Sarah Freeman

Sarah Freeman is a cyber threat intelligence analyst with more than a decade of experience supporting USG partners and private sector organizations. Currently, she supports MITRE’s Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center (CIPIC) as a Principal Cyber Engagement Operations Engineer researching next era defense and deterrence technologies. Previously, she served as a Senior ICS Cyber Security Analyst at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and pursued innovative threat analysis and cyber defense approaches, including Consequence-driven Cyber-informed Engineering (CCE) (for which she holds a US patent) and Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE). In January 2021, Ms. Freeman and her INL colleague published Countering Cyber Sabotage with CRC press.

Ms. Freeman’s past research has focused on new signatures and structured methods for cyber adversary characterization. Following the December 2015 electric grid attacks, she participated in the DOE-sponsored training for Ukrainian asset owners in May 2016. She has also researched the Ukrainian 2015 and 2016 cyber-attacks and the Trisis/Hatman incident.

More recently Ms. Freeman’s research has focused on the complexity of supply chains, alternative methods to attack, and the development of defensive strategies to counter modern attack procedures. In 2022, she was awarded a Department of Homeland Security research fellowship as part of the Public-Private Analytic Exchange Program. Her research team published their findings and policy guidance, Building Supply Chain Resilience in an Age of Uncertainty, in late 2022. She has presented her analysis at numerous conferences and events, including the S4 and RSA security conferences. She currently serves as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary, a subject matter expert/speaker for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ U.S. Speaker Program, and a member of the SANS ICS Advisory Board.

Ms. Freeman received a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College and a Master’s in Security and Intelligence Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.