I’ve spent my career understanding how attackers think and operate. This led me to found Silverskin, where we tested organizations’ security through realistic cyberattacks. I eventually sold my stake to a government-owned defense contractor.
In 2015, I established Cyber Intelligence House in Singapore. We track digital exposure across the dark web, deep web, and data breaches. We’ve supported law enforcement and defense agencies, and now focus on providing threat intelligence to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs).
Along the way, I’ve advised INTERPOL, NATO, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on darknet investigations and AI in battlefield. I’ve helped the insurance industry quantify cyber risk and develop objective evaluation processes for policy underwriting.
I also developed the Cyber Exposure Index, which tracks public companies’ cyber exposure to provide industry benchmarks. This initiative helps organizations understand that exposure is universal and that visibility is critical. The index enables tracking risk-adjusted yields across portfolios and has supported research models that can predict potential breaches or identify undisclosed incidents.
At Cyber Intelligence House, I’m currently leading the enhancement of our specialized darkweb, deepweb, malware and external cyber exposure intelligence repositories into vector-based knowledge systems. The vectorization of these specialized intelligence repositories will enable security decision-makers to detect complex threat patterns and causal relationships that traditional analysis has missed, creating intelligence capabilities that identify future security breaches before they materialize rather than merely documenting past incidents.
I also teach at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School about implementing AI securely. My thoughts on technology and security appear on my blog, “Thinking”. You’ll notice I sometimes use “synthetic intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” as I explore whether our language about these technologies influences how we understand and interact with them.
I hold a doctorate in Business Administration (Innovation Strategy), various cybersecurity certifications, and a patent in cryptography. I’ve written two books: Anatomy of a Cyberattack and Smiling Security.
I am interested in hacking LLMs to reveal their system prompts and developing mechanisms to prevent sensitive disclosure through prompting. To balance my digital work, I grow organic fruits and vegetables.
You can contact mikko via email: hello @ mikkosniemela.com
Linked In profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkoniemela/
Mikko S. Niemelä 