AI and fraud signifies a paradigm shift in the threat landscape. While we celebrate the benefits of AI, it's crucial for individuals, businesses, and institutions to recognize and adapt to these emerging threats. The battle isn't just against human fraudsters anymore; it's against their increasingly intelligent digital accomplices.

      As AI's capabilities grow, the line between genuine and fraudulent will blur. Preparing for this challenge requires a combination of awareness, education, and leveraging AI's power for defensive strategies, ensuring we remain one step ahead of the malicious innovators.

      The Overwatch team

      Analysts and engineers tracking fraud and cybercrime in the criminal underground.

      Cyber Pulse, in your inbox.

      What changed in the threat landscape, what risk teams should watch, and one operational takeaway. Written by Arjun and Zara.

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      Overwatch turns real-time understanding of the criminal underground into the investigations and risk decisions your fraud and security teams have to make every day.