In a special podcast interview, Lori Anello, SVP and Sr. Director of Cybersecurity Threat Interdiction at Fifth Third Bank, speaks with Rob Forbes, Director of Identity Services at Stratascale, about her team, the approach to handling cyber threats, and developing talent.

Anello says that her team works closely with the fraud team. It is focused on intel-driven defense — gathering intel to know the enemy. It handles internal and external consumer-facing scenarios. The approach is to see each stage, learn from it, and then tune accordingly.

To automate follow-up actions, the Fifth Third team employs an open-source product for an analyst-first approach to make human-based decisions quickly. It allows the analysis of alerts and brings additional data to the scenario.

Next, she discusses evolving ransomware threats, having the playbooks in place for blocking and tackling the threats, and remediating all vulnerabilities.

In response to the scarcity of talent, Anello explains that her bank is enhancing the internal capabilities of its teams, bringing in fresh talent from colleges, developing nontechnical skills, and recruiting people who are changing careers.