Andrew Brandt is a former investigative reporter turned network forensics investigator and malware analyst, who serves as a Principal Researcher for Sophos X-Ops. Brandt has worked in information security since 2006 and, prior to working in the industry, covered it extensively as the security editor for PC World for nearly a decade. He has applied his knowledge about the behavior of malicious software and threat actors to profile identifiable characteristics of undesirable or criminal activity, specializing in attackers who target the finance, energy, and government sectors. His analysis techniques seek to determine general principles that can help analysts and defenders rapidly and comprehensively identify the root cause of infection and data loss, putting real-time network data analysis at the front line of prevention.